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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Finance Committee - 12/13/2013 -_____C .Finance Administration____I 0—a I I 2~FloorI-Ort CoLLins Fort Collins,CO 80522 970.221.6788 ,/~fl_ttP1%!=iiiiIlIIIII_PIIIIIlII_IIIIItbbIb%_.%~~970~22t6782~fax Council Audit &Finance Committee Minutes 12/16/13 10:00 to 12:00 CIC Room Council Attendees:Mayor Karen Weitkunat,Bob Overbeck,Ross Cunniff Staff:Darin Atteberry,Mike Beckstead,Josh Birks,Chris Donegon, Susie Gordon,Bruce Hendee,Tom Leeson,Mindy Pfleiger, Lucinda Smith,John Voss,Katie Wiggett Others:Dale Adamy,Kevin Jones (Chamber of Commerce) Approval of the Minutes Mayor Karen Weitkunat moved to approve the revised minutes from the October21 meeting and the minutes from the November 18 meeting.Bob Overbeck seconded the motion.Minutes approved unanimously. Rescheduling January’s Meeting Mike Beckstead asked the Committee to consider moving the meeting scheduled for January13 to January27 due to a conflict on the 13th~Darin Atteberry said that he will not be able to make the January27 meeting,however,the committee could move forward with the planned topics without him. Council Finance will meet at 10a.m.on January 27,2014. Road to Zero Waste —How Much Will it Cost? Bruce Hendee explained that Staff brought the “Road to Zero”project to council at the November26 work session.Since then,Staff has worked with a consulting team to prepare a pro forma that shows an annualized budget through 2025.Though still a work in progress,Staff brought the pro forma and plan to the Finance Committee for feedback before the December17 council meeting. Lucinda Smith noted that several ideas expressed in the Road to Zero Waste Plan have financial impacts to the community,including both new City programs that would be funded through BFO or a new fee and private sector projects such as a regional composting facility,regional construction and demolition (C&D)facility,and a glass sorting plant.At the work session,Council asked for a projection of cost for the Plan.The pro-forma projects cost using an 11-12 year implementation timeframe.It is based on charging a $.65/month fee to households and businesses ($7.80/year).While a fee is staffs preferred mechanism,other possible funding sources are being looked at. o 0 ,~Eon~~Lins The capital costs for the necessary facilities are estimated to be: •Composting $7 9 million •Construction and demolition (C&D)-$5-7 million •Reuse -$500,000 TOTAL:$12.5 -$16.5 million These investments,along with the rest of the policies and programs recommended in this Plan,would contribute significantly to recovering the $6.5 million value of materials from the Fort Collins community that gets buried in regional landfills every year.Lucinda explained that the alternative to these investments is spending $20 $80 million on a new landfill once the Larimer County landfill closes in approximately 12 to 15 years.In Summary,Lucinda noted that the estimated cost per household and businesses in the 11-12 years would be $69/year.This is a very low cost compared to the cost of not implementing the program. Darin Atteberry said that,from Council feedback,it is clear that we deeply support the “Road to Zero Waste”initiative.However,the “how to”still needs more work.Staff should be very direct about the fact that the Larimer County landfill will close in the near future.We also need to know what are local partners are doing in anticipation of future landfill needs.Finally,Darin emphasized the importance of communicating to the private sector that the City is not planning to complete with them;we appreciate their work and want to help them continue to grow. Lucinda said that one of staffs major strategies is to create a regional plan.Also,the City’s major role in implementing “Zero Waste”will be to create interest and provide incentive—not to complete with services currently offered by private businesses. Bob Overbeck asked,since the City will always need a landfill,what will the City’s options be once Larimer’s is closed.Susie answered that there is another nearby landfill that the City could use.Larimer County could also create a new one.Bob asked if staff has contacted any secondary market people about the possibilities if we move forward with this plan.Susie answered that they have not yet,but they know who the major players are. The Mayor asked Staff to get more concrete numbers on what the cost of a new County landfill would be to the City and what the cost would be to existing private companies and give Council a comparison of current costs to the Plan’s cost. The Mayor also asked Staff to highlight a 2020 goal;the current plan goes out into the 2030s.It would help to see an inter-term goal.Lucinda said that the Plan would be entirely implemented by 2020, making a 2020 goal easy to outline.Ross Cunniff asked that Staff give a clearer picture of how this plan will affect the individual in Fort Collins.If the City or County has to build a new landfill,some of that cost will probably be passed off to the individual through such things as curbside pickup fees.There is no doubt of the plan’s benefit to the environment,but we still need to see the cost. Darin asked Staff to work on creating a graphic for the data that the average citizen can relate to,a graphic that can communicate at a glance the benefit and cost of the plan.Bob Overbeck noted that it would also be informative to look at how much waste was added to the landfill due to recent natural disasters. r tC~Lg~s Audit Findings and Recommendations:Status of Corrective Actions John Voss said that in McGladrey’s July 2013 Report to City Council,McGladrey identified a few deficiencies in internal control and compliance.Staff has since prepared responses to all items listed in each of the reports.Only two items remain unresolved: 1.Administering Federal Awards—this is related to reporting in the CDBG program.The City agrees with Mccladrey’s recommendation.Discussions are in process between HUD and the Sustainability Service Area Director on how to resolve this.Though not yet completely resolved, Staff anticipates its complete resolve before the next audit. 2.Community Development Block Grant —The City charges payroll costs to the grant based on estimated allocations determined during the budget process—OMB Circular A-87 requires at a minimum that the City perform a budget to actual comparison on an annual basis to ensure actual time spent working on the grant.The City has not been performing the comparison. Staff agrees with the recommendation,but is still considering how to do the time reporting/budget comparison. Ross asked if Staff had an estimate time on when they would have a process for payroll time tracking. John Voss answered that it will definitely be resolved in 2014.Ross also noted that Staff has done a lot of work in grants compliance.Mike agreed,explaining that in 2012,Staff rewrote the Procurement Manual to ensure compliance with Federal purchases.Staff also filled a Grants Compliance position in April 2013.The Grants Compliance Coordinator has created a Policy and Process for grants,worked with ELT and SIT,and has created several trainings for Staff in 2014.The process for getting grants has been centralized and has become very prescriptive. Financial Management Policy Overview Mike Beckstead explained that Staff has been reengineering our Finance policies to improve transparency,to ensure ongoing fiscal stability and consistency,and to provide guidance and direction in decision making.Staff has prepared a webpage on CityNet for City employees to have easy access to the policies and procedures listed with their last modified date.The policies are divided into “Financial Management Policies —Approved by City Council,”“URA Financial Management Policies —Approved by City Council/URA Board,”and “Financial Management Policies Approved by City Manager or CFO.” Mike said that the Finance Committee will review one or two policies a quarter until all have been updated.Then each will be reviewed every 3 years in a cycle. Ross asked that the information on the internal mock up webpage be put on fcgov.com so it can be open to the public.Staff will have this information put on the external webpage.