MINUTES ADOPTED AS PRESENTED 03/15/2010
ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
A Special Meeting of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Kaupin in the Enfield Room of the Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, March 1, 2010. The meeting was called to order at 5:37 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Present were Councilmen Dumont, Edgar, Hall, Kaupin, Keller, Kiner, and Lee. Councilmen Bosco and Nelson entered at 5:46 p.m. Councilman Mangini entered at 5:55 p.m. Councilmen Crowley was absent. Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Attorney, Kevin Deneen; Director of Finance, Lynn Nenni
AUDIT REPORT
Present for this discussion was Scott Bassett from McGladrey& Pullen.
Mr. Bassett stated the Town did implement Statement #45, which was the other post employment benefit pronouncement that had an impact on the government-wide statements of about $1.8 million dollars. He noted in addition to that, the actuaries calculated a future liability associated with those plans of about $42 million dollars that’s out there as far as OPEC benefits that will be paid in future years. He stated this is something to take a look at and be considered going forward.
He stated his firm takes a look at due to/due from and the ability of the other funds to repay within a current year, which states under GAP a plan to repay within the current year. He noted they did make a significant adjustment or reclassification from the Town’s prior report regarding due to/due from. He stated the General Fund was owed $3.6 million dollars from the WPCA Fund. He noted the WPCA Fund has a fund deficit of $3 million dollars, therefore, they didn’t have the assets to repay the General Fund. He pointed out they work on the current financial method, so that’s a reserve portion of the Fund Balance. Ms. Nenni stated in the future, they will have to talk about whether they are going to fund that deficit or write it off. Chairman Kaupin questioned if the deficit has been covered by tax dollars, and Ms. Nenni responded yes.
Mr. Bassett stated at the end of the year, there was an Undesignated Fund Balance of about $12.7 million dollars. He noted this is similar to where they were last year. As concerns recommended standards, i.e., benchmarks percentage-wise, the GFOA recommends a 60-day of expenditures in the Fund Balance, which is about 16%. He stated his belief the Town is at 10.7%. Ms. Nenni stated they increased their recommendation. Mr. Bassett noted he usually hears somewhere between 8% to 13%. He pointed out Enfield is in much better shape than a lot of other communities as concerns Fund Balance. He went on to note Enfield’s revenues didn’t come in quite as well as expected, but the Town held the line on expenditures by about $2.7 million dollars during the year.
Mr. Bassett stated Ms. Nenni and her staff did a terrific job bringing all the numbers together and doing a report.
He stated from a financial standpoint, the Town performed well. He stated the Town has a pretty good financial picture. He stated his belief the Fund Balance is healthy, the pension plans are funded close to 100%, and the tax collection rate at about 98% remains strong.
Mr. Bassett stated they did have some comments as they went through the process. He referred to Page 8 of the booklet before the Council and noted they did have a couple restatements as they came in. He noted they reclassified a long-term liability, which under GAP is required. He stated there was a small revenue that didn’t meet the criteria.
He stated they strongly recommend all funds be on the general ledger accounting system. He noted the Board of Education had a little trouble with their year-end close. He stated according to GAP the books should be closed in a timely manner.
From a control deficiency standpoint, Mr. Bassett stated the first one has to do with the Building Department and money collected for permits. He noted the money isn’t deposited until the permit is approved. He stated they would like to see the money in the bank as soon as possible.
He referred to the Tax Assessor’s Office and the Certificate of Corrections and noted there’s no approval process on the Certificate of Corrections. He noted it’s recommended that as those come in, they be processed and posted in a timely manner.
Mr. Bassett referred to DAP loans and noted there’s a 10% write-off of forgiveness each year, and those should be recorded properly during the year.
He stated the pension distributions are managed by a third party. He noted although they’re managed by a third party, they would recommend that the Town have increased oversight over this.
Mr. Bassett stated the Water Pollution Control Fund is running at a fund deficit. He noted this could impact the General Fund because at some point the $3.6 million dollars may come out of the Fund Balance. He recommended if it’s going to be an operating transfer, then it should be recognized as an operating transfer. He noted if it’s going to be repaid, it will be recognized in that way, but it can’t be in the middle.
Councilman Lee questioned if there are pros and cons to doing it one way or the other.
Ms. Nenni stated her belief it would be best to come up with a plan about how this will be handled. Mr. Bassett suggested the Town should probably write off the $3.6 million dollars at some point.
Councilman Dumont questioned whether the Town’s bond rating will be effected by the 16% recommendation. Mr. Bassett stated his belief the Town’s Fund Balance is strong at 10% to 11%. He noted the tax collection rate is strong, and the pension plan is strong. He pointed out the Town should be fine with all these things combined.
Chairman Kaupin questioned how they implement more detailed procedures regarding the pension distribution. Mr. Bassett stated calculations for retiring employees should be approved and reviewed by a pension board or a third party. Ms. Nenni stated a couple years ago, they subcontracted the calculation. She stated her belief Craig Cooke and Bill Mahoney met with Prudential and they documented the process and procedures for the pension plan retirees and how the flow would work. She noted last week, they sat down with Prudential Retirement and they mapped it out, and they documented all the procedures that they go through for a pension calculation, therefore, they’ve been addressing that.
