TOWN OF MADISON BOARD OF FINANCE REGULAR MEETING, October 21, 2015 Approved November 18, 2015 Present: Joseph MacDougald, Mark Casparino, Scott Gyllensten, Bennett Pudlin, Jennifer Tung, Sharon Kokoruda Also present: Fillmore McPherson, First Selectman; Diane Stadterman, Board of Selectmen Stacy Nobitz, Finance Director; Austin Hall, Senior Citizen Director; Debra Milardo, Director of Human Resources; Wendy Oberg, Senior Services Commission; Gus Horvath, Joe Beerbower, members of the public; MCTV Mr. MacDougald called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. REGULAR SESSION 1. Pledge of Allegiance. The Board of Finance and members of the audience stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Approval of minutes September 16, 2015. Page 3, Item 10, second paragraph, third line He should be changed to Mr. Pudlin. On motion made by Mr. Casparino, and seconded by Mr. Pudlin, the Board voted to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 16, 2015 as submitted. Mr. MacDougald, Mr. Casparino, Mr. Pudlin and Ms. Tung voted in favor of the motion and Mr. Gyllensten and Ms. Kokoruda abstained. 3. Chairman s comments. Mr. MacDougald acknowledged that this is the last meeting for Scott Gyllensten as a member of the Board of Finance. He thanked Mr. Gyllensten for his dedicated service during his time on the Board. 4. Citizen and Finance member comments. Selectwoman Stadterman spoke in support of the request for a Special Appropriation in the amount of $15,000 for staffing at the Senior Center Café and a Supplemental Special Appropriation in the amount of $5,000 for the Senior Center Café program. She has noticed that the meal program is Page 1
having a positive effect on the programs at the Senior Center by providing a positive environment for a healthy meal and an opportunity for socialization. The program is helping to form a sense of community and camaraderie at the Center. Wendy Oberg noted that activity at the Center has increased with the implementation of the new meal program and she requested support for the special appropriation requests. Mr. Horvath requested Board of Finance support for the special appropriation requests for the Senior Center noting that he agrees the number of individuals utilizing the Center has been increasing with the implementation of the new meal program. Ms. Tung commented that she is opposed to the draft Charter specifically because of provisions that would allow the Board of Selectmen to override a Board of Finance action and because of provisions that would reduce to ability for the public to vote on out-ofbudget expenses. NEW BUSINESS 5. Discuss and take action to approve a Special Appropriation in the amount of $15,000 for staffing at the Senior Center Café. Austin Hall provided the Board members with information on the Senior Center Café meal program. He noted that in early August they started serving meals so he has the statistics for August and September available. During this period the revenue has been $9,400 and the expenses have been $8,230 so they are currently approximately $1,000 to the good. In addition, funds from a donation are used as needed to help cover expenses. He explained that the program requires individuals to call the office by noon the previous day to order a lunch so there has been little or no waste in the program. Through September they have served 1,028 meals at the Center and 1,239 Meals on Wheels meals, for an average of 30 MOW meals served per day. In addition, they had a picnic at the Surf Club and 42 people attended. Mr. Hall explained that the request for $15,000 for staffing is to cover an additional 7.5 hours for the Café Manager to bring him to 36.5 hours, additional hours for the server to bring her to 29.5 hours per week so they are available to assist the Café Manager for food prep work and 15 hours per week for a new dishwasher position. They will also be asking for a supplemental appropriation under Item #6 to provide for an additional 15 hour per week server which will help allow the Center to provide smoother delivery of the meals. Mr. Pudlin commented that he agrees the meal program has been very successful and he supports the request for additional help to keep the program running smoothly. The capacity of the Café is 60 and currently somewhere between 30 40 individuals are utilizing this service so they are already close to capacity. In response to a question by Mr. Casparino, Mr. Hall noted that since the room capacity is 60 they would not be able to expand the program further than this maximum even if further additional staff was provided. Page 2
In response to a question by Mr. Gyllensten, Mr. Hall noted that once the Café Manager is moved to full time, he will be eligible for benefits and will be choosing to receive the payment in lieu of insurance. In response to a question by Ms. Tung, Mr. Hall noted that the cost to the seniors is $4.00 per meal which covers the cost of food but not staff. Mr. Pudlin recommended that more thought be given to further implementation of a sliding scale for identified seniors if the meal cost is increased in the future. Mr. Hall noted that they started out with a recommended $3.00 donation per meal but then went to a $4.00 per meal charge. He is not certain what the price threshold would be which would impact the number of people participating in the program. He believes that raising the meal price to $5.00 at this time would be difficult for many seniors especially those who attend multiple days. He would not want to discourage participation since this is the primary meal and primary source of socialization for many seniors. In response to a question by Ms. Tung regarding the possible impact winter weather would have on participation in the meal program, Mr. Hall noted that most of the people who come to the Center are not snowbirds so he does not anticipate seeing a change in participation in the winter. Mr. MacDougald commented the implementing the staff change at this time will provide 6 months of important data that will be available to review when looking at the proposed FY 16-17 Senior Center budget. On motion made by Mr. Pudlin, and seconded by Mr. Casparino, the Board voted unanimously to approve the request of Senior Services for a special appropriation of $15,000 from Contingency to Account #1-100-6170-0000-1040-700-00, Café Wages, for staffing changes at the Senior Center Café. 6. Discuss and take action on a Supplemental Special Appropriation in the amount of $5,000 for the Senior Center Café program. On motion made by Mr. Pudlin, and seconded by Mr. Casparino, the Board voted to approve the request of Senior Services for a special appropriation of $5,000 from Contingency to Account #1-100-6170-0000-1040-700-00, Café Wages, for staffing changes at the Senior Center Café. The motion was approved with Mr. MacDougald, Mr. Casparino, Mr. Gyllensten, Mr. Pudlin, and Ms. Kokoruda voting in favor and Ms. Tung opposed. 