Finance, Taxes and Insurance

FINANCE COMMITTEE August 8, 2016 – Official 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Brian Lauer, Gil Amborn, Andy Ewert and Jim Schneider Also Present: Lori Peternell, Rebecca Ewald, Stephanie Charapata, Rick Mueller, Eric Rozina, Brent Hess and Eric Kiefer from EMS Medical Billing Associates, LLC Lauer called the meeting to order at 5:00p.m. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Ewert to approve the July 11, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to approve the July 25, 2016 Joint Finance/Village Board Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. Motion made by Ewert, seconded by Amborn to approve the July 26, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to approve the August 4, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. The Committee discussed the results of the interviews with BMO Harris and Associated Bank. Discussion was held regarding Associated Bank’s follow up response to providing an interest rate tied to the Targeted Fed Fund (currently at .50%) and changing analyzed accounts to money market accounts that earn interest and wouldn’t be assessed any fees. Further discussion was held regarding additional services and expertise Associated Bank could provide to the Village. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Ewert to recommend Village Board approve a 5 year contract with Associated Bank starting September 1, 2016. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the purchase requisitions for emergency sewer lining repair, emergency water main repair, and emergency water valve installation. The sewer lining repair was authorized per Resolution 801 on May 9, 2016. On July 11th at 12:30 AM we had a large water main break on E Main at N 2nd Street. During our attempt to shutdown and isolate the break we had a major failure of a valve located at Main and 3rd Street essentially resulting in a second water main break. Two 6" EZ valves had to be installed in order to remove the broken valve. The purchasing policy states that The Administrator reviews any emergency purchases at the next scheduled Finance Committee and Village Board meetings. Eric Kiefer from EMS Billing Associates, LLC was present to discuss the proposal for billing services and to answer any questions. Earlier this year, the Finance Committee discussed our billing provider with the Fire Chief in light of our new paramedic partnership with the Town of Vernon. It was recommended by the Finance Committee that the Village establish a billing relationship with Vernon’s ambulance billing provider, EMBA, to simplify the billing process for patients and the Village, and align our fees for service with Vernon. EMBA bills at 6.8% of revenue, while the current provider bills at 7%. EMBA provided annual revenue projections based on improving current revenues by an average of $45.10 per billable call x 406 annual billable calls. Current revenue-per-billable-call average is $515.90. EMBA projects to increase that to $561 based on their performance average of two similar neighboring clients and a rate increase to align the Village’s fees with Vernon’s fees. Revenue projections are based on full revenue production levels which occur approximately 3-4 months from transition of contract. This would provide a net revenue increase of approximately $17,400 to the Village. Staff and the Village attorney have reviewed and modified the contract and business associate agreement with EMBA approval to meet the Village’s requirements. These combined changes result in additional revenue beginning in 2017. The Chief requests this revenue to be allocated to pay for three types of software needed to operate more efficiently. Lauer recommended discussion and recommendations of the billing service and software be done separately. Discussion was held that there is a 60 day cancellation notice with 3 Rivers Billing, services would begin November 1st with EMBA. It was noted that the contract specified the terms for collection, and therefore the policy would require updating to be consistent with the agreement. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to recommend Village Board approval of EMBA’s contract and business associate agreement effective November 1, 2016. Motion carried. Chief Mueller discussed Pro Phoenix; a software program which is information supplied to stations and apparatus directly and eliminates the need for faxes to and from Racine County Dispatch. Mueller stated that having ProPhoenix on a mobile computer installed in the apparatus allows staff immediate access to enter response times. This information automatically populates into the CAD report, providing accurate response times. Having access to CAD through ProPhoenix allows ease of retrieval of this report data and further eliminates the reliance on receiving information via fax. The CAD system also provides a direct GIS interface from the County that provides the vehicle with driving directions. Right now the start-up costs for Phoenix are to be determined subject to meeting with the Phoenix representatives. Future Operational costs reflect ProPhoenix software and support be provided by Racine County, estimated high at $6,000 per year. This cost is currently being refined by staff and the County. Mueller discussed Image Trend, a software program used for fire inspection, Fire and EMS incident reporting. Mueller explained the current process for incident reports is for staff to write the report by hand at the scene. EMS reports are then entered in the Wisconsin Ambulance Run Data System (WARDS) when staff returns to the station. This system duplicates efforts, taking twice the time to complete an incident report. There is no charge for utilizing the WARDS system; however, WARDS does not allow the Patient Care Report to be inserted by mobile computer, thus requiring the information to be re-entered at the station’s