Chairman Kaupin stated his impression that when a retiree was ready to retire, they met with Human Resources, and that department would show them the pension calculation. Ms. Nenni pointed out Prudential is actually doing that.
Councilman Edgar stated his belief there is no pension board, and Ms. Nenni stated it’s been the Finance Director, the Treasurer, and the Personnel Director. Councilman Edgar stated it was never stated that the pension board was even informal, and people were told there was no pension board. He pointed out when he retired, he went to Human Resources. Ms. Nenni stated they probably need to formalize a pension board.
Councilman Edgar questioned how soon recommendations will be implemented, and Ms. Nenni noted she’s already working on them, and most of them have already been addressed.
NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT DISTRICT HEALTH UPDATE
Present from the North Central Connecticut Health District were Director William Blitz and Sanitarian, Antonio (Tony) Lopez.
Mr. Blitz stated his belief the District has made some good progress. He explained a progress chart before the Council and noted everything in blue has been completed, and everything in the white sections is in process.
He noted they look externally to outside organizations for best practices. He stated they’ll also get involved with the Council of Governments and several other organizations.
He stated they’ve learned they’re pretty much ahead of most other health departments in the State.
Mr. Blitz stated a letter will be sent by him to the different town councils encouraging them to set a date sometime in May or June when they can receive an annual report from the Health District. He noted this will be an annual meeting at which time the Health District can talk about diseases, inspections and those things happening for the year. He pointed out so far Ellington has given them June 21st for their meeting date. He requested the Enfield Town Council also choose a date for this meeting.
He noted their board has three committees – Technical Committee, which is chaired by David Skulnik, and he’s the Vernon representative; a Communications Committee, which is chaired by Bob Baron, and he’s a Windham representative; a Process and Analysis Committee, which is chaired by Matt Farr, and he’s a Windsor Locks representative.
Mr. Blitz stated the above committees are meeting to work on different items.
He went on to state the District has purchased a lot of hardware and software, and he believes they’re one-third the way to getting everything up on their website, which will help them interact with people. He noted they will be looking at their data and populating the data in the proper way into the system. He stated they’re aiming to have everything done by June.
Mr. Blitz stated they would like to learn how often the Town Council would like to meet with the Health District.
Tony stated they’re trying to make the District more accessible to the public. He noted the technology tool will be the driving force in this effort. He noted at this time, they have a tremendous amount of knowledge on computer which can help them facilitate this effort – their databases, their website, and the actual infrastructure, and these are the three key components.
He noted in the past month and a half, they’ve worked on their infrastructure and have actually invested quite a bit of money into the infrastructure to bring it up to current standards. He stated one of the next things to do is to move into the second phase by taking a lot of the information in the databases, putting it together and being able to offer it out to the public. He pointed out their website will have a lot of useful information, and this will be helpful to the public. He stated his belief they have some very good changes coming in the future, and North Central is taking the lead on this.
Mr. Blitz stated his belief the District is really making progress, and he believes this will be one of the leading health departments in the state in regard to the technology and the communication between the District and the public.
Councilman Mangini stated she would like a timeline on the process and implementation. Mr. Blitz estimated they’ll be on line in June.
Councilman Nelson questioned whether the District has taken advantage of help from the Town’s IT Department. Tony stated yes and noted Scott St. Onge has been very helpful.
Councilman Nelson questioned whether Tony has been able to keep up with his daily workload, and Tony stated because of the project they’ve taken on, they have had to fill in the gaps because he had to devote a lot of time to IT. He noted they are in the process of adjusting for that. He added at this time the work is slow in the environmental end of things.
Mr. Blitz stated they will be hiring a new sanitarian to bolster their staff.
Councilman Nelson questioned if all the other towns have been notified about changes being planned to get their input. Mr. Blitz stated they are talking to the other towns, and they’re making their representatives more representative of the District. He noted those representatives are going to their boards or selectman to have better communications. He pointed out that’s part of the reason they’re planning annual meetings with every town and the representatives. He noted in the interim, he met with a lot of the first selectman and talked to them about these issues as well.
Councilman Nelson stated his belief the District is definitely on the right track, and they’re doing a great job so far.
Chairman Kaupin requested another update in the beginning of May. He suggested a meeting June 7th between the Town Council and the representative of the Board of Directors and appropriate staff. He suggested an updated chart for the May meeting.
MOTION #778 by Councilman Mangini, seconded by Councilman Nelson to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Real Estate Negotiations.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #778 adopted 10-0-0, and the meeting stood recessed at 6:25 p.m.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Executive Session of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Kaupin at 6:26 p.m.
ROLL-CALL – Present were Councilmen Bosco, Dumont, Edgar, Hall, Kaupin, Keller, Kiner, Lee, Mangini, and Nelson. Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Kevin Deneen
Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Real Estate Negotiations were discussed with no action or votes being taken.
Chairman Kaupin adjourned the Executive session at 6:56 p.m. He reconvened the Special Meeting at 6:57 p.m. and stated during Executive Session, Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Real Estate Negotiations were discussed with no action or votes being taken.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #779 by Councilman Kiner, seconded by Councilman Mangini to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #779 adopted 10-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 6:58 p.m. |