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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-12-09 Finance Committee MinutesRECEIVED 1'CCLEV) MINUTES E D l t' C, ; S. READING FINANCE COMMITTEE DECEMBER 9, 199257 This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was held on the evening of Wednesday, December 9, 1992. This meeting was held in the Selectmen's Conference Room of Reading Town Hall. MEMBERS PRESENT: Richard Coco, Chairman Fred Van Magness, Vice Chairman Jim Keigley Gerry MacDonald Carroll McMillan Bill Murphy Nate White OTHERS PRESENT. Len Rucker, General Manager, R M L D Phil Pacino, Chairman, R M L D Dick Murch, R M L D Maria Silvaggi, Reporter, READING CHRONICLE ROLL CALL/CALL TO ORDER Chairman Richard Coco called this meeting to order at 7:35 PM and called the roll of the Board. IL OLD BUSINESS A. Re-submittal of Bill for $1,000 Actuarial Study *Chairman Dick Coco explained that Town Accountant Dick Foley re- submitted the bill from Seigel Company for $1,000 for the Actuarial Study and a motion to approve payment occurred as follows: G&4 c.')Z MOTION: Fred Van Magness moved to approve payment of $1,000 to the Seigel Company and Gerry MacDonald seconded this move to approve. VOTE: 6 - 0 - 0 UNANIMOUSLYAPPROVED (BILL MURPHYABSENT ON VOTE) B. Budget Fiscal '94 Meeting *Chairman Richard Coco and Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner arranged a meeting earlier today to discuss having a budget briefing on January 6, 1993. This will be the first scheduled Finance Committee meeting in the New Year. C. Reading Chronicle News Article *Chairman Richard Coco discussed the newspaper article that appeared in this week's Reading Chronicle, written by former Assistant Superintendent Lynn Bok. Mr. Coco discussed the charge of "witch hunting" and explained that it was the intent of the Finance Committee to investigate the process, *Carroll McMillan recommends that no response be given to this newspaper article. *Mr. Coco indicated that his verbal response at this meeting this evening would be sufficient on the subject. III. NEW BUSINESS A. Reading Municipal Light Department Audit Presentation *Mr. Len Rucker, General Manager of R M L D took the floor to give an overview of all information distributed at this meeting tonight. Mr. Rucker discussed the replacement sheets of information to be placed in the large notebook of text *A complete copy of the employment contract was available and Mr. Rucker indicated to the group that the minutes were taken by the Board of Selectmen secretary and that these minutes have been submitted in this booklet of informational text. i *Questions by Finance Committee of R M L D were debated and each question was discussed by Mr. Rucker. *Expense Account report information was discussed by Mr. Rucker and reasons behind travel. *Mr. Rucker indicated to the Finance Committee that this evening's review of information is a normal event for R M L D, as they are always ready to oblige with questions and answer sessions to various groups. Data is always easy to obtain from R M L D. *Chairman Coco indicated that all the Town groups that were asked to bring information to the Reading Finance Committee were most cooperative and did so in a timely fashion. *Auto allowances were explained by Mr. Rucker. He discussed "pool cars" and that all vehicle are "pool cars" for R M L D. *Fred Van Magness had some confusion with the list and asked for a complete list of numbers of vehicles in the department: General Manager (1), Division Managers (3), T and D (4), and Engineers (1). i *Fred asked if vehicles "go home" at night, and all vehicles do except one. ~ l *Mr. Rucker told of a variety of other vehicles in the department for work purposes. *Mr. Van Magness has some concerns about subsidizing vehicles to employees and the fact that this might be added cost to rate payers with so many R M L D vehicles. *The topic of vehicles in R M L D went back and forth with Mr. Van Magness and Mr. Rucker answering pertinent questions regarding such. Mr. Rucker assured the Fincom that this system is reliable and necessary and cited an instance with Hurricane Bob. *Fred Van Magness asks rationale for the Business Manager to have a vehicle where this Business Manager would not be responsible for answering emergency calls for hurricane assistance or power outages. *Mr. Van Magness concluded that there is an economic benefit to having fewer vehicles used for transportation to and from work. Vim Keigley brought up an issue of people not taking proper care of vehicles when they use their own autos and trucks when mileage allowances are given. It was assessed by Keigley that in these instances, vehicles are not properly maintained and kept in good working order. *Mr. Rucker admitted being biased and stated he wanted control of these vehicles. *The report of vendor accounting from 7/1/92 - 11/30/92 was explained by Mr. Rucker at this time. Discrepancies in explanations of the voucher numbers and