FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
5 JUNE 2024
Chair County Executive (CE) Graham Stowe opened the meeting asking Commissioner Roger Reedy to offer a prayer and lead the pledge. The Minutes of 9 February 2024 were moved for approval by Commissioner Erin Curry, seconded by Commissioner Judy Pruett, and the minutes were approved unanimously.
First Agenda Item – Asset Disposition. The FM mentioned two school buses already approved for disposition and 4 more buses (all approved by School Board). She also mentioned several highway items, e.g., dump truck. She said the items will be placed on the GovDeals website and could potentially be sold with funding being returned to this year’s budget. A motion to approve was made by Commissioner Evan Baddour, seconded by Commissioner Judy Pruett. Discussion addressed such issues as something in place for items sold; are buses being disposed based on mileage with School Superintendent saying one is but others were unable to repair; is there any significant fund return, with several noting buses in particular sell well due to reuse options. Motion was approved unanimously.
Next Agenda Item – Milky Way property disposition. The CE noted that the County Attorney had prepared the step-by-step process for selling the properties. Per the ’81 Act the Financial Management Committee may sets the price, considering the tax implications, penalties, and cost, then sealed bids could be requested. He mentioned another county’s process that could be used as a benchmark. The FM mentioned the four lots do not have a roadway to the properties, with Commissioner Roger Reedy providing some history to the county’s ownership and the earlier discussions on right of ways. The CE mentioned that the right of way should be in the deed(s). While no action was taken on this agenda item at this time, discussions addressed the following: the county purchased the land due to delinquent taxes; to sell, the taxes, penalties, and cost would have to be included in the selling price; are there any restrictions in the deed, e.g., housing size; questions regarding accruing penalties; lot size (one less than an acre); and co-owner of Milky Way Farm provided her interest in the property in the past, when they tried to buy the property (cost prohibitive). The CE said this agenda item could be acted upon at the next Financial Management meeting.
Next Agenda Item – Review of Debt Management Policy & Cash Flow Forecast. The CE noted for 3-Star accreditation these must be reviewed and documented. Handouts were then provided to members on the proposed changes to the Financial Management Policy and Procedures manual. The current document was approved in 2011 and generally the proposed changes to be addressed at this meeting reflect minor changes. For those that were more impactful, motions were made to address those. Those being: Lease agreements that cover more than one budget year (motion by Commissioner Erin Curry, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, to require full legislative body approval. Motion approved unanimously.) Although no specific motion was made, electronic vs original invoices was discussed rigorously, noting several problems associated with copies as well as noting signature stamps unacceptable, as documented in proposed manual. Re the bidding policies, announcements of proposed procurements will be inserted as paid advertisements in newspapers only when the amount exceeds $50K. The FM mentioned that the public records policy is completely new, noting prior policy was from state only. Commissioner Roger Reedy discussed the travel policy and both the CE and FM stated that there may be some proposed changes in the future to address what may be too restrictive in terms of paying for overnight stays when ending conferences at times not amenable to driving home. Commissioner Evan Baddour asked if there had been any issues with the travel policy and the FM said no issues, but questions had been asked. Commissioner Baddour, and seconded by Commissioner Erin Curry, moved that the recommended revisions be approved, and forwarded to full commission for approval. Under discussion school advances and salary agreements were discussed for approval with Deputy FM Shana Woodard noting timekeeper software would alleviate having one or two people approve since the approvals could be password protected. Ms. Woodard also commented that the potential IT person could be useful in some of those decisions.
Next Agenda Item – Review Departmental Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements (AC&I) Projects and prioritize those AC&I needs. The CE noted this is the first time for developing a prioritized listing of the AC&I needs that go beyond the current year, and in some cases beyond the next fiscal year, as non-recurring projects are not included in FY budgets. Based on discussion with and requests for Needs Assessments from department heads, the CE discussed several projects that had been documented. Those projects were prioritized using in part weighted selection criteria. The criteria were: Public Benefit Safety & Health Issue, Potential ROI and/or Cost Benefits, Urgency, Cost of Doing Nothing (i.e., Risk Assessment), Strategic Alignment. The projects discussed were (and shown here after the discussions in prioritized descending order): Annex Security Upgrade; County IT; OEM Vehicle; Timekeeper Software; EMS Day Truck/Logistics; Cardiac Monitor. Of the six projects the EMS Day Truck cost comes closest to paying for itself. The IT cost will be offset by the current costs of outsourcing all IT needs, but that offset is still being reviewed. Another IT that was mentioned was the need for technical guidance with software upgrades and security equipment. The Annex Security Upgrade could come from the motel/hotel revenue. The General Capital Projects Fund 171 can be used for several of the projects; the County Fund Balance also being mentioned, however, the CE stated we’re trying to use Capital Projects as the go-to source for infrastructure needs.
