Child Advocates Finance Committee Report to the Board of Directors
March 30, 2017

Committee Chair,Tony LePere, commenced the meeting on March 30, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. held via conference call.

Committee Members in Attendance:

Tony LePere, Jessica Armstrong, John Erickson, & Mark Aiken.

Committee Members Absent: None

Guests in Attendance: None
Meeting Discussion:

  1. February Financials & Dashboard (see attached)
  2. Jessica reviewed the February Financials & Dashboard and discussed the reduced revenue is due to how we are now required to bill the county and the reduced expenses help offset the decrease in revenue. Jessica confirmed that we received the final reconciliation payment for last year and the payment for January. Unfortunately the payment for January was short by $20K, but will be reimbursed shortly. In addition, the county informed us that the check for the February invoice should be mailed out early next week. Jessica is going to confirm the interest rate that we are paying on the Merrill Lynch line-of-credit and report back to the Finance Committee. Tony pointed out that we are currently over our threshold for equities due to when we had to leverage $185K cash to paydown the line-of-credit to enable us to re-advance. Per Jessica, we owe the cash account $185K and have a $460K outstanding balance on the line-of-credit. No monies have been advanced on the Regions Bank $100K line-of-credit.
  1. Cash Flow Analysis & Update on Outstanding Receivables
  2. Jessica anticipates a 5-week lag on a go forward basis with the county. For example, it will take until approx. the week of April 10th to invoice the county for March and we would anticipate another 3 weeks for payment. The discussions today with the county should help eliminate this issue next year. Jessica hopes to have next year’s contract negotiations to begin in August to allow sufficient time for approvals, etc.
  3. RFP Review & Recommendation
  4. Tony reviewed the three approvals that were received by Salin Bank, Regions Bank, and BMO Harris Bank. Each committee member had multiple questions are to the terms, reporting requirements, and renewal periods. Tony abstained from further discussion due to his employment with BMO Harris Bank. The committee members evaluated the three proposals, asked Jessica her preferences, and came to the decision to recommend moving forward with BMO Harris Bank. Jessica Armstrong, John Erickson, and Mark Aiken all agreed to move forward with recommending BMO Harris Bank’s Line-of-Credit proposal to the Executive Committee and/or full board.
  1. Why Boards Should Watch CEO Expenses
  2. Tony shared the article “Why Boards Should Watch CEO Expenses” that was sent to us from Greenwalt, our CPA firm, and explained that the Executive Committee recommended that the Finance Committee should review the Executive Directors expense reports. John and Mark recommended that we have Jessica present to us on a quarterly basis and notate any expenses that were lacking a receipt.
  1. Requests or Recommendations To the Board
  2. The Finance Committee recommends that we establish a LOC for $250,000 with BMO Harris Bank, in addition to the LOC already established with Merrill Lynch to ensure sufficient availability for future cash flow needs.
  1. Next Finance Committee Meeting
  2. Friday, April 28thin-person at BKD from 12:00 pm. – 1:00 p.m.

Meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jessica Armstrong on behalf of

Tony LePere, Chair, FinanceCommittee, Board of Directors, Child Advocates