whether the first two digits indicated the year was questioned by Mr. Van Magness for some clarification in reading the print-out. *Mr. Murch claimed that this applied to the year, then indicated he was incorrect. *Mr. Phil Pacino gave input to this question and Mr. Rucker explained the voucher headings so that data would be understandable. The systems of computing the data was discussed. *Fred Van Magness asked about A. C. Electric Supply Company and backup data in line items. Mr. Van Magness had difficulty understanding data before him and needed explanations. *Mr. Van Magness asked for mathematical report information and also "date in"l"date out" explanations. *Mr. Van Magness asked why such quick turnover of payments between "date in" and "date out". The business process could still take place on the computer, but Mr. Van Magness indicated a better system would be to have one check per vendor per month so alleviate the cost and to become more cost effective in this process. *Mr. Rucker indicated that this was the system which was in place when he arrived at R M L D and this is the system they applied. *Carroll McMillan pointed out a question on discounts. Vim Keigley cites Page 4 of first documentation, about combining of accounts. *Bill Murphy asked a vendor question on Macintosh Software and IBM Software. Mr. Rucker did the explaining in this matter. *Chairman Richard Coco questioned how many credit cards R M L D accessed, and Mr. Rucker explained. *Building costs was next on the list of questions and Gerry MacDonald talked of the building and purchasing and cost overruns. *Mr. Rucker explained the conversion of the building and what is now being done structurally and questions and answers continued between Mr. Rucker and 7 Chairman Dick Coco on this subject. *Carroll McMillan indicated no record of the vote for this. *Mr. Rucker discussed certification letter for the Department of Revenue being a necessity. *Mr. Phil Pacino discussed the $1.4 million dollar payment. *The organizational chart was discussed as well as the actuarial study with questions and answers from members of the Board to Mr. Rucker. *Here, Bill Murphy had a petty cash question and asked what was bought from the Reading Rotary and Mr. Rucker explained. *Gerry MacDonald had a question on the American Express card and Mr. Rucker answered that they have no American Express use. *Travel questions and answers about fueling up vehicles with gas at R M L D rather than at service stations. Fred observed billing on a car rental and asked about availability of other R M L D vehicles. 1 *Union employees expense accounts was discussed by Fred Van Magness. He discussed meals and the patterns of charging, and noted management approval of these expense accounts. Vill Murphy also commented on these expense accounts. *Mr. Van Magness asked if movies were reimbursed and this was discussed because it appeared on an expense account. *Chairman Richard Coco asked for the policy manual on travel procedures. *Bill Murphy and Mr. Rucker discussed Thomas Cook Travel Agency. *Carroll McMillan discussed mathematical errors in the calculations on an expense report by a Michael Grunzweig, and noted that this had been approved. *Here, Chairman Coco told Mr. Rucker that a copy of the policy on travel was necessary so that the Finance Committee could review this document. *The summation of process was begun by Mr. Coco and he indicated that travel needs to be examined, and also the number of check issues be examined. There was a brief discussion as to whether or not the Town of Reading should be 1 in the municipal power business. *Mr. Van Magness indicated that he would like n take a draw on the question of having the Town of Reading in the municipal power business. *Chairman Coco indicated the necessity to check into R M L D to see if the Town of Reading wants to be in the business at a future meeting, and that there should be a motion to this effect. *Fred Van Magness sees small issues for R M L D to reevaluate practices and tightening up, and policy issues. However, Mr. Van Magness indicated to the group that on the whole, the Department is well run. MOTION: Gerry MacDonald moved to approve acceptance of data from the R M L D and deem this investigation closed. Jim Keigley seconded this move to approve. VOTE: 7 - 0 - 0 UNANIMOUSLYAPPROVED IV. NEXT MEETING OF READING FINANCE COMMITTEE *The next meeting of the Reading Finance Committee is the monthly regularly scheduled calendared meeting, to be held Wednesday, December 16 at 7:30 PM. V. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Fred Van Magness moved to adjourn this meeting of the Reading Finance Committee at 9:51 PM and Gerry MacDonald seconded this move to adjourn. VOTE: 7 - 0 - 0 UNANIMOUSLYAPPROVED *This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was then adjourned at 9:51 PM on the evening of Wednesday, December 9, 1992. Res c ully submitted . Susan Finn, Recorder Reading Finance Committee /sf j 12/12/92