Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Meeting

NORMAN FORWARD CITIZENS FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT BOARD MINUTES March 20, 2017 The Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board (CFOB) of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met at 3:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building Conference Room on the 20th day of March, 2017, and notice and agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray and the Norman Public Library at 225 North Webster 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. PRESENT: Members Andy Rieger, Tom Sherman, Chair Bill Nations, MacKenzie Britt, Cindy Rogers, Anil Gollahalli, and Don Hiebert ABSENT: Member Andy Paden and Bree Montoya OTHERS PRESENT: Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator Anthony Francisco, Finance Director Jud Foster, Director of Parks and Recreation Jeff Bryant, City Attorney David Hopper, Chair of Senior Citizens Ad Hoc Advisory Committee Kyle Lombardo, ADG CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Nations called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. A quorum was present. ****** ITEM 1, being APPROVE MINUTES FROM JANUARY 23, 2017 MEETING After review and discussion of minutes of January 23, 2017 meeting, a motion was made by Member Britt and seconded by Member Rieger to approve the minutes. Motion passed unanimously. Items submitted for the record: 1. Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Minutes January 23, 2017. ****** Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Minutes March 20, 2017 Page 2 ITEM 2, being DISCUSSION OF FINANCE REPORTS-FINANCE DEPARTMENT Anthony Francisco made the presentation. Sales tax news is very bad for Norman Forward and the City as a whole. We have fallen five percent (5%) below our projections. We need to encourage everyone to shop locally. We are moving forward with some very large projects such as the East Side Library and the Central Library. Member Rogers asked why Mr. Francisco’s numbers on the financial reports did not match the State reports. Francisco stated that the numbers should be fairly close on our reports and the State reports. He also said that this report was only sales tax and did not include use tax. Member Gollahalli asked what the online Amazon revenue will do for the City. Francisco stated that we project the impact will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the City collections as a whole. Member Sherman suggested that we make sure the collections are correct for the City. Items submitted for the record: 1. Norman Forward Expenditure Report 2. Norman Forward Sales Tax Revenue Report ****** ITEM 3, being DISCUSSION OF PREVIOUSLY APPROVED COUNCIL ACTIONS AND POSSIBLE ACTION Anthony Francisco made the presentation. The most important items were the rewarding of the bid for the East Side Library and the awarding of the architectural design contract for the Griffin Park Complex. Member Rogers stated that she would like for the Committee to receive more direction from Council about spending the estimated Norman Forward budgets when revenue is clearly down. Terry Floyd stated that the Council did discuss what necessities to add back into the projects since the bids came in lower than expected. We need to wait until a project is completed to discuss what to do with any remaining funds. Kyle Lombardo stated that staff and Council have worked very hard behind the scenes to keep descriptions and expectations very specific in order to stay in budget for all of the projects. Also, Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Minutes March 20, 2017 Page 3 we have taken out 5% of all budgets for contingencies. Throughout the process, we have made cuts two times on all project budgets to stay within budget. We are encouraging everyone to keep any savings until after the project is completed. After the projects are complete, Council can decide what to do with any of the savings. Member Sherman stated that he can see how some people are worried about the tax revenues being down, but he believes that the trend will turn around and the original estimation will be correct. Any savings should be held just in case, but he does not think we should take any savings out of budgets and put them into some other fund. Member Rogers stated that the way we are bidding projects will make us never come in under budget because things will always be added in with additional funding. Member Gollahalli stated that it sounds like this way of bidding projects is under direction of Council. He suggests that items be categorized as “need, should have, and want”. Items submitted for the record: 1. K-1617-68 Contract awarding bid to Globe Construction Company for the Norman Forward East Branch Library Project 2. K-1617-105 Contract between the Norman Municipal Authority and Cabbiness Engineering, L.L.C. for design services on the James Garner Avenue Roadway and Bridge Project. 3. K-1617-97 Contract between the City of Norman and MGA Sculpture Studio, L.L.C for the purchase of a sculpture to be placed at the Westwood Complex. 4. AP-1617-15 appointments to the Griffin Park Ad Hoc Advisory Group and the Reaves Park Ad Hoc Advisory Group. ****** ITEM 4, being AD HOC COMMITTEE LIASION REPORTS Member Gollahalli asked what the silence on the Senior Center means. Francisco stated that there has been a lot of discussion on the topic, but none of it has been geared towards Norman Forward. Member Gollahalli stated that he believes it is this Committee’s job to look at this since it was part of Norman Forward. Member Rieger stated that the decision will be up to the City Council. ******* ITEM 5, being Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Minutes March 20, 2017 Page 4 DISCUSSION OF PROJECT STATUS-PROJECT MANAGERS Library projects-Terry Floyd gave the presentation. He stated that we will be having our first rounds of meetings with Globe Construction about the East Side Library. From this meeting we will be able to set our ground breaking date. The finalist artists were in town a couple of weeks ago and will be presenting their design proposals for the East Branch soon. We will be opening bids for the Central Library on Thursday (3/23), and this could potentially be in front of Council in April. MacKenzie Britt will be sitting in on the bid opening for the Central Library. Westwood Pool Complex-Jud Foster gave the presentation. Construction is well underway and progress is being made. They are starting to pour the walls for the lap pool and the lazy river floor is down. The walls of the bathhouse are also going up. The contractor is a little behind schedule due to weather delays. We have agreed to move the completion date 16 days, which will make it sometime in August. Westwood Tennis-the outdoor courts are complete and have already been used. The RFP is out for the indoor tennis courts and will be due back in a couple of weeks. The Westwood art piece is under construction and will be installed during the summer. Reaves and Griffin Park-the Griffin design contract was approved at the last Council meeting and the Reaves is due to be in front of Council at the next session. Both Ad Hoc Committees have been approved by Council. Member Rogers asked where the Adult Softball fields were going to be. Foster stated that the site we are looking at is on Robinson and 24th N.E. Huddle Up Group suggested that the complex be moved closer to the Interstate and hotels. ***** ITEM 6, being APPOINTMENT OF LIAISONS TO GRIFFIN AND REAVES PARK AD HOC COMMITTEES Member Gollahalli volunteered to be on the Griffin Park Ad Hoc Committee, and Member Rieger volunteered to be on the Reaves Park Ad Hoc Committee. Member Rogers volunteered to be Vice Liaison for either Committee. Member Britt made a motion to approve the above members, and Member Hiebert seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. ****** ITEM 7, being MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION Norman Forward Citizens Financial Oversight Board Minutes March 20, 2017 Page 5 Member Gollahalli asked if there have been any unforeseen hiccups, other than the revenue shortfall, such as land acquisition. Kyle Lombardo stated that the land acquisition should not be a problem for most of the projects. We are working through some problems with the Indoor Aquatic Facility and the Multi-Sport Facility, which may require us to consider alternative sites. ****** ITEM 8, being ESTABLISHMENT OF FUTURE MEETING TIME(S) After discussion, members agreed to meet again on Monday, May 15, 2017, at 3:30 p.m. in the Council Study Session Room. ****** ITEM 8, being ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Member Gollahalli and seconded by Member Rieger to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 4:44 pm. ******