DATE: July 10, 2007
Members present: Marty Krueger, Joan Fordham, Tommy Lee Bychinski, Tom Kriegl, William Wenzel
Others present: Kerry Beghin, Carol Thompson, Kelly Wilcock, Lowell Haugen, Charlie Montgomery, Herman Tschudy, Ken Nelson, Dan Fosdick, Brad Viegut and Claire Peterchak with Robert W. Baird & Co., Michael Harrigan and James Mann from Elhers and Associates, Inc., Joel Pittelman and Brenda Krueger from Springsted
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bychinski at 8:30 a.m. Certification of Open Meeting compliance was given.
Motion by Fordham, second by Krueger to adopt the agenda. Motion carried.
Motion by Fordham, second by Kriegl to approve the minutes of previous meetings. Motion carried.
Resolution Authorizing a Contractual Agreement for Financial Advisor Services Related to Financing of Sauk County Continuum of Care Facilities.
Brad Viegut and Claire Peterchak with Robert W. Baird & Co. discussed their company and the services they can provide. Headquarters are in Milwaukee but they have offices nationwide. Baird has been working with Sauk County since 1991. Baird offers flexibility in that they can handle underwritten direct issues or do public bids. NASDA licenses the Baird employees. Flat fee of $5,000 for each issuance plus expenses. As an underwriter, fees are based on a percentage of the issuance.
Michael Harrigan and James Mann from Elhers and Associates, Inc. discussed their company and the services they can provide. They are independent and have no banking connections that could result in conflicts of interest. Elhers will only look at the issuance from the County's side of selling and not look at the project from a buyers standpoint. Advisory fees are capped at $47,830, including bond counsel, for a $15,000,000 issue. Office in Brookfield. They have several Wisconsin counties that are current and long-standing clients.
Joel Pittelman and Brenda Krueger from Springsted discussed their company and the services they can provide. Krueger has 20 years of experience and Pittelman has been doing bond work his entire adult life. Springsted can provide a full range of services beyond the bond process. Springsted is independent and not a broker. They believe that a broker has two clients with opposing goals. They have a library and librarians who are available to help with research. Set fee for bond issue and other services are provided as part of that fee. Estimated fees for $15,000,000 bond issue is $28,900. Joel advised that costs of issuance are an insignificant part of this project. Decision should be based on services provided and confidence in the company.
Members of the committee discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each company that made presentations. Motion by Krueger, second by Wenzel to establish a contractual agreement with Robert W. Baird & Co. for financial advisor services related to financing of Sauk County Continuum of Care facilities. Aye - 4, No - 1 (Kreigl). Motion carried.
Consider Housing Authority request for funds for Winfield Apartments.
Charlie Montgomery, Kelly Wilcock, Herman Tschudy, Ken Nelson, and Dan Fosdick (Heartland Properties) came to request funds to purchase Winfield apartments which have been owned by Heartland but managed by the Housing Authority. Appraised value of the property is $1.5 million. The housing authority needs an estimated $170,000 cash to complete the purchase of the property. Heartland is willing to waive the tax liability expenses in the hopes of getting this sale completed within the next 30 to 60 days. Contingency fund has money available that could be used for this project. Payment in Lieu of Taxes will continue to be paid to the City of Reedsburg. Krueger expressed his displeasure that the Housing Authority has request sizable funds outside of the normal budget process. Dan explained that there is a ready market to outside buyers and any new owner would be required to keep the property as low-income housing for another 15 years. Kriegl suggested the idea of loaning the money to the housing authority with a schedule to have it paid back. Motion by Krueger, second by Kriegl to recommend a transfer from the Contingency Fund of $165,000 plus $5,000 for closing costs to be given to the Sauk County Housing Authority to be used to purchase the Winfield Apartments. Motion carried.
Update on financial performance of the Health Care Center:
Thompson gave a brief summary of the reasons for the fluctuation of the aged receivable balances over the past year. Beghin explained that at this point we do not expect the actual expenses for 2007 to differ significantly from the 2007 budget. Kriegl is requesting a financial analysis of the ongoing cost of the facility that the Continuum of Care committee is requesting that the County Board approve on Tuesday.
Update on the 2008 budget process:
CIP team will meet on Friday. Motion by Krueger, second by Fordham to appoint Wenzel as the second member of the Finance Committee to sit on the CIP team. Motion carried. Fordham volunteered to attend Friday's meeting if Kriegl was unable to attend. Kriegl produced examples of the calculations to explain his request to remove the tax levy attributed to the vacancy factor for the four largest departments. Fordham recommended producing some reports in the future to show us how this vacancy factor affects each departments' bottom lines. Kriegl requested the vacancy factor calculations to be produced before reviewing the 2008 budget.
Treasurer's Department Update.
Motion by Krueger, second by Fordham to approve the payment of the Treasurer's bills in the amount of $1,203.46 Motion carried. Carignan discussed the process they are following to try to return unclaimed funds to Sauk County residents. She also explained that receipts are no longer being sent for second installment tax payments without a pre-addressed, stamped envelope.
Accounting Department Update:
Beghin updated the Committee on departmental activities. Working to finish the financial statements related to the 2006 audit. Mediation is helping to settle two union contracts. Closed 2006 in the MUNIS system. Motion by Krueger, second by Fordham to approve payment of Accounting invoices in the amount of $33,908.00, and County invoices in the amount of $2,956,523.94. Motion carried.
Motion by Krueger, second by Fordham to adjourn. Motion carried. The next meeting will be just prior to the County Board session on July 17 to approve payments, and the next regular Finance Committee meeting will be on August 14 at 8:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
William F. Wenzel
Finance Committee Secretary