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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2004.09.30 - 35943CHUCK MOSS Chairperson BILL BULLARD Vice Chairperson GEORGE SUAREZ Minority Vice Chairperson September 30, 2004 Chairperson Moss called the meeting of the Finance Committee to order at 9:00 a.m., in the Board of Commissioners' Committee Room A, Commissioners' Wing, County Service Center, Pontiac, Michigan. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT : Chuck Moss, Bill Bullard, George Suarez, Charles Pal mer, Hugh Crawford, Peter Webster, Greg Jamian, Martin Knollenberg, Christine Long, Vincent Gregory, Helaine Zack COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT : CORPORATION COUNSEL Jody Schaffer, Assistant Counsel EXECUTIVE OFFICE Doug Williams, Deputy Executive Gerald Poisson, Assistant Deputy Executive Robert Daddow, Assistant Deputy Executive FISCAL SERVICES Tim Soave, Manager Nancy Fournier, Chief LaVerne Smith, Supervisor Linda Pearson, Analyst Michael Pohlod, Analyst Jennifer Amalfitano, Analyst HUMAN RESOURCES Ed Poisson, Director MANAGEMENT & BUDGET Laurie VanPelt, Director Art Holdsworth, Deputy Director SHERIFF Dale Cunningham, Business Manager COATES CONSULTING Pat Coates OAKLAND PRESS Charlie Crumm, Reporter BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Larry Doyle, Administrative Director Sheryl Mitchell, Sr. Analyst Harvey Wedell, Sr. Analyst Helen Hanger, Sr. Committee Coordinator APPROVAL OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES Palmer moved approval of the previous minutes of September 15, 2004, as printed. Supported by Suarez. Motion carried on a voice vote. OAKLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1200 N. TELEGRAPH ROAD, PONTIAC, MI 48341-0470 Telephone (248) 858 -0100 FAX (248) 858-1572 FINANCE COMMITTEE Charles Palmer Hugh D. Crawford Peter Webster Greg Jamian Martin J. Knollenberg Christine Long Vincent Gregory Helaine Zack FINANCE COMMITTEE Page 2 September 30, 2004 PUBLIC COMMENT None. 5. CONTINGENCY REPORT The FY 2004 Contingency Fund Balance of $16,272 will not be impacted by items on to day's agenda. An arrearage remains on the Royal Oak Township Law Enforcement Contract. Mr. Soave indicated that he has again contacted the Township and is waiting for a response. The contract includes a provision that would allow for these arrearages to be paid from delinquent taxes. Ms. Zack indicated that she was asked that the County put its concerns in writing so that both the Township Supervisor and the Township Board are aware of the situation. Mr. Soave replied that they would do so. Jamian moved to receive and file the September 22, 2004, Contingency Report. Supported by Long. Motion carried on a voice vote. REGULAR AGENDA 6. MR #04284 - DEPARTMENT OF FACILITIES MANAGEMENT - REQUEST TO RESCIND MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION NO. 04115 AND APP ROVAL OF LEASE AGREEMENT WITH THE CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF COMMERCE FOR THE NEW COUNTYWIDE RADIO SYSTEM Facilities Management is requesting authorization to rescind MR #04115 and to enter into a lease agreement with Commerce Township. MR #04115 had authorized a Construction License and Lease Agreement allowing the County to sell the tower, equipment shelter and generator to the Township for $1 upon completion and the Township to lease the County space on the tower for $1 per year. The Township Board subsequentl y requested that this Agreement be voided and a new agreement be approved in its place. Under the new agreement, the County will construct, operate and maintain a new radio tower and related equipment for the new County -wide radio system at 2840 Fisher Avenue. The County may lease space on the tower to the Township at no cost and to third parties if space is available. The initial term of the lease is 15 years with three renewable five - year terms. Construction and lease costs will be covered by the 4% em ergency telephone operational charge levy authorized by MR #99279, pursuant to MCL 484.1401. Long moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested Fiscal Note. Supported by Palmer. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. 7. COUNTY EXECUT IVE - EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS - FY 2002 SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS AMENDED GRANT AGREEMENT FOR TERRORISM PREPAREDNESS - ACCEPTANCE Emergency Response and Preparedness is requesting authorization to accept supplemental funds of $240,000 to conduct vulnerability assessments for two Oakland County Airports and local CVT public safety buildings. Funding is being awarded under the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States. Palmer moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested report. Supported by Crawford. FINANCE COMMITTEE Page 3 September 30, 2004 Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. 8. PARKS AND RECREATION - SUPPORT FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE DONATION OF THE ELLIS BARN FOR RELOCATION TO SPRINGFIELD OAKS COUNTY PARK AS DOCUMENTED IN THE ELLIS BARN DONATION AGREEMENT The Parks and Recreation Commission is requesting authorization to enter into an agreement with RBI33 LLC, who has agreed to donate the Ellis Barn and to assist with the cost of dismantli ng and relocating the barn to the 4-H Fairground at Springfield Oaks County Park. MR #02192 accepted a $600,000 Transportation Enhancement Program Grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation to fund the Ellis Barn Relocation project, identifying that the required $150,000 match will be provided by RBI 33 LLC, Springfield Township, Ms. Ellis, Clarkston State Bank and the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission. This agreement shall be null and void and the barn will revert back to the Donor if all funding necessary to accomplish this relocation is not obtained. Mr. Stencil and Mr. Noy explained that the Commission was not requesting County General Funds for this project. It has taken more than a year to finalize the donation agreement. T his is a federally -funded project that required public ownership and the receipt of approval from both the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Board of Commissioners before proceeding. The barn will be dismantled and relocated by vendors selected by the Commission through the bidding process. The Amish will be employed to rebuild the structure but they will not be available in the spring and summer during farming season. The actual moving of the barn will take four to six months. The link between the barn and an Equestrian Center will allow Parks to pursue grants and program funding for such a program. Discussion was held regarding removing the designation of a Board of Commissioners' donation of $375,000 for the Equestrian Center from the Parks' Ca pital Improvement Plan (CIP). Several of the committee members indicated that they had not formally authorized this appropriation and would like this footnote removed from the CIP. Mr. Stencil indicated that the Parks and Recreation Commission would be m eeting the following Wednesday morning and an amendment to remove this designation could be considered at that time. He also explained that the out buildings are separate structures, valued under $10,000, and will be subject to a separate Donation Agreeme nt that will not need Board of Commissioners' approval. Ms. Schaffer explained that by statute the Parks Commission is required to obtain property in the name of the County, not the Parks and Recreation Commission. Secondly, the Parks Commission is an ag ency of the County, not an independent legal body. Webster moved to report to amend the resolution as follows. 1. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners authorizes the Parks and Recreation Commission to accept said d onation Agreement as stated above , with said monies for this project to come from Parks and Recreation funds and funds awarded as a result of grant applications . 2. Add a second BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED paragraph as follows: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that author ization for the Parks and Recreation Commission to accept said Donation Agreement is contingent upon amendment of the Parks and Recreation Commission Capital Improvement Plan to delete the reference to the Board of Commissioners donation. Supported by Crawford. FINANCE COMMITTEE Page 4 September 30, 2004 Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. Webster moved approval of the attached suggested Fiscal Note. Supported by Crawford. Webster moved to amend the Fiscal Note, paragraph 6, to strike "match" and insert "expenditure." Supported by Crawford. Motion to amend carried on a voice vote. Main motion, as amended, carried unanimously on a roll call vote. 9. DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET - INTEGRATED E -FINANCIAL SYSTEM PROJECT - APPROPRIATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION PHASE II Management and Budget is requesting authorization to commence with Phase II implementation of the E - Financial System, to appropriate $3,671,938 from Designated Fund Balance and $2,000,000 from the Delinquent Personal Property Tax Administration Fund and to auth orize use of the favorable balance of $802,990 from Phase I. The two additional appropriations will be transferred to the Major Departmental Support Projects Fund. Mr. Holdsworth reviewed the details of the project in conjunction with the presentation ma terials, including issues regarding Oracle's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft and how this would affect the program. He explained that support and upgrades, like other major systems, will be an ongoing process and for this reason the Phase III proposal is l ess defined then it was previously. Mr. Soave explained that the Delinquent Personal Property Tax Administration Fund is established by statute to reimburse the County Treasurer for administering the Personal Property tax system. This fund consists of fees collected, not taxes, and is used to fund several positions that handle this function. The Treasurer has agreed to the use of $2,000,000 from this fund to support the project. Commissioner Webster asked about the 16% savings from Phase I that includes Contingency and why this appropriation could not be addressed with the year -end designations. He also asked if the Return on Investment (ROI) analysis was an industry standard. Mr. Holdsworth explained that if the Commissioners did not approve the appro priation for Phase II, it would fall back to General Fund balance and a request would then need to be made to use General Fund balance. This Phase I remaining balance will reduce the Phase II budget by 12%. Mr. Soave explained that this surplus is from an amount previously designated at year -end for this project. Mr. Bertolini explained that the County's ROI goes further then industry standards to include a cost of six - year ownership period. Mr. Jamian asked Mr. Holdsworth how the $803,000 savings were realized. Mr. Holdsworth explained that a contingency of 5 -15% was built into all Phase I line items. The project rolled out as anticipated and these funds, as well as the training related line item, were not utilized. Training was handled in -house by staff. Mr. Bertolini explained that building contingency into a project of this size is also an industry standard. With Phase I, it was difficult to determine what issues the County would run into. Phase II contingency includes about 9% contingency. FINANCE COMMITTEE Page 5 September 30, 2004 Chairman Moss asked Mr. Holdsworth to update the committee on concerns expressed regarding the Time and Labor Module. Mr. Holdsworth explained that the current time and labor system allows attendance clerks to see accrual banks at the bottom of the attendance screen. The new system will not. The current system was heavily customized and Management and Budget is trying to avoid any customization to allow for support by PeopleSoft rather than hiring internal staff. To address this concern, one change has been implemented so that when an attendance clerk tries to enter an employee's time and not enough has been banked, a popup screen will appear to show you what is left in their banks. Doing more would require a major customization that would have to be done every time a major release occurs. Departments will be tracking the amount of time they are handling this function and an ROI will be done to compare this time over the lifetime of the project. Departments are also being asked to adjust their approach to approving time off. (A memo from Mr. Holdsworth to Mr. Larsen - Drain Commissioner; Mr. Ross, Facilities Management; Dr. Gordon, Human Services and Dale Cunningham and Mike McCabe from the Sheriff's Department was provided to the committee.) Mr. Williams stated that the supervisors will need to review requests for time off carefully before they are approved and submitted to the attendance clerks. Palmer moved approval of the attached suggested Resolution. Supported by Suarez. Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote. COMMUNICATIONS Commissioner Long recommended commissioners read Wednesday's Spinal Column article regarding the commissioners. OTHER BUSINESS/ADJOURNMENT There being no other business to come before the committee, the meeti ng was adjourned at 10:35 a.m. ________________________ _______________________________ Helen Hanger Lawrence M. Doyle Senior Committee Coordinator Administrative Director NOTE: The foregoing minutes are subject to Committee approval.