Minutes; Finance: December 4, 2008

City of Evansville
Finance & Labor Relations Committee

Regular Meeting
Thursday, December 4, 2008, 5:00 pm
City Hall, 31 S. Madison Street, Evansville, Wisconsin

MINUTES

I. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm by Chair Tom Cothard.

II. Roll Call. Present: Alderpersons Tom Cothard, Mason Braunschweig and Diane Roberts. Also present: Mayor Sandy Decker, Finance Director Lisa Novinska, City Administrator Dan Wietecha and Dick Woulfe.

III. Approve Agenda. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to approve the agenda. Motion approved unanimously.

IV. Minutes of November 6, 2008, Meeting. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to waive the reading of and to approve the minutes as presented. Motion approved unanimously.

V. Citizen Appearances. None.

VI. Water and Light Bills. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to approve the Water and Light bills in the amount of $1,099,299.28 and authorize their payment. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

VII. City Bills. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to approve the City bills in the amount of $511,025.91 and authorize their payment. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

VIII. Unfinished Business. None.

IX. New Business.
a. Claim for Excessive Assessment. Wietecha explained that the owners of 566 Vision Drive had filed a claim of excessive assessment under Wisconsin Statutes, Section 74.37. The claim failed to comply with statutory prescribed conditions. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council disallowance of the claim for excessive assessment at 566 Vision Drive. Motion approved unanimously.

b. Interfund Loan for Streetsweeper. Wietecha noted that purchase of a streetsweeper was in the approved 2009 budget. The terms for financing the purchase through the vendor are greater than the budget would allow, but it could be financed through an interfund loan from the city’s general fund to the stormwater management utility. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of Resolution 2008-27, Memorializing an Interfund Loan for Streetweeper Purchase. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

c. Municipal Judge’s 2009 Salary. Wietecha said that a $30 per month raise was included in the approved 2009 budget. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of Resolution 2008-25, Establishing the Municipal Judge’s Salary for the Year 2009. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

d. Fee Schedule. Wietecha indicated that the proposed fee increases had either been discussed during budget deliberations, recommended by the Park and Recreation Board or contemplated in the City Code but missing from the Fee Schedule. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of Resolution 2008-26, Amending Evansville’s Fee Schedule. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

e. Position Description: Human Resources Administrator. Braunschweig confirmed that the revisions were to address additional duties due to making the position full-time. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to approve the revised position description for the Human Resources Administrator. Motion approve unanimously.

f. Human Resources Administrator Contract. Wietecha said the contract recognized the position becoming full-time and cleaned up some language due to the re-organization of the office staff in June 2007. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of the revised employment contract and wages for Jodi Sam as Human Resources Administrator. Braunschweig made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to amend the motion to revise the contract such that January 1, 2009, would be both the termination date of the ending contract and the effective date of the new contract. Amendment approved unanimously. Motion, as amended, approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

g. City Attorney Contract. Cothard noted that a $5 per hour increase had been considered during budget deliberations. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of continued engagement with Consigny, Andrews, Hemming & Grant, SC, as City Attorney at an hourly rate of $120.00. Motion approved unanimously on a roll call vote.

h. City Engineer Contract. Wietecha indicated that some additional language was proposed to address concerns raised in a recent court case regarding open records requests. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of contract renewal with Foth Infrastructure & Environment, Ltd., as City Engineer. Motion approved unanimously.

i. City Planner Contract. Wietecha noted that Mark Kopp was still reviewing the proposed contract but expected few revisions. Braunschweig indicated that we had received twelve proposals and interviewed five. John Stockham of Stockham Consulting brought a wealth of experience and expertise in plaaning. He takes a team-oriented approach, sees the planner’s role as informing the Plan Commission and recognizes that policy is set by Plan Commission and the City Council. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of contract with Stockham Consulting as City Planner. Motion approved unanimously.

j. Youth Program Contract. Wietecha stated that the only change from the 2008 contract was for the City to pay $50 per month from the building maintenance account to compensate for AWARE’s use of utilities. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of agreement with YMCA of Northern Rock County for Operation of a Youth Program. Motion approved unanimously.

k. Use and Occupancy Agreement. Wietecha explained that some reasonable care and maintenance expectations should have been recognized previously. In working on the Youth Program Contract, it had also been learned that several unapproved organizations had been using the City-owned building; formalizing expectations with approved organizations simply made sense at this point. Cothard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, to recommend to Common Council approval of agreement with Community Action, Inc., for use and occupancy of 209 South First Street by AWARE in Evansville. Motion approved unanimously.

X. Adjournment. With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm.