10/03/2006 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10/3/2006 >.~;, expenditures are also up from the prior year. The summary sheet shows they are up over 10.6%. r~,;,, However, the factoring of pension payments is now handled differently. On our old system, we only showed the expenditure when it was paid because we are cash basis. But because we have so many more cost centers and we wanted to automate the process, every time the payroll processes, the employer's share posts. There are certain payments that we won't have to make until the next year. After we factor that in, expenses are only up 5%. Considering wages were contractually up 4 % %, we are pretty much on target for the expenditures. The carryover for the General Fund, if all things considered are equal and there are no major refunds that come through and there are no major unanticipated expenditures, will be approximately between eight hundred thousand and a million dollars. However, the front entrance project does cause her some concern because they have already run into problems as it seems what is an the original plans when the building was constructed is not what was found when the digging began. Council is invited to present written questions which will be answered at the upcoming Finance Committee meeting when the financial update is given. As to the front entrance project, Councilman Talton said that Mr. Limpert had guaranteed that the project would be done for exactly the amount that was budgeted. Councilman Miller added that the Mayor had also assured Council there would be no expenses other than what was budgeted for that project. Mayor O'Grady answered it was the absolute assurance of both the Mayor and the Service Director that they would do everything in their power to make sure the city gets exactly what was paid for-that the cost of doing what was planned would be done exactly and to the dollar. When you open up the ground and find something that is totally different from the plans, the reality is you will have additional things to do and additional costs. It is still the hope that, even with what was found at the front, costs can be held to the budgeted amounts. During the next committee process, the Service Director is going to come to Council to request a 10% contingency because the lesson they have learned already is that the plans aren't the reality. When reality changes, the necessity for change occurs. The admn~stratian would like the contingency put in place so that, if a change occurs, they can react to it in a timely manner. Councilman Gareau inquired whether the issue of the sound system for Council Chambers had been resolved. Planning Director Wenger answered the legislation that was introduced was to solicit proposals for an audio-visual professional. Since having Bowen Engineering on board, they do have capability within their firm to provide the services for which that legislation was needed. The next piece of legislation anticipated to be brought before Council will be to go out for bid for the actual equipment and installation of the sound system. Those services will be provided by our City Engineer and will include sound and future video recording capabilities. In answer to a question regarding the cost, Mayor O'Grady said those engineering services will be an additional cost. Councilman Talton asked the Law Director if that circumvented the bid process. Law Director Dubelko said he did not think so, and actually the issue correctly framed would be the RFP process. He will Look at this to make sure the process is respected. President Kennedy announced that the first meeting of November will be held on Wednesday, November 8, due to the election. Councilman Gareau, chairperson of the Building, Zoning & Development Committee: 1) The committee met on Thursday, September 28, 2006. Present were committee members Gareau, 5