TOWN OF BLACKSTONE
FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
January 28, 2013
PRESENT: Normand Forget, Chairman Russell Wells
William Chaplin, Vice Chairman William Macy
Steven Salois Evelyn Marchand
ABSENT: Brian Davidge
OTHERS PRESENT: Daniel Keyes, Town Administrator
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. and roll call was taken.
REVIEW AND ACCEPT MEETING MINUTES:
A motion was made by Mr. Chaplin, seconded by Mr. Wells, to accept the Meeting Minutes of January 14, 2013 with changes noted by Committee Members, i.e., add the names of the Water/Sewer Commission members, change the word “factor” to “requirements”, and change Itron to Badger system. There was no further discussion and the vote was unanimous.
AUTHORIZE PAYMENTS:
Payment for taking and transcribing minutes of the January 14, 2013 meeting were deferred until the next meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE:
There were 3 different letters dated January 22, 2013 from the school committee regarding replacing the roofs of the schools. Roof replacement for the JFKennedy/AFMaloney school complex is estimated at $2,716,777 and replacement of the Blackstone-Millville Regional High School (BMR) is estimated at $3,866,801. The BMR School Committee voted to authorize incurring the debt at their January 17, 2013 meeting. The reimbursement rate is 57% which would bring the total for all 3 roofs at about $2,800,000. The matter will be presented to the Board of Selectmen. The fact that these repairs are all coming at the same time is overwhelming monumental emergency. It has taken the Town years to build the emergency fund and care should be taken not to wipe it all out. Mr. Salois expressed concern about having to pay unnecessary interest on a bond. Mr. Macy suggested that we should not be selling fixed bonds; instead, we should be dealing with callable bonds so we don’t get into the fix of having money left over. Mr. Forget noted that those determinations come under the purview of the Town officials who are responsible for those functions and suggested that the issue be formally raised.
Mr. Chaplin noted that the combined meeting in January was cancelled and will draft a letter to be sent to the School Committee inquiring when it will be rescheduled and how we want the data that they are going to give us to be presented.
Mr. Forget stated he received a phone call from Mr. Rick Schofield, Chairman of Mendon’s Finance Committee who requested feedback from this Committee regarding the magnitude of the increase in Blackstone Valley Technical School’s (BVT) increase of 12% for this year. Last year’s increase was 15%. Mr. Forget noted that we have not seen any numbers from the school that he is aware of. Mr. Chaplin stated that the BVT school committee meetings are listed on the Town calendar and can be viewed on the web site and there is a Blackstone resident who is a member of that committee. Mr. Forget stated that BVT has been doing an outstanding job in offering opportunities to our students and the programs they offer are excellent, but beyond that, he didn’t think anybody has discussed or addressed the issue on whether the double digits increases are acceptable. BVT is a 13-town district. Mr. Schofield wanted to get a sense whether there is grounds for several towns to get together to raise this issue. Mr. Forget encouraged Committee members to give it some thought, look at the issue and we can discuss this again. It is nothing that requires official action but it is food for thought. At this time nobody has expressed a position with regard to what the numbers are for the school. Mr. Wells felt that double digit increases 2 years in a row warrants an explanation of why this is happening. He suggested asking the Blackstone member of that committee to come in with Dr. Fitzgerald, if appropriate, to explain why the double digit increases are warranted. Mr. Forget said it might be a good idea to discuss this on the night we discuss the school budget.
Mr. Wells would also like the Collector/Treasurer to come in and explain the subject of the ambulance account money.
RESERVE FUND TRANSFER: None.
RECAP OF 01/14/2012 MEETING WITH WATER/SEWER COMMISSION (if needed)
Mr. Chaplin said he thought the meeting was very good.
UPDATES AND STATUS REPORTS:
Review of FY 13 Summary Budgets to Date:
· Mr. Keyes presented Committee members with budgets through the end of January.
· The budget meetings have been moved from Saturday to Tuesday, February 5, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. Administration, Department of Public Works and Town Clerk budgets will be reviewed at that time.
Accuracy of Ambulance Fund: (review account analysis sheets (end of FY 12 and FY 13 collections to date):
· Mr. Keyes noted there are no “red flags” as far as he could see. It is in good shape.