Motions shown as follow for each project, and were approved as a recommendation to send to the budget committee after the following discussions:
For the Annex Security Upgrade, the CE said at this time there is no means to lock the building down. He currently has a cost estimate where new walls and entrances would be erected and employees would for use a pass card. Commissioner Tim Risner asked about camera locations, with the CE mentioning that the county clerk has expressed interest in another camera. Commissioner David Adams mentioned that in the past, a deputy was available at each meeting. Commissioner Evan Baddour asked about investing vs our long-term usage, with the CE noting the county owns the building and would remain committed to using it as county offices. The CE also mentioned Re the cameras, this would be another area where the county could use an IT professional. Motion to approve and send recommendation to the budget committee was made by Commissioner Judy Pruett, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, and was approved unanimously.
For the County IT, the CE is currently working on an ROI for hiring an individual for some of the tasks that are currently outsourced, and time delays are just one of the problems associated with that type IT service. The CE noted that cyber-security is a heightened concern. However IT service personnel are relatively expensive, so the CE wants to have “hard numbers” before a final decision could be made. Motion made by Commissioner Evan Baddour, seconded by Commissioner Judy Pruett, to approve and send recommendation to budget committee was approved unanimously.
For the OEM vehicle, Director of Emergency Management Bill Myers spoke to the need stating the proposed vehicle would be used to pull five emergency-equipped trailers with only one vehicle currently available. It is 10-12 years old and another vehicle, a Ford Explorer, is too small to pull the trailers. The one vehicle available with capacity to pull the trainers has to cover the whole county. Motion to approve and send recommendation to budget committee was made by Dr. Vicki Beard, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, and was approved unanimously.
For the timekeeper software, the FM mentioned not only the current workload both within her office as well as the schools and departments, and the new requirements coming, e.g., accrued leave reporting. The school in particular has significant timekeeping effort, mentioning one example where some are considered exempt and some non-exempt. Dr. Vickie Beard in discussing how the funding for the software should be allocated, mentioned all would have to come before the School Board. Motion to approve and send forward a recommendation to the budget committee was made by Commissioner Judy Pruett, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, and was approved unanimously.
No motions were made on the following two projects although general consensus supported forwarding them to the budget committee for funding considerations. 1. For the EMS Day Truck/Logistics, Mr. Myers discussed the local hospital’s policy in securing transport for patients and the cost of that transporting if not covered by insurance. Per their policy that transport can then be charged to Medicare. Mr. Myers has been in discussion with the hospital and the EMS Day Truck would be reimbursed through Medicare. Except for approximate $4K, this truck would be fully funded due to that Medicare reimbursement.
2. For the Cardiac Monitors, Mr. Myers explained that the cardiac monitors are used multiple times daily as needed by almost all patients. If someone calls, Mr. Myers said, we are required to respond to the call. The monitors usually last 8 – 10 years but replacing one at a time, and with technology changing so fast, that means working with various models may result in less use if not trained on that particular model. Some companies do upgrades while some also do service agreements which give continuous updates and could be a cost saving. This was briefed as a critical need but could be funded in a future FY.
No new Business. A motion by Dr. Vicki Beard, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, was made to adjourn and was approved unanimously.
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Chairman County Executive Graham Stowe, Director of Schools Vickie Beard, absent – Road Superintendent Barry Hyatt Commissioner Members – Erin Curry, Judy Pruett, Evan Baddour, absent – Tracy Wilburn, Other Commissioners Attending: Gayle Jones, Tim Risner, Joyce Woodard, Annelle Guthrie, James Lathrop, Terry Jones, David Adams, Roger Reedy Others – Financial Manager (FM) Beth Moore-Sumners, Shana Woodard, Director Emergency Management Services Bill Myers, Josh Young, Erin Harmon (highway dept), Lynn Golden co-owner Milky Way Farm
