Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman Forney, Alderman Robinson, and Alderman Anastasia (Ward 2 vacant). Others: Mayor William Aiello; Lens Martial, City Auditor; Eric Maurouard, Fire Chief; James Sprague, Director of Public Works; Brad Camp, Water and Sewer Superintendent; Tiffany Taylor, Managerial Confidential Administrative Secretary, and Michiko McElfresh, Mayor’s Secretary. 1. Roll Call Alderman McCall called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and asked that the record show that all committee members were present, and Ward 2 is vacant. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Committee Meetings (Tuesday, July 22, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the July 22, 2025 committee meeting was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Forney. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Presentation – OpenGov – Budgeting Software Mr. Martial introduced Mike Langman and Bill Hart from OpenGov. Mr. Langman explained OpenGov has worked with a number of communities in New York State as well as those who use InCode for accounting software. He explained it is their understanding the budget process in Olean is being done primarily in Excel spreadsheets, with InCode software for day-to-day accounting. He explained he understands the City is looking for budgeting software that works directly with the accounting software, and OpenGov creates a direct integration with Olean’s Chart of Accounts within InCode and the OpenGov budgeting software. He explained their mission is to power more effective government across the United States and their software is cloud-based. He explained they offer a number of solutions for accounting and financial management platforms as a replacement to InCode, if requested. Mr. Langman explained the software allows governments to build and track performance management tools, create an operating budget, perform capital planning and workforce planning, and have an online budgeting book. He explained InCode is one of the more common accounting systems they interface with across the country. Mr. Hart presented the software to the Council, explained the online budget book publication can be translated into more than 130 languages and can be put into a PDF. He explained the City can create as many charts and reports as they’d like and explained the program is very configurable. He explained spending can be broken down by departments, and both operating and capital budgets can be done. He explained a list of projects can be broken out, which is what a lot of governments are working towards, creating individual pages for capital projects. He explained performance measurements can be tracked. He explained a lot of governments are utilizing community feedback, and explained a question can be asked such as how $100 should be spread through the City, and the City can receive data and feedback from the public to help make decisions. He explained accounts from InCode and pulled in on a nightly basis. He explained if accounts do not perfectly align with New York State charter accounts, a section can be created for all funds related to the General Fund. He explained there is a lot of customizability. Mr. Hart explained there can be as many admins and users as the City chooses, and explained there is unlimited cloud-based storage. He explained when someone logs in, they can see just their department information, proposed expenses and revenues, and the budget can be broken down into bite-sized chunks for each department. He explained the City can get a narrative from each department, comments can be made back and forth, and all activity and changes can be tracked including who made changes. He explained the budget process is meant to mimic the excel flow, but account codes are tired directly to InCode integration so data flows over from InCode. He explained there is a personnel direction engine that takes a position list and can budget very specifically for specific positions including wages, fringe, and overhead costs. He explained this allows for granular position budgeting and helps with union negotiations and building departmental budgets. He explained a lot of goverments in the Northeast and upper Midwest tend to use this tool for salary negotiations and to create scenario budgets to see what variants and percent changes decisions would result in. He explained a capital budget intake is very similar but has a longer outlook 5 to 10 years into the future. He explained collecting proposals from department heads can include narratives and priority rankings. He explained the City can think beyond the budget book and use it to create a strategic plan and performance measurements. Alderman McCall asked what the cost breakdown for this is. Mr. Langman explained there are two different options that have been prepared. He explained within the budgeting and performance suite, the City can purchase the entire suite or can opt to purchase only the budget book production. He explained if the City just wants to move forward with InCode integration and building the budget book, the cost includes unlimited users and publications. He explained there is an annual cost for the first 12 months of just below $21,000 a year and there is also an implementation fee of roughly $35,000, which is a one-time cost. He explained this makes the year one cost between $47,000 and $57,000 with an ongoing software cost of $21,000. He explained the entire module costs around $30,000 for the first 12 months with a setup cost of approximately $45,000, making the first year cost between $65,000 and $75,000 with a $30,000 annual subscription cost. He noted the Council will receive a breakdown of this pricing after the meeting. Alderman Robinson asked if the yearly cost is based on the size of the City, as a lot of the cities OpenGov shows they currently work for are quite larger. Mr. Langman explained the software price is based on the size of the municipality, and the size is determined by the community’s annual operating budget. Alderman Crawford asked if the City could be referred to a New York community, preferably in Western New York, that uses their services. He explained he would like to hear some firsthand accounts of municipalities that have transitioned to integrate to this software with InCode. Mr. Langman explained he would be happy to put the City in touch with two references in Western New York, including North Tonawanda who moved to them last fall. He explained he will also provide a list of references that work with the InCode software specifically. Alderman McCall explained the City is not looking solely for budgeting, but also for the interface aspect. 4. Unfinished Business a. City Auditor Policies / Procedures Mr. Martial explained he has emailed and handed out information with highlights of the Auditor’s office policies and procedures book. Alderman McCall asked if Mr. Martial reached out to NYCOM and similar sized cities to see what they do, and Mr. Marital explained these are basically straight from NYCOM. He explained there could be changes to this book as things change in the future. Alderman McCall asked about external auditors looking at these policies and procedures and Mr. Martial explained the new auditors last year asked for the book but we did not have one. He explained these are all things we have been doing all along, but they were not previously in writing. Alderman Crawford explained he feels this was a shortcoming on the last audit and this should remove that from the list of concerns. Mr. Martial explained he will share this with them when they come for the next audit. Alderman McCall thanked Mr. Marital for working on this and explained this will go far to help us be more on-point. Alderman Robinson noted there are some NYCOM trainings coming up he feels would be beneficial, and Mayor Aiello explained Director Sprague will be signing up for some of these. Mr. Marital explained they have reached out to InCode and they do have some type of budgeting software, but it works with a version of InCode that we currently do not use. He explained they will be speaking with InCode to see what they have to offer and will bring this information to the Council. Alderman McCall asked if OpenGov works with the version of InCode we have and Mr. Martial explained he did ask that question, and they do. He explained the version needed to integrate with InCode’s budgeting software is pricier than the version that we are currently using. Alderman Crawford asked if we pay annually for InCode and Mr. Martial explained we pay $30,000 per year. Alderman Crawford explained he would like to see the cost for the upgraded version along with budgeting software so the Council can compare apples to apples.  5. New Referrals for Consideration None 6. Committee Reports None 7. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Robinson. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m.