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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-09-02 Finance Committee MinutesM I N U T E S R E A D I N G F I N A N C E C O M M I T T E E S E P T E M B E R 2, 1 9 9 2 This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was held in the Conference Room of Town Hall on the evening of Wednesday, September 2, 1992. Chairman Dick Coco called this meeting to order at 7:30 PM. MEMBERS PRESENT: Dick Coco, Chairman Fred Van Magness, Vice Chairman Liz Green Bill Albro Jim Kiegly Gerry MacDonald Carroll MacMillan Nate White OTHERS PRESENT: Maria Silvaggi, Reporter, THE READING CHRONICLE I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL *Chairman Dick Coco called this meeting to order at 7:30 PM and led the roll call of the Board. II. NEW BUSINESS A. Progress Billing/Peat Marwick Audit MOTION: Fred VanMagness moved to accept the progress billing and the Peat Marwick audit for $10,000 and Gerry MacDonald seconded this move to approve. VOTE: 7 - 1 - 0 APPROVED DISCUSSION: Mr. Carroll MacMillan asks to be on record as not being in favor of this approval of paying this bill and talked of expecting to hear something from the Committee on this issue. Liz Green discussed the audit and the billing before the Committee. Chairman Dick Coco informed the group that there is no £ormal-A.udit_C.ommitte.e-.n_theso_wn_s_t.r_uc_t_ur_e_and that -1- Peter Hechenbleikner will proceed to put an Audit Committee in place by the end of September. Bill Albro spoke of the payment scheduling and Jim Kiegly mentioned the importance of this. B. Capital Improvement Advisory Board *Dick Coco reported that. little word has been received from any interested people in lieu of serving on the Capital Improvement Advisory Board. *An article will appear in the Reading Chronicle newspaper to get this rolling. II. OLD BUSINESS A. Grant for Education *Nate White discussed being at the recent School Committee meeting to see how the grant coming to the Town of Reading would be applied, and also how formal application would be accomplished. *Talk ensued regarding resolving the budget and minor impacts on the Town side of the Budget. *Talk of the Benefits package needing treatment. *Some of the put-backs will have a $30,000 or $40,000 impact: *The grant program proposal was read by Nate at this time. *It was mentioned that lynn Bok, former Assistant Superintendent of Schools in the Town of Reading, was noted to have already left this position. *Carroll MacMillan came back to discussion regarding the audit and voiced his "less than satisfied feeling with the Finance Committee" regarding the audits and he is baffled and wants this to be policied by the Selectmen. Mr. MacMillan feels that Finance Committee is remiss on the audit. III. AUDIT REVISION A. Water/Sewer *Fred VanMagness instructed the Finance Committee at this time that he has documentation just received and invoices were discussed. *With regard to the invoices, Fred has some questions on Mahoney's Rocky Ledge Farm. -2- *Mr. Albro had a determination of vendor question that he asked at this time. *Chairman Coco explained why he was starting with Water/Sewer. *Gerry MacDonald has some questions of items on the invoices, but said that many items were illegible. Gerry indicated that he felt that most of the items seemed valid. *Supporting details were questioned with regard to invoices for P and S Country Store. *Invoice copies were distributed to the Committee at this time to peruse and give commentary. *Carroll MacMillan indicated that it seemed to him that outside contractors are being hired and he feels that there are people on the Town payroll that can perform these duties that outside contractors are fulfilling. Labor charges are questioned by Carroll also. *Fred Van Magness did not see any approval signatures. Fred also had questions on the Water/Sewer charge for going to houses for deliveries. *Fred also asked questions regarding Town Hall and the foundation work and Saturday overtime. Why? *Carroll MacMillan indicated separate balance sheets for Water and Sewer. *Fred asked if these were indicative of the work that has been done. Test-checks were discussed for performance *Fred would appreciate qualified answers to questions. *Mahoney Rocky Ledge,P and S to be clarified with regard to outside laymen, timesheets not being signed. *Carroll MacMillan discussed the LMillion from General Electric in a suit, to be used solely for water treatment plant. Carroll was told that the 1 Million was spent on improvements. This came up again during the Budget discussions. A copy of the agreement by General Electric and the Town of Reading was read aloud by Carroll MacMillan at this time. *Financial statements of cash flow for Water/Sewer charges was talked over. *A suggestion that a letter be written to request an audit for the 1Million settlement for General Electric. *Balance sheet was discussed and answered by Nate White. Unbilled receivables were discussed by Nate as well. *The suggested letter should also include an explanation of user changes in Accounts Receivable. r *Fred asks how we should proceed at this point. *Bill Albro asked for a list of vendors and the monies spent. -3- *Fred asked the question of what to do with all this data that we may obtain. j *Bill Albro wants the invoices pre-approved. *Nate indicated that significant questions have been discussed tonight. Nate would like to have the time sheet explained. *Fred VarMagness has a question on Heffron Asphalt on 70 tons billing. Water and Sewer paid for 50 tons. Why? This is a question Fred wants answered. *The December 27, 1991 billing for Micro Age for $3300 needs discussion. *The 1992 Ford Truck for $16119/$13952 charged to one account, $2200 went to Supplies of Water Treatment Plant. *Chairman Dick Coco will compile a complete list of questions for Peter Hechenbleikner so that answers may be obtained to satisfy this Finance Committee. *Fred indicated that he sees another article that he wants to question; namely, 1250 pounds of chrorine'for $1452. *At this point in the meeting, The Chairman asked if anyone from the audience would like to take the floor. The audience participants indicated that they did not want the floor, that they were attending the meeting in observance only. B. School Department Audit *Questions were asked about what must be done to complete this audit. Is the Finance Committee in a position to perform this audit? *Finance Committee should go to the Board of Selectmen to hire a public accountant. *Carroll MacMillan talked about the Bylaws and cooperation with the Board of Selectmen. He talked of doing the preliminaries before spending money. *Nate White had a policy judgment question. *Liz Greene indicated narrowing down the focus of what is to be looked at. *Bill Albro indicated that a procedural manual is necessary. *Fred Van Magness went. through the steps taken for an audit. Discussion followed between Dick Coco and Fred. Fred simply wants to know what is the Finance Committee's responsibility. *Carroll MacMillan indicated disagreement with the work done by the Finance Committee at this point in the meeting. C. Budget Actual I *The Committee talked of coming up with definite action for the School Committee. *Fred Van Magness indicated that Finance Committee must set an agenda regarding this. *Nate told of asking the Townspeople about that which they wanted investigated. IV. NEXT FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1992 *The next meeting of the Finance Committee has been scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30 PM. V. ADJOURNMENT *This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was then adjourned by: MOTION: Fred Van Magness moved to adjourn this meeting of the Reading Finance Committee at 10:30 PM and Gerry MacDonald seconded this move to approve adjournment for the evening. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED FOR ADJOURNMENT Respectfully submitted, ue Finn, Secretary Re ding Finance Committee ading, MA 01867 /s 09/13/92 -5-