HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GGAF_02.25.2016Notice of Meeting of the
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND FINANCE ADVISORY BOARD (GGAF)
City of Georgetown, Texas
February 25, 2016
The GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND FINANCE ADVISORY (GGAF) Board of Directors will meet on
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016 at 3:30 P.M. in the GEORGETOWN COMMUNICATIONS AND
TECHNOLOGY BUILDING (GCAT), LOCATED AT 510 WEST 9TH STREET, GEORGETOWN, TX.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Keith Brainard, Chair, Tommy Gonzalez, Ralph Mason, John Hesser
MEMBERS ABSENT: Thomas Bonham
STAFF/OTHERS
PRESENT: David Morgan, Laurie Brewer, Wayne Reed, Leigh Wallace, Lisa Haines, Nicole Abrego,
Stan Hohman, Paul Diaz, John Sullivan, Wayne Nero, Cory Tchida, Adam McCane
Executive Session
In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas Codes, Annotated, the
items listed below will be discussed in closed session and are subject to action in the regular session that follows.
Regular Session — Called to order at 3:35 p.m.
The GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND FINANCE ADVISORY Board meeting may, at any time, recess the Regular
Session to convene an Executive Session at the request of Keith Brainard, Chair for any purpose authorized by the
Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.)
Public Wishing to Address Council
On a subject that is posted on this agenda: Please fill out a speaker registration form. Clearly print your name and
the letter of the item on which you wish to speak and present it to the Chair or Board Liaison, preferably prior to the
start of the meeting. You will be called forward to speak when the Board considers that item.
On a subject not posted on the agenda: Persons may add an item to a future Board agenda by contacting the Liaison
prior to the creation of the agenda for the following meeting, with the subject matter of the topic they would like to
address and their name. The Board Liaison, Danella Elliott, can be reached at 512-930-3676 or
danella.elliott@georgetown.org.
Statutory Consent Agenda
The Statutory Consent Agenda includes non -controversial and routine items that Board may act on with one single
vote. A board member may pull any item from the Consent Agenda in order that the Board discuss and act upon it
individually as part of the Regular Agenda.
Legislative Regular Agenda
The Board will individually consider and possibly take action on any or all of the following items:
Keith Brainard, Chair, called meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.
A. Review minutes from the January 15, 2016 GGAF meeting - Danella Elliott, Executive Assistant
ALlotion by Hesser; second by Gonzalez. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
B. Acknowledgement of outgoing citizen -at -large member, Ralph Mason and acknowledgement of new
Finance Director, Leigh Wallace - Keith Brainard, GGAF Chair
Keith Brainard, Chair recognized exiting citizen member Ralph Mason for his 2 years of service. Ralph Mason
accepted the recognition by saying that it has been a rewarding experience working with this board and the
Georgetown City Council.
Mr. Brainard recognized and introduced Leigh Wallace as the new Finance Director giving a little professional
background.
Mr. Brainard introduced Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager and asked that she introduce the rest of the
Finance team that was present for the meeting. Laurie proceeded to recognize the staff she had representing the
departments under her direction including: Lisa Haines, Paul Diaz, Danella Elliott, Stan Hohman, and Nicole
Abrego.
Mr. Brainard also recognized new Assistant City Manager Wayne Reed.
C. Consideration and possible action approving a resolution giving staff the approval to conduct business with
various banking institutions and to appoint "Representatives of the Depositor" - Lisa Haines, Controller
and Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager
Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager informed the board that Lisa will be leaving the City. Took the
opportunity to assess the accounting team. Adding SR Accountant Kara McSwiggin and Accounting Supervisor
as signatures.
Tommy Gonzalez would like to meet Kara and Karrie, since they will have authority to sign for banking
transactions. Laurie clarified that the checks and balances are in place to oversee banking transactions.
John Hesser inquired about the checks & balances policy and who sets that policy. Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Hesser
would both like to see the policy that lines out the City's checks and balances procedure.