7. Discuss and take action to approve a Line-Item Transfer request of $201,554.39 from Salary Adjustments (1-100-8100-0000-1330-830-00) for Salary Reconciliation into Town departments. Mr. McPherson noted that the request for this line-item transfer of $201,554.39 has not yet gone before the Board of Selectmen. He noted that this transfer was a culmination of the annual salary increases and reconciliations for staff and changes in job descriptions, reclassifications, reorganization and salary structure as a result of work completed by the Human Resources Director. Page 3
Ms. Milardo provided a breakdown of the total line item request noting that $116,025.51 is for the annual increase and contract negotiations, $55,689 is for a retirement package and $54,839 is for reclassifications. Mr. Gyllensten recommended that additional detailed information be provided to show specific positions impacted by the changes. Ms. Tung requested that a reorganization chart be provided before the Board takes action. On motion made by Mr. Gyllensten, and seconded by Ms. Tung, the Board voted unanimously to table action on the request of Human Resources for a Line-Item Transfer of $201,554.39 from Salary Adjustments (1-100-8100-0000-1330-830-00) for Salary Reconciliation into Town departments. 8. Discuss and take action to approve a Line-Item Transfer request from the Building Department in the amount of $1,100 from Professional and Technical Services (1-100-4120-0000-3300-740-00) to Office Staff. Ms. Nobitz noted that during the summer the Building Department utilized the services of part-time intern staff to scan records to CD s. They are looking to have this individual come back in January to continue this project since it is more efficient to utilize part-time rather than professional staff to perform this necessary task. On motion made by Mr. Gyllensten, and seconded by Mr. MacDougald, the Board voted unanimously to approve the request of the Building Department to transfer of $1,100 from Account #1-100-4120-0000-3300-740-00, Prof & Tech Services, to Account #1-100-4120-0000-1120-740-00, Office Staff for additional part-time counter help. 9. Update on the Capital Improvement Program. Ms. Nobitz provided a draft document for the Town of Madison and Madison Public Schools Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Capital Improvement Program, Annual Capital Budget and Five-Year Capital Expenditure Plan. She reviewed the Introduction, Capital Improvement Program Process, Annual Capital Budget and Five-Year capital Expenditure Plan and Capital Expenditure Request forms. Ms. Nobitz noted that the document also provided a projected debt analysis through the year 2020-2021 and they will be looking at the debt service in relation to the BOF regulations. She stressed that the document is still in preliminary draft form and she welcomed input and comments by Board members. This has been a very large and complex process to bring the program to this point. Ms. Nobitz discussed an issue related to the Madison Hose and North Madison Fire Equipment funds which are funded at $18,000 and therefore are not a true reserve fund since the threshold in the CIP is $25,000. They will need to look at options to address this since they would like to keep this identified as a reserve fund. The Board members agreed that this was a very helpful document. They especially find it useful since it puts all of the capital information into one document. Page 4
10. Review of Financials. There were no comments on financials.. 11. Citizen comments. Mr. Beerbower, 37 Woodlawn, commented that he supports the request for additional funds for the Senior Center noting that senior citizens are taxpayers who generally pay more in taxes than they utilize in services. He believes they deserve top quality food and services from the Town. 12. Liaison Reports and Report from First Selectman. Mr. Gyllensten noted that the plan for the Library renovation was presented at the recent Library Board meeting. They will be taking steps now to reach out to the community. Mr. Gyllensten thanked his fellow Board members for their assistance during his time serving on the Board of Finance. He noted that he is optimistic that the new Board of Finance members will prove to be dedicated and helpful Board members. Mr. MacDougald commented that he will be voting against the charter being presented due to concerns that this document is moving in the wrong direction away from the ideas of the Board of Finance and is making it easier to take items outside of the regular order of the budget. One positive change is that the Board of Finance would become the lead Board for the Pension Committee. Mr. Pudlin noted that the Library Board had a great presentation on a very good plan. Mr. Pudlin expressed concern for the $12 million bond issue that will be coming up at the same time as a Board of Education bond issue. He suggested that, after the election, a format be set-up for the various Boards and citizens to have a serious conversation on the timing and impact of what is facing the Town in the future. Mr. McPherson commented on the importance of taking steps to insure a relatively consistent bond amount to avoid major increases and decreases from year to year. They should keep in mind funding for smaller projects to keep the annual amounts level. Mr. McPherson noted that the downtown area is looking good and the Town Center project is moving along quickly and smoothly. Mr. McPherson noted that this is his last meeting as the First Selectman. He has enjoyed serving the Town of Madison for eight years as a member of the Board of Finance and 6 years on the Board of Selectmen. He wished future members of the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance great success. 13. Adjournment. On motion made by Mr. MacDougald, and seconded by Mr. Casparino the Board voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 p.m. Terry Holland-Buckley, Clerk Page 5
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