Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MARCH 16, 2011 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Mayor Donnalee Lozeau presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman Kathy Vitale Members not in Attendance: Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Also in Attendance: Mayor Lozeau I would just take a moment to mention that Alderman Craffey called me to let me know that he would not be able to attend tonight with a work commitment. From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Security Authentication Proxy Software & Services for NGIN (Value: $20,400) Account: 722-64040-3735 Computer Software – ERP $18,000 Account: 722-53029-3735 Implementation Services – ERP $2,400 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $3,128,903 (2 Digit) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO OPTIMAL ldM IN THE AMOUNT OF $20,400. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT #722-64040-3735 (18,000) AND 722-53029-3735 ($2,400) ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau I would call to the committee’s attention under account balance remaining after purchase, that number should actually be $3,231,777. This part of the ERP is to allow us to have a single point of access into all of the systems. The current systems; police, schools, library, city, can’t all talk to each other right now. In order to have them be able to do that for ERP we need this software to make that happen. I thought you might be interested in that bit of an explanation. Alderman Pressly We were sort of talking about this a little before the meeting started the different types of surveillance. Mayor Lozeau This is not surveillance. This is a single point of access. The term security authentication, it should just say security single point of access because that is what it means. This is really a software thing. This is not Finance – 03/16/11 Page 2 anything to do with the surveillance that we have at the landfill or streets, but this is software within our system that we are developing with ERP. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Deane The $3,000 maintenance fee is a reoccurring cost? Mayor Lozeau Yes. Alderman Deane Is there any escalator in that? Was there an escalator put in there for that? Mayor Lozeau Three percent. Alderman Deane Three percent until? Mayor Lozeau For three years. Alderman Deane And then after that? Mayor Lozeau We will have to negotiate. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Forms Software & Services for NGIN (Value: $82,468) Account: 722-64040-3735 Computer Software – ERP $77,468 Account: 722-53029-3735 Implementation Services – ERP $5,000 Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $3,149,309 (2 Digit) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO MHC SOFTWARE IN THE AMOUNT OF $82,468. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT #722-64040- 3735 ($77,468) AND 722-53029-3735 ($5,000) Finance – 03/16/11 Page 3 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau I would just mention for the committee the number here is correct based on that first correction. This is the part of the system that will generate all of the forms that we need and it also will keep up with specific government regulations and changes in forms for W2s or 1099s, things like that. This is the company that has been chosen. Alderman Deane On the front page it says the maintenance fees are $14,028. On page #11 of 19 under maintenance fee schedule it shows it at $12,590. Mayor Lozeau That is correct. The sheet that was put in here was still being discussed and hadn’t been completed yet. Mr. Barker negotiated more items into this contract and that increased the maintenance fees. There are four other items that weren’t in this original document that you have; E-forms, customer service, I’m on page 11 Alderman Deane for these additions. The dollar amounts in the memo are correct, but the items that were added are E-forms, customer service statement interfaces, forms design customer statement, and document express W2 module. When those four items got added the maintenance fee went up commensurate with that. Alderman Deane And the accelerator on this is 3% as well? Mayor Lozeau Actually I’m not certain on that. Alderman Deane That $14,028 is a reoccurring cost? Mayor Lozeau It is yes. Alderman Deane We must be starting to garner a pretty significant reoccurring maintenance fee cost with this project ha? The $14,028 is just for one year right? Mayor Lozeau Right. Alderman Deane How is it going to be paid for next year? Finance – 03/16/11 Page 4 Mayor Lozeau It will be in the I.T. budget. Alderman Deane Okay. I thought in some cases we had paid out a couple of years in some of the prior approvals we made for maintenance fees. Mayor Lozeau Some we did yes. Whatever Mr. Barker can negotiate he does, and the more certainty he can bring to the table he tries to. Alderman Deane Believe me I appreciate that, but I just don’t think funding reoccurring costs into out years with bonded money is a good thing to do. That is just my position. I think, as you stated earlier, it should be part of the operating budget to show the true cost to operate it. We shouldn’t be using borrowed money to pay for reoccurring costs that’s all. Mayor Lozeau And that is the plan. Alderman Deane But in some cases approvals have been made with reoccurring costs into the out years. Mayor Lozeau Well not necessarily. Alderman Deane There are cases where that has happened because I asked that question and that is what I was told. Mayor Lozeau I want to be careful because I don’t want to give specifics and not be correct, but I don’t think it is a big problem, and I will have to look at it to see what some of those numbers are, and I will let you know, but… Alderman Deane Okay. Mayor Lozeau …we’re really trying not to do that. Alderman Deane I would appreciate it. I think to show the true costs of the operations. Finance – 03/16/11 Page 5 Mayor Lozeau I think that is really important. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Pressly Thank you Madam Chairman. I just wanted to take note of the sole source status. I don’t have a problem with that. I think it is a very specific request and that it has to be compatible with everything else that is going on. Mayor Lozeau You will take some solace in knowing that when the RFP went out for Lawson, which is the company that we ended up buying the product from, everybody bid on this piece so it really did have an earlier bid, but we didn’t purchase it at that time because Lawson doesn’t own this piece. It sounds a little confusing, but it did go through a process where I.T. and the team looking at the RFP could pick out specific companies that had competed against each other for this. In the final analysis he knew this was the company he was going to go with. It wasn’t your typical sole source. Alderman Pressly That is what I sort of figured. I just thought it was worth noting. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Deane Do we anticipate flying these people from beautiful Burnsville, MN to… Mayor Lozeau No we don’t. Alderman Deane I was just looking at their optional on-site installation cost. So that can be done… the price includes web meeting installation or the use of a telephone. Mayor Lozeau Right. Mr. Barker anticipates that it is not going to exceed $5,000 of any of the work that they are going to do that you are reading on that last page. Alderman Deane Thank you. Finance – 03/16/11 Page 6 Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Hunt Building Abatement Services (Value: $20,400) Account: 720-3738 City Building Improvements – Hunt Bldg Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $938,943 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO DECTAM CORPORATION IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $20,400. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT #720-3738 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly Thank you. I’m pleased this work is being done. The one that I would like to note that I’m worried about is the vinyl floor and not knowing what is underneath. Having done a lot of work in an old house, there are lots of surprises. Mayor Lozeau The floor is included in this. Mayor Lozeau I know that, but it indicates that they are not sure what material is underneath the vinyl in various parts of the building. Mayor Lozeau But they are anticipating that it is a problem. Alderman Pressly I realize that, I’m just saying I think that is one of the areas where they may need to have some wiggle room that it might not come back as favorably as we hope. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Alderman Deane I know when you go back in time with those tiles that are in that basement, normally glued down tiles at that point in time that were 9” x 9” contained asbestos. Anything above that did not, 12” x 12”, but more importantly, back in the timeframe that those tiles were put down, the adhesive they used contained asbestos. I thought those tiles were bigger, but I think the adhesive is where they are going to find the problems perhaps. Finance – 03/16/11 Page 7 Mayor Lozeau And I think that they are anticipating this. They have been working with John Piertoniro looking at this. We have had great luck with this company. They have done a lot of work at City Hall and were able to save us a lot of money by finding problems while they were onsite and not redeploying. We pretty confident. Alderman Pressly Good. I will remain optimistic. Mayor Lozeau I always try to remain optimistic, it’s important. Alderman Vitale Unless I am missing it, is the demolition material going to our own landfill? Mayor Lozeau It is. Is there further discussion? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Manchester Street CSO Flooding Study (Value: $94,000) Account: 792-53030-3745 CSO Flooding – Professional Services Account Balance Remaining After Purchase: $1,045,100 MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO HAZEN & SAWYER IN AN AMOUNT NOT-T0-EXCEED $94,000. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT #792-53030-3745 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly I would just like to suggest that we ask Alderman Deane to give us an onsite report occasionally since that is his street. Alderman Deane He can give you an onsite report about how ugly it gets when it floods over there. Alderman Pressly I know. Alderman Deane I will send you the pictures. Alderman Chasse So this will make him happy? Finance – 03/16/11 Page 8 Alderman Deane No. Mayor Lozeau I’m not going to predict what can make Alderman Deane happy. If I could figure that out… Alderman Deane I’m always happy. Alderman Chasse They are going to divert it all right to the front of your house. Alderman Deane I don’t have the problem; it is the people on Hall Avenue or Courtland Street, the people that have sewer backing up into their basements that have the problem. I don’t have that problem. Mayor Lozeau It is a similar problem to what we were seeing on Haines Street, it is just not as often as they were seeing it on Haines Street. Alderman Chasse And on Balcom Street. Mayor Lozeau There too? Alderman Chasse Yeah. Ask me I know. Mayor Lozeau I will have to check the list and make sure it is on there. Alderman Deane Thank you. The problem in this area is you have an older part of the City that was there for years and the modeling that was done for the combined system and as you head up the hill by the school all of that development up there, that was all forests and fields and everything else and when they went in and built all of that they sent everything down Manchester Street. Well they never changed the size of the line so the modeling that was done is well over capacity and being combined; with heavy downpours is where the problems begin. Mayor Lozeau Along with 1893 collector sewers holding up… Finance – 03/16/11 Page 9 Alderman Deane My house was built in 1873. Alderman Chasse Balcom Street is all set. Mayor Lozeau Alright. Thank you. Alderman Chasse There were disposable diapers that were being… Mayor Lozeau Good to know. Thanks for sharing. Alderman Pressly It is almost $100,000 just for the study. Do they have any estimate what it is going to cost to actually do the work? Mayor Lozeau Oh no… Alderman Pressly That is a long way off? Mayor Lozeau Haines Street I think in the final analysis was about $1.5 million. But it is still significantly less expensive than if we would have had to separate the system throughout the City. That price tag was closed to $150 million. We have brought this plant in at $70 million and then these other projects certainly add on to that, but it is still significantly different than it could have been. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – None Finance – 03/16/11 Page 10 DISCUSSION Alderman Pressly Madam Mayor I don’t want to put you on the spot, but… Mayor Lozeau But you always do at Finance… Alderman Pressly I do oh… Mayor Lozeau Like we could never talk anywhere but here. By all means. Alderman Pressly Well yes I will make an appointment and come in here or you could call me whatever. I’m really interested in seeing the plan for fixing the brick sidewalks on Main Street. Mayor Lozeau I understand. Alderman Pressly And I also was wondering what the funding mechanism for that is going to be. Mayor Lozeau I think there has been some confusion based on what I have been hearing… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …when I went and spoke at the Service Advisory Committee meeting Alderman Pressly that you were at, I was talking about two specific areas that I have already budgeted for… Alderman Pressly Oh okay. Mayor Lozeau …the Main Street Bridge sidewalks… Alderman Pressly On both sides? Finance – 03/16/11 Page 11 Mayor Lozeau On both sides where we have had some continual problems not only with the sidewalk but with the electrical work under the sidewalks where we have had lights go out… Alderman Deane They are still out. Mayor Lozeau …Alderman Deane usually tells us when they are out and they are on. It is a problem. That area has been budgeted for already and requires no further approvals, and when I talked about where that section was I was going to come in as a courtesy to show the Infrastructure Committee the design that the Deputy Engineer has worked out for what the sidewalks would look like. We invited some of the downtown businesses in to take a look and give us their feedback on their thoughts because we are looking at changing those from the brick that you see there to a concrete/brick combination… Alderman Pressly Great. Mayor Lozeau …that we think will be able to be maintained better. The second part of downtown sidewalks that we have been looking at is from Alec’s Shoe Store to just beyond City Hall to West Hollis Street, beyond Norton’s Diner. We have budgeted about $50,000 for that work, and some of the private businesses are willing to contribute to looking at re-engineering that sidewalk and whether or not we may change some parking there, whether we might make the sidewalk narrower in some spots, and so we are looking at that. Right now what I am trying to do is work with the Service Advisory Committee, who has done a significant amount of work, to try to find a way to have a comprehensive idea of what we would like to see downtown, prioritize it, and then make decisions around how we are going to fund it and whether or not we have to look at the kind of bonding level that they are interested in. It is very difficult right now as you can appreciate with the budget to be looking at a bond that significant, but at the same time it is difficult not to do something downtown because something needs to be done. There aren’t any final decisions there that have been made as you know because they would be made here as well, but for those two sidewalk areas we have made some progress, and I will come into Infrastructure and talk about it. Alderman Pressly Okay. A further question; one thing that has come to mind that I did not know about is that the bricks are not full depth bricks and people are saying that might be one of the reasons it has failed so early, that they were half bricks. Do you plan to use a full brick in whatever brick area you put back in? Mayor Lozeau As far as the Main Street Bridge, I can’t recall what the Deputy Engineer had in mind for there. As a matter of fact she was getting some prices to look at whether or not we could, instead of brick, put just a piece of granite in the center as a diamond to give it some distinction, but have it have better maintenance, and I don’t know what that is looking like. I will have that answer before I come in to the committee. As far as the remaining brick, it is true that we haven’t used the full brick… Finance – 03/16/11 Page 12 Alderman Pressly That was a surprise to me. Mayor Lozeau …I don’t know why that decision was made. That is part of the problem. The other part of the problem is I think how they did the ground underneath the brick. There are places you can go where brick has been for 75 years and there aren’t any problems and other places where there are. Some of the problems downtown that we have had that are more serious