DATE: June 13, 2006
Members present: Marty Krueger, Joan Fordham, Tommy Lee Bychinski, Tom Kriegl, Bill Wenzel
Others present: Kerry Beghin, Carol Gasser, Kathy Schauf, Pat Carignan, Bonnie Konkel, Bev Muhlenbeck, Lynn Horkan, Chad Hendee, Lowell Haugen, Michelle Koehler
Chairman Bychinski called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m.
Certification that the open meeting requirement was met. Motion by Fordham,
second by Kriegl to adopt the agenda. Motion carried. Motion by Fordham,
second by Kriegl to approve the minutes from previous meetings, with
the clarification that Kriegl stated government cannot grow out of property
taxes.
Motion carried.
None.
None.
Discuss possible policy detailing procedures for projects or expenditures anticipated to exceed a given threshold.
Kathy Schauf, Interim Administrative Coordinator, updated the Committee on continued development of a format for relaying information for major decisions. She has queried other counties, and none have said they use a standard format.
Supervisor Kriegl wanted clarification of the new per diem reporting system. He felt that too much time is spent tracking a small part of the budget, but not enough energy is spent tracking the larger revenue dollars. Schauf explained how the new per diem process should work and emphasized that the new process will be more efficient and the committee members should see payment in a more timely fashion.
Chad Hendee, Assistant Corporation Counsel, updated the committee on steps that have been taken recently to collect on the outstanding receivables from the landfill operations. He said that several envelopes were returned as undeliverable but they did get responses from two customers, one of whom paid their outstanding balance. Hendee emphasized that the Corporation Counsel department is not a collection agency and should not be used for this purpose on a regular basis. Supervisor Fordham agreed and felt departments should be aware that they are responsible for their own collections. Discussion followed regarding departments that have large receivables to collect and whether or not having an ongoing relationship with a collection agency would be beneficial for the County. Schauf expressed concern about using a collection agency since the largest collection efforts would center around clients from the Health Care Center and Human Services, which need to be handled more sensitively.
Consider resolution accepting donation from St. Clare Foundation to Public
Health.
Motion by Fordham, second by Kriegl to accept the donation
from St. Clare Foundation.
Motion carried.
Michelle Koehler, Personnel Director, discussed a Commission on Aging position which is classified differently on paper than it was budgeted for. She is requesting approval to reclassify this position to a grade 3 which will not have a monetary impact since it was budgeted at that level. Motion by Wenzel, second by Fordham to approve reclassifying the position to a grade 3. Motion carried.
Motion by Fordham, second by Krueger to approve rescinding
Resolution 149-05, in effect making direct deposit voluntary.
Motion carried.
Lynn Horkan, Human Services Business Manager, gave an update of the status of accounts receivable in the Human Services department. Horkan walked through their billing and collection process. She also explained the sliding fee scale that their department uses to determine a client's ability to pay. Discussion followed regarding the receivables that are outstanding now and how those numbers came to be. Horkan explained that a small percentage of their clientele have no ability to pay but they tend to be the most costly patients to treat and in turn make up a large part of their outstanding receivable balance.
Motion by Krueger, second
by Fordham to appoint the chair and vice chair of the Finance
Committee as members of the Capital Improvement Team.
Motion carried.
The deadline to submit personnel and position change requests has passed. These requests are being reviewed and compiled and will be ready to be discussed at a joint Finance and Personnel Committee meeting July 14, 2006 at 8:15 AM. Supervisor Kriegl asked if the committee would be willing to alter the dates planned for the final review of the department budgets. Committee agreed and the new dates are set for September 13, 14 and 15, 2006.
Carignan updated the Committee on departmental activities including
the credit card payment process which is almost ready to
start. Motion by Krueger, second by Fordham, to approve the
payment of the Treasurer's invoices in the amount of $1,702.02.
Motion
carried.
Beghin updated the Committee on activities of the department
for the past month, including upcoming projects and issues.
Audit is completed and went very well overall. Motion by
Fordham, second by Wenzel to approve the request for one employee from
the Accounting Department and one employee from the MIS department to attend
the 2006 MUNIS users conference in Chicago in October 2006 for a cost not
to exceed $1,400 per person. Motion carried. Motion by Fordham, second
by Kriegl to approve the payment of Accounting invoices in the amount of
$51,731.35 and county invoices in the amount of $3,533,487.66.
Motion carried.
Motion by Wenzel, second by Kriegl to adjourn. Motion carried. The next regular Finance Committee meeting will be July 14, 2006 directly after the joint meeting with personnel.
Respectfully Submitted: William F. Wenzel, Secretary