HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-04 Finance Committee Minutes OFT? fA
Finance Committee Meeting
�� .Tg6a August 4, 2010
df639'INCOR40¢P� Conference Room, Reading Town Hall
The meeting convened at 7:35 PM in the Conference Room of Town Hall.
FINCOM Members Present: Chair George Hines, Vice Chair David Greenfield, members Barry
Berman, Mark Dockser, Frank Fardy, Kevin Leyne, Harold Torman and Marsie West.
Members Absent: Bryan Walsh
Also Present: Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur.
There being a quorum the Chair called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm.
Public Comment:
No comments.
FINCOM reorganization:
Outgoing Chair turned the meeting over to Bob LeLacheur, who opened the floor to nominations for
FINCOM Chair for FYI 1. On a motion by Berman, seconded by Greenfield, the name of Marsie West
was raised. There being no other names put forth, LeLacheur closed the nominations.
By a vote of 8-0-0,Marsie West was nominated for FINCOM Chair.
LeLacheur turned the meeting over to Ms. West, who opened the floor for nominations for Vice Chair.
On a motion by Hines, seconded by Berman, the name of David Greenfield was raised. There being no
other names put forth, West closed the nominations.
By a vote of 7-0-1, David Greenfield was nominated for FINCOM Vice-Chair (Greenfield
abstaining).
FINCOM liaison assignments:
On a motion by Berman, seconded by Hines, the names of Chair Marsie West and Vice Chair
David Greenfield were nominated as FINCOM representatives for the Audit Committee, and
confirmed by a vote of 8-0-0.
West reviewed the other liaison assignments, asking if there were preferences among the members.
Hines asked that he be a liaison to the library, in light of his work on the Municipal Building
Committee. A few members indicated an interest in the School department. The new temporary list
will be attached to these minutes, and finalized during the next FINCOM meeting.
FINCOM FY11 meeting schedule:
Financial Forum I will be held on September 15th with a focus on alternative revenues. Mr. Greenfield
asked that expense reduction initiatives be publicly discussed this year as part of the FY12 budget
process in order to educate the community and Town Meeting. Mr. Hines said that FINCOM has
pursued expense reductions and efficiencies for every year since he can recall.
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Financial Forum II will be held on October 27 with a recap of the Town's reserves position, and a look
at estimated FY12 revenues. Given these two, discussion about use of free cash in the FY12 budget
will ensue, and preliminary budget guidance will be given by the FINCOM to all departments
according to the historic approaches on accommodated and non-accommodated costs.
Mr. LeLacheur indicated on a preliminary basis that Town Accountant Gail LaPointe suggests the
Town will regenerate a solid number towards free cash from the FYI budgeted amounts not spent.
Mr. Berman said this is always a double-edged sword: on the one-hand this implies the budgets are too
high; but on the other given the nature of different areas turning back funds each year that departments
do a good job in not spending money unnecessarily.
Financial Forum III will be held on January 26, 2011 unless important budget information becomes
available sooner.
Town-wide technology initiatives:
Mr. LeLacheur reviewed a number of projects (see attached). Mr. Greenfield emphasized that he would
like to see some cost and effort estimates to have a fully redundant network and further details about
backup procedures, as well as a continuity of operations plan (such as has been done by Chief Burns
for all departments as a town-wide overview. Mr. LeLacheur said he would bring the request to the
next Department Head meeting in two weeks.
Multi-Board Revenue Discussion:
Mr. Berman would like to suggest a School Committee-Selectman-FINCOM ad-hoc committee be
formed. He requested a map of town-owned land. He suggested the Town should provide the following
information to the general public: already cutting expenses; already funding activities with grants;
what limits there are on what activities the Town is allowed to do (for example, it cannot invent and
sell a product); what options the Town can use to raise revenues, and a thorough review of all fees
collected versus other neighboring municipalities. Mr. Dockser suggested a brainstorming session at
the first financial forum in September, and volunteered to lead an effort as he has done in the private
sector. Ms. West asked Mr. LeLacheur to contact the other major boards with an overview of this
discussion.
On a motion by Mr. Hines, seconded by Mr. Leone, FINCOM voted to approve the Minutes of
June 9, 2010 as amended by a vote of 7-0-1 (Berman abstaining).
On a motion by Mr. Berman, seconded by Mr. Hines, FINCOM voted to adiourn at 9:40pm by a
vote of 8-0-0.
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OFT? fA
Finance Committee Meeting
�� .Tg6a August 4, 2010
df639'INCOR40¢P� Conference Room, Reading Town Hall
Technology Review
MUNIS - Optional modules are being evaluated (such as HR personnel-action-forms). Huge project
successfully implemented on time and slightly under budget.
Mass Notification System ("R-911") —Four vendors made presentations to 20+involved staff
members. A decision is expected early in the fall with implementation to follow quickly.
Document Storage—project is slightly behind schedule due to three unexpected elections during
FYI 0. Town Manager and Town Clerk offices are up and running; Police, Fire, Library and HR are
next up. The Schools have expressed interest in joining the project and we have had preliminary
meetings with them. Later, Community Services (pending outcome of next project below), DPW and
Finance may be added. All network gear and hardware is in place.
Permits/Licenses/Forms —project stopped and a Needs Assessment is currently being completed by
an outside consultant (the same approach as was done for document storage). This fall we will
establish the final scope of this project (e.g. building permits only versus entire town integrated).
Assessors —two vendors have presented their systems to staff and the Board of Assessors. An RFP
will be issued this fall, with a final decision scheduled for October/November. The conversion is
expected to begin in January 2011.
Cemetery— a new small system is being considered by the Cemetery Trustees. This might make
information available online.
Recreation —upgrade to allow online registration.
Public Safety—Police internal system is adequate; replacement should examine integrated
police/fire/dispatch solutions (pending regional dispatch study results). Fire/EMS Patient Care
reporting system AMBUPRO in progress.
Website—internal structural and security work needed. Resident communication modules will be
added if not brought forward through other projects above.
Technical—wide area network complete; remote access VPN complete; significant upgrades to
existing PCs; newer generation of laptops for remote access; network now virtual; security
significantly improved; adequate redundancy and emergency plans that could use improving.
Smart phones, tablets and field access to information is next big task.
Remaining budget—adequate, see attached.
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