is in some locations where bulkheads were in the street, they took the bulkhead out, they put 2 x 6s underneath, they put a piece of plywood, and then they did the brick over it. Well that was in 1978, when I was in high school. We have had some locations where that has failed. In front of one of the businesses downtown right now there is a big metal plate because the hole collapsed and it was a 5’ hole. That is another reason that we really have to look at these sidewalks because now we are pulling all of the plans to try to figure out where were some of those bulkheads, have we repaired any of them before, and what do we have to do so that we make sure there is not that problem. Alderman Pressly I did happen across one of them and apparently it had been a coal bin and so a lot of the businesses use space under the sidewalk and so there are big cavities, it was like a big cave in. Mayor Lozeau And they are all different. I was surprised I thought when we did the City Hall steps that we might find that City Hall went out under the sidewalk. For a time my husband and I owned the diner next door and when we re-did the entry point into the diner and we took that broken piece of concrete out we were under the sidewalk. You could see into the basement from there. There are a lot of those businesses that have done that. One of the things that I think we have to do is what we are doing now with a lot of the work that we are doing in the streets and in the sewers, do a better job of indicating where things are. So when we do this new sidewalk work we should be indicating… Alderman Pressly Keep a record. Mayor Lozeau …which businesses come under the sidewalk, which ones have bulkheads that have been replaced. And many of them still have their bulkheads there. Alderman Pressly And they still use them. Mayor Lozeau So there is some work that needs to be done. Alderman Pressly Okay. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Finance – 03/16/11 Page 13 Alderman Pressly Do you plan to give any further information at the meeting tomorrow morning, the BID meeting tomorrow? Mayor Lozeau I’m not going to be at that meeting tomorrow … Alderman Pressly Not going to be there, okay. Mayor Lozeau …morning. Sadly I’m going to be at the Irish Breakfast making a fool of myself. Alderman Deane Thank you. The work on the Main Street Bridge, we have been told numerous times by some people that aren’t here any longer, that the Main Street Bridge was sinking so I guess it is not if we are going to be doing work on it. The lights are out again. Having walked across that not a lot, but it is unbelievable. Mayor Lozeau It is unbelievable. Alderman Deane It is like a gold green, it is all ungulated. I feel for anybody that struggles with any disabilities or whatever trying to cross that thing. The other and you talk about bunkers; I’m of the understanding that there are still large water storage bunkers on Main Street, preferably on the City Hall side at some of the intersections. Prior to hydrants, the fire department used to drop the line down inside these bunkers that would collect the rain water. I’m sure it was very nasty at the time. And they would pump out of those. They were big volts of water. One over there by the beauty salon where they just replaced that pole that used to lean at a 40 degree angle. I heard there is one in there that runs north onto Main Street and there is another one up on the other side of Martha’s in front of the bank there. I had a question on the Warrant if you don’t mind or do you want to wait until the Warrant is read and then I will ask the question? Mayor Lozeau Do you mind doing it that way? Alderman Deane I don’t have a problem. Alderman Pressly We have two students here from Bishop Guertin and I just wonder if we might allow them to ask questions if they might have some or tell something about their work? Finance – 03/16/11 Page 14 Mayor Lozeau I’m happy to always allow people to ask questions, but it has been my experience that the students prefer not to step up, but I certainly wouldn’t want to discourage you if there is something you would like to… Alderman Pressly They are good. Mayor Lozeau They are keeping copious notes. We will be around a little bit after if you have questions. Is there further discussion? WARRANT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO APPROVE WARRANT #17 IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $10,774,001.58 OF WHICH $3,138,739.29 ARE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, $5,606,305.93 ARE PAYROLL AMOUNTS, $91,969.99 ARE PREPAY AMOUNTS AND $1,936,986.37 ARE WIRE TRANSFERS ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Thank you. Going through the Warrant, I see a lot of Citizen Bank checks, which are probably for charge cards. There are three and five digit commodity codes associated with it. Some of the times I have to guess at what it is for. Is there any possibility of having a description of what those charges are for added to the Warrant? Mayor Lozeau I can see if I can do that. Alderman Deane Another thing I have noticed, there are negative amounts in the Warrant. I don’t know whether that is just some sort of typo where it shows the check written out as a negative. Mayor Lozeau Alright. Alderman Chasse It is not the School Board is it? Mayor Lozeau No. There is nobody’s budget in the negative. Everybody is all… Alderman Deane They have all signed it Alderman Chasse. They have signed it that what they have done is… Finance – 03/16/11 Page 15 Mayor Lozeau I have not seen that. I will ask if the CFO could take a look at that. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there anything further? MOTION CARRIED ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Committee Clerk