Motion by Gonzalez; second by Mason. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent)
D. Consideration and possible action for the approval to purchase vehicles and equipment in the amount of
$282,211.92 for Water and Wastewater Plant Operations - Stan Hohman, Fleet Maintenance Supervisor
and Leigh Wallace, Finance Director
Stan Hohman, Fleet Maintenance Supervisor listed all of the vehicles needed and identified where the money will
come from to cover these vehicles. Mr. Gonzalez asked Stan to confirm that these are new purchases. Stan
confirmed that they are new purchases and that they will be purchased at a price about 20% under dealer pricing.
Tommy Gonzalez asked about the number of vehicles that Fleet is managing and is concerned that we are adding
a lot of vehicles to our fleet. Mr. Gonzalez is concerned that our fleet may be getting too large for us to manage
if we don't keep a handle on these purchases. Stan stated that he is maintaining 548 vehicles as of the end of the
year.
Motion by Gonzalez; second by Hesser. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
E. Consideration and possible action to approve the purchase of emergency medical supplies from Life -Assist
established through a competitive RFP process at a cost not to exceed $275,000, for the remainder of fiscal
year 2015-2016 - John Sullivan, Fire Chief
Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager clarified that this purchase decision was not made through the RFP
process but based on low bid meeting certain specifications.
John Sullivan, Fire Chief addressed board with information about why they chose Life Assist. Life Assist gives
them the best pricing while still giving them an expected level of quality, product longevity, and delivery
timelines. John gave the board some details about what they will be purchasing and how the pricing is
competitive.
Tommy Gonzalez asked if we are working through a learning curve to find the better pricing opportunities for the
emergency medical supplies. Also asked where we are with our opportunities to purchase through larger volume
vendors. John said that he is working with Legal and Ellis County and Arlington, Texas.
Keith Brainard, Chair, asked how the EMS program is going. John feels comfortable. Should have a good feel
for accurate numbers at the 6 month mark, about May/June.
David Morgan, City Manager, stated that there are plans to bring some information to Council at the second
meeting in March. We had more start-up costs than anticipated, will have a clearer picture after summer. More
information will be provided as we start into the budget cycle.
Tommy Gonzalez asked for more detail about start-up costs. David stated that would be presented to Council at
the March meeting. Mr. Gonzalez does expect that there is going to be a bit of a loss up front, but wants this
information to be clear to Council.
David reminded the board that the decision to move forward with the EMS program wasn't a purely financial
decision; it was also about providing service.
John Hesser, would it make sense to have a monthly report to GGAF regarding the EMS program? Submit some
performance so a trend can be seen.
Ralph Mason, is there a plan to help recover some of the uncollectables? Are there any federal or state sources
to help with the uncollectables? John said he is not aware of any. Mr. Mason would encourage Chief to pursue
any opportunity to help cover the costs of Medicare patients since the government does require that we provide
the service to people that cannot pay.
Motion by Hesser, second by Mason. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
F. Consideration and possible action to approve the purchase of emergency medical supplies from Bound
Tree Medical established through a competitive RFP process at a cost not to exceed $25,000, for the
remainder of fiscal year 2015-2016 - John Sullivan, Fire Chief.
John Sullivan, Fire Chief, very similar to previous item. This is for items that are not available through the
previous vendor. Will be purchasing medical supplies from the vendor who provides the best pricing and delivery
time.
Keith Brainard, Chair, suggested that a change be made to the Fiscal & Budgetary Policy to allow purchases from
multiple vendors to be combined into 1 item.
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Hesser. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
G. Consideration and possible action to approve a proposed plan to expend project savings recognized from
the closeout of the Public Safety Operations & Training Center project - Cory Tchida, Assistant Chief of
Police
Wayne Nero, Police Chief states that there is about $647K in funding remaining, $44K remains in the FFP leaving
about $603K. Chiefs are proposing that this funding go toward items that were cut during last year's budget
process.
Tommy Gonzalez, how many of the items on the list are items that were cut from the budget and how many are
new things that FD & PD would like to do? Are the items being asked for items that would have been asked for
anyway, or are just being asked for because there is extra money?
Mr. Gonzalez would like the Chiefs to bring back actual vs. estimated numbers.
David Morgan, City Manager, clarify that this item is simply to determine if staff is on the right track with this
idea. Staff doesn't want to spend a lot of time getting formal bids if this list of items is not on track with what
Council is thinking.
