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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-24-19 Personnel and Finance SpUTH 8 Iii )i �d U C w1%� PEACE '/ x . ` 1865 ° OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK K.v1n:1;yr \H FOWLER, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL & FINANCE JUNE 24, 2019 3:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Jo M. Broden, John Voorde, Regina Williams-Preston(late) Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Tim Scott, Gavin Ferlic, Sharon L. McBride Other Council Absent: Dr. Oliver Davis Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Ryan Wrobleski, Morgan Gonsoski, David Moses, Shanita Hunt Presenters: Dan Parker, Aaron Perri, Jeff Jarnecke Agenda: Bill No. 16-19- June 2019 Transfer Ordinance Bill No. 17-19- June 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Civil City Funds Bill No. 18-19- June 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Enterprise Funds Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee at 3:30 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and opened the floor for main motions. Committeemember John Voorde made a motion to recess and reconvene in the full Council Chambers. Committeemember Jo M. Broden seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Committee Chair White reconvened the Personnel and Finance Committee at 3:33 p.m. and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 16-19-June 2019 Transfer Ordinance Dan Parker, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, stated, There are three (3) bills that will be coming before you and we do this quarterly. We bring a transfer bill and additional appropriations bills to Council for approval. There are routine things that come out and they are detailed out in the detail section behind each bill. I am happy to go through each one (1) individually. The first (1st) one (1), Bill No. 16-19 is INTEGRITY SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFF4IAN BIANCA L.TIRADO JOSEPH R.MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 I f 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK for budget transfers. So, this budget transfer bill does not increase or decrease overall appropriations. It takes appropriations from one(1) cost category and moves it into a different cost category. Our cost categories are capital, personnel, services and supplies and moving money between those cost categories requires Council's approval. I'm happy to discuss any of these transfers in more detail if there are any questions. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Committee Chair White asked, So, this bill doesn't ask for additional money? We are transferring within? Mr. Parker replied, Correct. So, it does not increase or decrease the overall appropriation. It is just transferring from one(1) cost category to another. Committee Chair White followed up, And this is somethingthat we normallydo four (4) times a p year? Mr. Parker replied, Yes. We bring these quarterly. As new things arise, we transition and bring these forth. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to this legislation. There were none. Committeemember Voorde made motion to send Bill No. 16-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Broden seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 17-19- June 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Civil City Funds Mr. Parker stated,This is the second(2nd)of our three(3)normal quarterly bills.Unlike the transfer bill, this is a request for additional appropriations, specifically for our Civil City funds. The detail is behind the overall bill and you can see what these requests are meant to fund. A couple of them, the larger ones, the very first (1St) one (1) on there is an appropriation to spend $1 million on the My SB Parks&Trails initiative which is supported by new revenue from the Leighton Foundation. So, we need the appropriation to actually spend that new grant that we got in. Halfway down the page, there is an appropriation of about $1.8 million from COIT. This is actually an appropriation to fund the implementation of our new ERP Accounting Software System. The original thought or plan was that we were going to take out a loan to fund this part of the implementation. Given where our cash balances are, which I came and presented about to this Committee about a week or two (2) ago, we thought we had the opportunity to save on interest costs and actually just appropriate the full amount and purchase the implementation outright. He continued, If you continue moving down toward the more administrative types of items, there is actually a decrease in appropriations of about$400,000 related to the Regional Cities Grant. We actually over appropriated that grant and we had $5 million to spend. We are reducing that down to the total$5 million amount of the grant. Finally, on the last page in the administrative items,the largest item on there is $3.3 million in appropriations for Zoo Bond capital. This is not a new appropriation. This is just appropriating the amount of money that we actually took out in a bond EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK last year in 2018 for the improvements at the zoo. We never formally appropriated the money to be spent from that bond. So, it's not a new bond issue or anything like that, it just appropriates the money from that original bond issue back in 2018. I would be happy to answer any questions on those items or other items. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Committeemember Voorde asked, How is this new accounting system better than what we have? When do you expect it to be online? Mr. Parker replied,The accounting system we have,we think it was implemented in 1991 or 1993. We are trying to trace that back to exactly when,but it is extremely old and very outdated. It makes it difficult to extract information and that causes some of our processes to be cumbersome and difficult to maneuver. The new system we are implementing is Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. It is a cloud-based system and very easy to work in. There will be many efficiencies gained from a process and procedural standpoint. That last one (1) is really what I'm most excited about. This implementation process and the new capabilities we will have with this system will allow us to take a good look at all of our processes such as accounts payable,inventory, cash management, accounts receivable, financial recording and the general ledger. All of those processes should be as efficient as they can be, and they should all have as much internal control as they can. Committeemember Voorde followed up, And when will this be functional? Mr. Parker replied,The go-live is April of 2020. So, we still have, roughly, nine(9)months in the implementation. Committeemember Voorde then stated, We Council Members were getting calls from landlords about the new bill that Governor Holcomb signed for putting tenant's names on water bills as well as, or instead of, the landlord. Will this