10/07/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 10/7/2003 7) On October 7, he attended a directors' meeting at City Hall. 8) Today he received an M,A (International Municipal Lawyers' Association) fax notice regarding a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision released just yesterday. Basically, this federal appellate decision upholds the FCC's ruling classifying cable modem service as interstate information and service and not as a cable service. The effect of this ruling is that local governments will no longer be allowed under existing franchise agreements to include revenues from cable modem service as a portion of the 5% franchise fee assessed by cable providers as part of their gross revenues. Both of the city's cable providers had already discontinued paying those amounts following the FCC ruling last year. So, there won't be any effect of this ruling on immediate revenues. However, it is a lost case from a municipal standpoint because we continue to lose those revenues that we could have been accumulating through cable modem service payments. 9) Today he circulated an ABA Law Journal article on the attorney/client privilege in the public sector. He will be happy to answer any questions from Council or members of the administration. 10) On behalf of his family, thank you to everyone who offered their condolences and support following the recent passing of his mother from breast cancer. October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month. He would like to use this forum to suggest three things: One, don't smoke, especially if you are under the age of 18. There are studies that show that women who begin smoking under the age of 18 years of age have the highest risk of contracting breast cancer. Two, pass the word that early detection saves lives. Encourage women to watch out for this form of cancer through self- examinations and mammography screening. Three, if you do contract this form of cancer, get the best doctor you can and the best medical treatment that is available to you. It is a type of cancer that can be beaten. Finance Director Copfer: 1) She met with the Auditor of State's Local Government Services Division today to discuss their ability to perform CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) assistance in the conversion. In 2003, the city will be under new accounting rulings that will significantly change the way we report to our finances. This division has extensive experience in this conversion process, especially as it relates to G.A.S.B. 34. They do most of the cities and school districts. Whereas, some of the other accounting firms do a few a year. There are new rules for independent auditors when they are also performing management advisory services. Even though she believes that our local auditors have procedures in place to segregate those functions so that they would be independent, it works more clearly independent and the appearance of independence if you have one entity doing the CAFR assistance preparation, preparing the financial reports with our records and someone else doing the audit. It is a clear line, so she is looking into that process. 3) Last year's CAFR, 2002, was distributed to Council on October 2. 4) The August revenue and expenditure reports and the summary report were distributed to Council today. 5) In addition, a packet was distributed to Council today regarding income tax collection. There was a 1 % increase in the income tax collection in September, bringing the total over the prior year to date to $168,000 city-wide, of which 70% goes to the General Fund, 15% to Permanent Improvement and 15% to Solid Waste and Recycling. The 6