Mr. Gonzalez said that we have told the citizens that we are under budget on this project; make sure we think
critically about our needs.
Mr. Brainard is concerned that we are proposing to use bond funds for items that are short-term items; the life
expectancy is considerably less than the amount of time we will be paying on the bonds issued to pay for the
items.
John Sullivan, Fire Chief stated that there are a few time sensitive items on the list. The Thin Clients and Mopier
are needed for the EOC.
Mr. Morgan asked that the board consider recommending the purchase of the items need for the EOC
Enhancements and the Flash Over Chamber.
John Hesser would like to see a list of priorities, the items that are needed vs. the items that are wanted.
Motion to approve EOC Enhancements not to exceed $35,000 and Flash Over Chamber purchase not to exceed
$56, 000 and all other items to come back to a fixture meeting with more specific numbers and recommended
expenditures, second by Mason. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
H. Review and discussion of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and results of the audit for Fiscal
Year Ended, September 30, 2015 - Lisa Haines, Controller, Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager and
Leigh Wallace, Finance Director
Lisa Haines, Controller and Adam McCain, Weaver & Tidwell presented CAFR presentation.
Adam McCane, addressed the board and expressed his appreciation of the work that staff does to help prepare
this audit. The City has a great finance staff. Adam touched on a few highlights of the document and their
auditing procedure.
Motion by Hesser, second by Gonzalez. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent)
I. Discussion of the City's miscellaneous long-term commitments, reservations and other unfunded liabilities
- Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager
Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager addressed the board regarding the unfunded liabilities as represented on
the attached table.
Tommy Gonzalez would like to see some clarification on the revenue amounts from the Cemetery Fund and set
and include a target amount. Include this target amount where applicable.
Keith Brainard, Chair, would like to see the sick and vacation variable numbers. Tommy Gonzalez see the 240
hour carry over number is too high. Please bring the sick leave and vacation policies to GGAF for further review.
Mr. Brainard asked if $60K is enough for the Public Safety replacement amount enough. Please check that during
the budget process.
Mr. Gonzalez, asked if we have developed a rating system for us to use for the condition of sidewalks? How do
we know if we are maintaining the desired level of maintenance? Laurie stated that there are plans to move streets
and sidewalks into the Asset Management System.
Mr. Brainard commended staff on the continued improvement of the list of the City's long-term commitment,
reservations and unfunded liabilities and noted that it is a valuable piece of information.
No action required.
J. Consideration and possible recommendation on the potential uses of the Council's Excess Revenues Special
Revenue Fund/Year End 2015 General Fund excess - Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager
Laurie Brewer presented the total available in the City Council's Excess Revenues Special Revenue Fund.
Keith Brainard, Chair, took to the board to mark-up board thoughts for uses for these funds. Mr. Brainard noted
to the board that they do not need to recommend the use of all of these funds. Recommend an annual required
contribution to the Rainy Day Fund from the General Fund of 3% to 5%.
David Morgan, City Manager, addressed the board about using some of these funds for the Grace Heritage
building.
Total available in City Council SRF: $1,085,000
Rainy Day Fund $500,000
Grace Heritage $150,000
Legal Contingency $250,000
-------------
$900,000
Remaining Funds $185,000 (keep for future use)
$1,085,000
Tommy Gonzalez asked for clarification on what the "Rainy Day Fund" can be used for. Mr. Brainard responded
by saying it can be used for stop gap, not for shiny new items. It's meant to cover in the case of a loss of revenue.
David Morgan recommended that this fund not get to large, and Mr. Gonzalez recommended that a cap be defined
and if we hit that mark and a policy will state how those monies will be used. He also suggested that this fund be
triggered by a loss in revenues and that specific uses be defined.
John Hesser suggested that this fund be used to help protect our assets.
Susan Firth addressed the board. Thanked the board.
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Hesser. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
K. Adjourn
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Hesser. Approved: 4-1 (Bonham absent).
Mr. Brainard thanked Ralph Mason and John Hesser for their service on this board.
Brainard, Chair, adjourned this meeting at 5:33p.m.
I -" _),�/1�11,114
Keith Brainard Date
Board Chair
Thomas Bonham Date
Board Secretary
anella Elliott Date
Board Liaison