system accommodate that? When I asked and tried to follow up, they said they don't have the capability of doing that. I imagine it's the old software. Mr. Parker replied, Well, that's actually a different old software system. There are multiple software systems that are being implemented right now. The Utility Billing Software System is also being revamped. There is a new system called AQUESTA that is coming in. As I understand it, that should be functional toward the end of this year, around the November timeframe. I'm not sure about that specific functionality, but that will come in this year. Committeemember Broden stated, The Zoo, as I understand it, we are establishing a budget to track the expenditures of the bond. Relative to legislative action in the General Assembly and other significant funding sources being created, have we changed our scope? The fact this is plugged in at the original $3.3 million, I'm assuming we have not changed our scope in terms of what we are in, when we are in and the timing of that over the course of the bond? Mr. Parker replied, That is correct. We have not changed our scope. I'm happy to invite Aaron up here to discuss the relationship with the Zoo and what our plans are going forward. But, as far as the funding for the capital projects specifically, we have not changed the scope of that. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION j INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 T11)574.235 5567 www.southbendin.gov 3 al CITY OF SOUTH BEND 1 OFFICE OF THE CLERK Aaron Perri, Executive Director of Venues, Parks & Arts with offices located at 301 South St. Louis Boulevard, stated, The contractual obligation we have with the ten (10) year contract we have as the public-private partnership with the Zoological Society includes that capital investment, as well as a deescalating operating subsidy over the next ten(10) years. So, that hasn't and won't change. However, we do have some verbiage in the contract that allows us to discuss ongoing operating contributions, should there be a substantial taxpayer funded initiative outside of the municipality. I believe the language states the parties will discuss what is appropriate, given that situation. We are certainly in communication with them. This week, the Zoo is undergoing their accreditation visit and as you are probably aware, undergoing some leadership changes. We will keep those conversations going but at this point and time, we don't anticipate anything changing. At least, not immediately. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to this legislation. Murray Miller, 23698 Western Avenue, stated, I have a question about the new billing as far as the water bill goes. So, that new law is in effect on July 1st. When will the City make their transition? Also, if you have absolutely no water usage, the sewer rate is the same as if you had water usage and I'm trying to understand why that is. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston arrived at the meeting at 3:44 p.m. Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I would direct Mr. Miller to the pending update that is scheduled for this afternoon's Utility Committee meeting, given by Director Horvath regarding the City's transition timeline regarding that State legislation. That might be a better context to answer those questions. Committee Chair White asked, Mr. Miller, will you still be around at that time? Mr. Miller replied, Yes. Committeemember Voorde made a motion to send Bill No. 17-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Broden seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Bill No. 18-19-June 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Enterprise Funds Mr. Parker stated, This is also an additional appropriation request for,rather than Civil City funds, for Enterprise funds. So, these are more of the business-type activities. This is a relatively short list here. The top two (2) are related to the Century Center. The $177,000 is simply a transfer of the operating surplus the Century Center had in 2018, from the Operating Fund to its Capital Fund. The $63,000 is the additional appropriation for the cost of the expansion studies. Then the larger one (1) on here, the EMS Capital 960 000 is an additional appropriation for certain repairs and P $ � p renovations being done at Fire Stations Three (3) and Six (6). Committee Chair White asked,What are the scopes of the studies?What is the timeframe and what will happen thereafter? EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4 •CITYOFSOUTHBEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Jeff Jarnecke, Executive Director of Venues with offices located at 120 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, replied, The studies are still ongoing in the sense of looking at the impact of our existing operation, the risk of not doing anything and what impact that could have on the Century Center longer term. That also looks at the marketability and the capabilities for the Century Center to expand. It also contemplates the definition of expansion. Is that $10 million? Is that upwards of $80 million? Where we are in that process is still socializing that plan and working with the Civic Center Board of Managers who have a meeting upcoming on July 10th, and then the Hotel-Motel Tax Board on July 26th to provide an update. So, there is no immediate plan. We are working on the fiscal year 2020 budget. We are moving forward with no plans for expansion but our continued renovations. So, there is nothing immediate to report back. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to this legislation. There were none. Committeemember Voorde made a motion to send Bill No. 18-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Broden seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Committeemember Voorde asked, The Annual State Audit exit interview was today. Could you summarize how that went? Mr. Parker replied, That was today but I am actually barred from disclosing the findings publicly until the State Board of Accounts issues their report. Once it is issued,it will be available publicly. Council President Tim Scott stated, I can mention the findings,but to colleagues only. I will speak with you later, Councilmember Voorde. Committee Chair White announced, We will be starting our 2020 Budget Hearings. The first(1st) will be,prior to the budget kickoff, a meeting with department heads and speak to the 2019 budget in terms of their priorities, what has been accomplished and what is to come. There have been some comments made that we only gave a two (2) hour notice. That is incorrect and is even impossible, due to State Law. I want to make sure the information is getting out and we are doing are very best to encourage and expand engagement. We welcome all from the public to come to our Committee meetings, as well. With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 3:50 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, 6c .e .�— Karen White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5