City Council - Finance Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1460 MINUTES FINANCE Meeting 02/01/2021 Attendees: FINANCE Committee Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff Councilor Homar Gomez Other Attendees: Nicole LaChapelle, Mayor Jennifer Gallant, City Treasurer Val Bernier, City Auditor Barbara LaBombard, City Clerk Lindsi Mailler, Municipal Clerk Meeting called to order at 5:00pm. The meeting was videotaped. Minutes from 1/13/2021 were approved 2-0, 1 abstain Mayor Communication: Review of local receipts shows a dramatic drop-off from Building in- spection ($110,000 lower than expected). Mayor is proactively looking at that department to en- sure the processes are solid and performing a review of the system software to ensure it is accu- rate. Public Speak: none New Business 1. City Council Budget A. Mayor has requested a 2.5% budget reduction. The City Council will reduce the advertising budget by 2.5%. Councilor Rist provided an amendment to include 1/2 of the increase for City Council President in this budget. Budget for City Council will be $42,990. Councilor Conniff will provide the City Council narrative for the  budget. Motion that Finance Committee make a recommendation to the full council to approve the City Council Budget Motion: Councilor Gomez, Sec- onded by Councilor Conniff. Passed 3-0. 2. Supplemental Appropriation A. $50,000 for Records Management - These would not be public records for ar- chiving. This is Phase 2 of the Archival Project. The money will be used to re- box, index, and review records for microfilming and destruction based on city records survey completed in November 2020. Motion by Councilor Conniff, Sec- ond Councilor Gomez. Approved 3-0. B. $34,676 for Health Insurance Holiday - There has been no rate increase in 2021. Last year the provider agreed to a 2 week premium holiday last year and should premiums not go up this year by 2% then an additional premium holiday would be allowed in 2021. Motion by Councilor Gomez, Second Councilor Conniff. Ap- proved 3-0. Continuing Business 1. $10,000 Stipend for Licensing Clerk - Councilor Rist explained that the Collins report rec- ommended that stipend positions be eliminated. Mr. Rist also mentioned that the current Mu- nicipal Clerk position description mentions the task of licensing. The Mayor weighed in that perhaps in the future the licensing may be a separate position, but right now it should remain under the Municipal Clerk’s position. The volume of liquor licenses has grown significantly in the recent past and the Mayor would prefer to leave it there since we don’t know what the volume will be in the future. Lindsi Mailler spends about 10-40/week during renewal time period - October through January (F/T) the rest of the year it is a P/T position. Councilor Rist proposed $5,000/year. Councilor Gomez is leaning towards $7,500/year. Councilor Conniff is not certain what the right amount would be and agreed this should be continued to the next Finance Committee meeting. 2. Review of monthly fiscal reports from City Auditor - not discussed. 5:55 pm - Motion to adjourn by Councilor Gomez, Second Councilor Conniff 3-0 NEXT MEETING: 2/10/2021 @5:00pm