Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE AUGUST 24, 2011 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, August 24, 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 Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Members not in Attendance: Alderman Kathy Vitale Also in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Richard LaRose Alderman Diane Sheehan Alderman Clemons Alderman Vitale could not make it this evening. Mayor Lozeau Due to a family illness. PUBLIC COMMENT - None WARRANT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO APPROVE WARRANT #3 IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $10,251,162.49 OF WHICH $2,362,138.28 ARE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, $4,260,035.15 ARE PAYROLL AMOUNTS, $57,192.86 ARE PREPAY AMOUNTS AND $3,571,796.20 ARE WIRE TRANSFERS ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Other than the payroll, have any of these other items just read off by Alderman Clemons, been released? Mayor Lozeau Yes. The items that fall under the exception in the NRO so the payroll, the prepay, and then the clearing house transfers for things like bond and insurance payments. Alderman Deane Those can all be released prior to the Finance Committee approval? Finance – 08/24/11 Page 2 Mayor Lozeau Yes they can. Is there further discussion? Alderman Pressly So if that is the case, what checks were held up? Mayor Lozeau The items that are held up, there is $2 million worth, and they are checks for services that we have received for different things from office supplies to…all of the items in the Warrant that don’t fall under that. The Warrant is separated into the four different categories. The first one is $2.3 million worth, which is what is being held, $4 million worth of payroll can’t be held, you have to pay people, prepay amounts 57,000, and then the transfers that happen for $3.5 million. Alderman Pressly Further question/ Mayor Lozeau Certainly. Alderman Pressly I’ve been a bit confused. I know we cancelled the meeting last week. I believe you were out of town. Do we have a system in place when you are out of town so we can carry on, and if so I have been lead to believe that we could have had the meeting and approved it in your absence. Is that not true? Mayor Lozeau Of course it is true, but there wasn’t a reason to have a meeting. In the ordinance, if the only item to be acted on by the Finance Committee is the warrant, we are allowed to move it to another night when there is another meeting, and so that is what I chose to do. I saw no reason to have everybody come in for that purpose only. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau These items would get paid whether I was here or the meeting happened or not. Alderman Pressly Oh okay. Well I just think it is always important for those of us elected to know what happens in the Mayor’s absence. There are occasions where, for various reasons, the Mayor cannot attend and it is important to know how the City carries on with its obligations, and I’m just curious why…I don’t think we had a meeting scheduled for this day when the meeting was cancelled. Finance – 08/24/11 Page 3 Mayor Lozeau I didn’t know what meeting I would piggyback on. I thought about piggybacking on the Joint Special School Building Committee meeting the other night. I knew that there would be a meeting. Alderman Pressly I’m just curious. I think as an elected official it is important for us to know what happens in the event that the Mayor is out of town and things have to go on. Mayor Lozeau Things do go on. Alderman Pressly If it ever happens that this should occur again, could we not have the Finance Committee meeting and just have us carry on? Mayor Lozeau Alderman Pressly the City does carry on whether the Mayor is here or not… Alderman Pressly I know that, but could we not have a Finance Committee meeting and approve… Mayor Lozeau If I think that it makes sense to have one then I will have one, and if I don’t then I will piggyback on another meeting. This is not the first time we have done this… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …We’ve moved the warrant to before a board meeting before. It’s pretty common practice. It is mostly a courtesy of people’s time to call everybody in for something that is routine like this when there might be another opportunity. Alderman Pressly Well I just want to know, let’s say that the Mayor for whatever reason is out for say a month or two, would the Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee be able to conduct the meeting and carry on and have votes as we do with other things? Mayor Lozeau If the Mayor was unable to carry out his/her duties for a month or two the President of the Board of Aldermen would step in and replace the Mayor. Finance – 08/24/11 Page 4 Alderman Pressly Okay. I guess I don’t feel you are answering my question. Can the Finance Committee meet? Who is the Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee is it David? Okay let’s say for some reason there was something really critical and the current Mayor be it you, could the Finance Committee not be conducted by David Deane and we function as the committee in your absence? Mayor Lozeau I could certainly ask the Vice-Chairman to hold a Finance Committee meeting. I think I have done that before… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …when there was a time. Alderman Pressly Oh then that answers my question. Mayor Lozeau Okay. Didn’t know I wasn’t answering it. It wouldn’t be something that the Vice-Chairman would call on their own if you are asking that question. It would be something that I would ask to be done. Alderman Pressly Oh okay. Well that is important to note. So if the Mayor knows that he or she is going to be gone …but you think the business of the Finance you would then notify the Vice-Chair and have the Vice-Chair schedule to function and the committee would function in your absence? Mayor Lozeau Correct. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Alderman Deane I find that difficult to understand that you are the only one that has the authority to call a Finance Committee meeting. I think a quorum of the committee can get together and have a Finance Committee meeting if we care to do so, even though you are the Chairman. I chair the Budget Committee. If I don’t want to hold a meeting and the rest of the committee does then the vice-chairman can call a meeting. It is that simple. Mayor Lozeau Actually Alderman Deane I think the Finance Committee is a bit different because the Finance Committee is done through the Charter. You could absolutely be right that a quorum of the Finance Committee could call Finance – 08/24/11 Page 5 a meeting, but I’m really not certain. We haven’t really had to cross that bridge. We have successfully managed to have our business get done the way it is supposed to get done. I’m not sure that I understand what the problem is. Alderman Deane In my time, I can’t remember a warrant that is 9 days old being approved. Mayor Lozeau Actually Alderman Deane I have rescheduled at least, off the top of my head that I can think of, three Finance Committee meetings, where the only item of business on the agenda was the warrant, to another night. Alderman Deane And how old was the warrant? Mayor Lozeau I don’t know that I could tell you that off the top of my head. I just know that I have moved it to another night. Alderman Deane I remember that, but… Mayor Lozeau There is nothing on here that was going to cause a problem, which is why I didn’t think it was a problem. I still think that or I would have done it differently. I’m sure the Finance Committee could have taken action. Alderman Deane Are we responsible for any of the late payments from the AP, the $2.3 million AP that wasn’t released? Mayor Lozeau There are no late payments in this warrant. Alderman Deane Will there be any in the next because of the 9 days do you think? Mayor Lozeau I don’t think so. Actually we have had a problem with lat payments in the warrant simply based on the Finance Committee schedule already, which is something that we are going to discuss when we take up potential changes to the warrant under the new ERP system. But mostly what ERP will do for us is allow us to take advantage of some cost savings. As I said, I think I used good judgment, it is judgment the ordinance allows me to use. I don’t think there is any problem with the action that I’ve taken. If there is no further discussion on the warrant… MOTION CARRIED Finance – 08/24/11 Page 6 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 7:09 p.m. Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Committee Clerk