desktop computer after a run. With Image Trend incident reports are only entered once by staff, utilizing the computers on scene for mobile data entry. Staff, having direct access to ProPhoenix, will then transfer response times into the Image Trend report, transmit the data for applicable billing purposes, and have all necessary reporting completed before returning to the station. This improves accuracy, efficiency and timeliness in reporting. All future reporting would be digital; for EMS reports, data would be sent directly to EMBA for immediate e-billing purposes and also sent to WARDS for use by receiving hospitals. The software costs $2,500 the first year and an estimated $2,100 /annually ($3.50 per ambulance and fire response) for each year after. The first year would also include $1,000 for training. Mueller discussed the Fire manager software used for scheduling shifts. With the current process, the Chief manages shift scheduling with e- mail (receiving availability from each employee) and Google calendar for 50-60 employees, then creates the schedule. With Fire Manager, it allows the employee to put their schedule in to show the Chief their availability and allows the Chief to confirm who is scheduled for each shift. It is the same scheduling software the Town of Vernon and the Village of Mukwonago use. The cost is $4/employee per month for an estimated $200/ month or $2,400 annually. There is $4,500 allocated in the nonrecurring budget for 2016 for payroll and scheduling software. To run this equipment the DSL for the Station will need to be updated at $100 per month/$1,200 annually. It was the consensus of the Committee to not act on the allocation of the potential increase in revenue that the Chief is requesting to be allocated to pay for the software needed instead the expenditures should be included in the 2017 budget. Discussion was held that the Chief is still working on final costs for Pro Phoenix. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Ewert to table the software purchases until the September 12th meeting. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed Resolution 804 – Amending the Fee schedule. EMS Medical Billing Associates reviewed the Village’s fee schedule and has recommended changes to our fees to reflect the same charges as Town of Vernon. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Ewert to recommend Village Board approval of Resolution 804. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the NEA grant application. Ewald stated that the Village is working with Mo Zell, Assoc. Dean at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ali Kopyt of Hark design collaborative, Laura D’Amato of Racine Art Museum (RAM), and Denise Roberts McKee of Racine Arts Council (RAC) to Waterford Lights Project, a series of public art light sculptures to be designed and installed along the Fox River. The project will further enhance downtown revitalization, our focus on the river as an amenity and tool for economic development and the activities around the river – River Rhythms, Library programming, canoe/kayak launches, and the Fox River Water Trail and bring visitors to Waterford, The Village Board approved the Village as lead applicant in an application to the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant for funding for the project and approved staff time for administering the grant. The grant is a matching grant for up to $200,000. Matching funds can be a combination of other funding sources (non-federal), and in-kind contributions, including staff time and resources. Other granting organizations have already shown interest and participated in community meetings. The grant requires community engagement in the project and meetings have been held with interested and engaged organizations, including Absolutely Waterford, the Library, CATHE Center in Burlington, Frank Korb-artist/high school teacher, Veteran’s groups, and area writer and artist groups. RAM and RAC are have missions to engage the western end of the county and are very engaged and enthusiastic about the project. RAM has had great success in obtaining NEA grants. The draft application will be reviewed and edited by UWM’s grant-writing staff to submit a successful application. This Committee will not meet again prior to the grant being completed; therefore, the draft application was provided to the Committee. Submission deadline is September 12 for preliminary application and September 19 for complete application. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Ewert to recommend Village Board approval of submitting the application. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the Monthly Budget to Actual report. Amborn requested that monthly bank account balances be included in the report. Peternell provided an update on the utilization of intranet for distribution of meeting packets. The Village website provides an Intranet feature that allows for internal sharing and document storage that is user and password protected. Internal pages available to board, committee and commission members were created last year and staff added board and committee packets to the respective pages. Packets and related documents of benefit to board, committee and commission members can now be accessed through the Intranet. Committee members will be required to sign up for Notify Me on the website and select the option to receive agenda notices. Motion made by Schneider seconded by Amborn, to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village prepaid invoices in the amount of $23,858.97. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village unpaid invoices in the amount of $262,775.63. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the monthly donation report. Upon motion made by Schneider seconded by Amborn, the meeting adjourned at 6:27 p.m. Motion carried. Submitted by, Lori Peternell, CMTW Village Treasurer 2