· Mr. Keyes stated that we do know that we have balanced out the FY 12. The balance of the Ambulance Fund today is $155,225. There was an issued raised where there were two consecutive occasions (December 21 and December 22, 2012, where a total of $467,515.90 was transferred out of the Ambulance Fund at Sovereign Bank to the General Fund held in Unibank which was not discovered until reconciliation of the Unibank statements was accomplished. Mr. Wells noted that this meant the Ambulance receipts were co-mingled with the tax dollars. Mr. Keyes stated there is nothing wrong with moving money between accounts (internal borrowing). However, under M.G.L., if you take money out of an account, it has to be put back before the end of the fiscal year (June 30). This has not been done. It has to be put back or you have to use tax dollars for the purpose of paying back the Ambulance Fund. Mr. Wells questioned why this was not reflected in the paperwork provided to the Finance Committee. Mr. Keyes noted that once this was found, they went back another year and found the error. This information has been forwarded to the Department of Revenue (DOR)
Mr. Forget expressed concern about the validation of that account and how this is going to be monitored from month to month. Mr. Keyes said this would be done by reconciliation. When asked if there was a source from which funds could be made available to repay the Ambulance Account, Mr. Keyes said it would come from tax receipts. Several members noted that each year $50,000 is set aside in the budget to purchase a new ambulance and the YTD balance now is only $111,917.65.
Mr. Wells questioned why such a large transfer of money was done without checks and balances and with only the signature of the Collector/Treasurer when there should be at least two signatures to transfer that amount of money. Mr. Keyes said that we now have someone running the set of books. Mr. Forget sees no need for having two sets of books and asked how do we get to having one set of figures. The issue of the 2 sets of books not matching has been brought up before. Mr. Keyes noted that for FY 12, it will be the first time the Management Letter states that the books are reconciled. On June 30th the discrepancy of $45,000 still existed, it goes back quite a while and will never be able to be reconciled. The auditors should write it off so that we can balance the books.
Mr. Wells stated he would still like to know how $400,000 was taken from one account to another and it was never reflected in the budget. Mr. Forget said his guess would be that it was done behind the scenes by people who are authorized to do this. Our concern as a Finance Committee is with every account the Town has. We have to have validation to present to the Townspeople because that is what justifies asking for what we ask for. It has to be justified in such a way that the Town is getting what they are paying for. We are only an advisory board and have to rely on the professionals to go forward with accurate information.
Recycling: (negative certified retained earnings – question $180,000 Capital Trust Loan):
· The debt schedule will now be in the Recycling Budget over the next 5 years. There was an oversight by the Collector/Treasurer in the amount of $180,000.
Status of DPW Superintendent: (plan for replacement, funding source for severance package and additional stipend for interim superintendent):
· Mr. Keyes stated he was not going to comment on the severance package which is not public record at this time.
· The plan for replacement of the DPW Superintendent is currently in discussion with the union. There will be a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the position of Superintendent
· The compensation (not “stipend”) for supervising (not “interim superintendent”) was authorized for only 10 weeks by the Board of Selectmen, is for the additional workload required for overseeing the DPW, and will expire on February 15, 2013.
· There is enough money in the budget line item account for salary through the end of FY 13.
· Mr. Salois cited the Town Charter which says the Town Administrator shall devote full time to the duties of Town Administrator and shall be the supervisor of the DPW and questioned whether remuneration can be established without the approval of Town Meeting. How can we give someone in a supervisory position additional funds to replace someone they should be overseeing? He did not see where any additional compensation has been approved by Town Meeting. Mr. Keyes stated that a meeting on December 4, 2012, Town Counsel had reviewed the Charter and instructed the Board of Selectmen that they did have the necessary powers to do what they did. When questioned as to how many hours he spent supervising at DPW, Mr. Keyes invited anyone with doubts to follow him around for a day to see what his job consists of. The $750 was authorized by the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Forget noted that if Town Counsel determined it was appropriate and legal to do so, it is beyond this Committee’s purview to question it. We should not pursue this any further unless the issue is taken up with Town Counsel. We are only an advisory board. Mr. Salois said if there is something we don’t fully understand he doesn’t see any problem with getting an answer. Mr. Wells felt there should be more clarity. Mr. Forget suggested it might be appropriate to address this issue with Town Counsel. Mrs. Marchand agreed and said if the information is not right it would put the issue to rest. Mr. Forget noted the issue had to have been addressed in the minutes of the Board of Selectmen’s meeting. Mr. Keyes responded by saying that it had been, and that he will provide the minutes of that meeting to Committee members.
Status of Town Accountant: (details of amount spent to date for consulting, balances in account and potential deficits, plus impact of having no town accountant on entire budget process):
· The new Town Accountant will begin her duties on Friday, February 1, 2013. Former Town Accountant, Sue Moquin, will be hand to assist with the transition. There is money within the confines of the budget to pay the Town Accountant.
· The town Accountant will be available to attend all the Finance Committee meetings.
· Mr. Keyes noted that her starting salary will be what was authorized at Town Meeting (approx. $58,000). He also noted that she is a lawyer with financial background.
Council on Aging: (financial impact of director’s leave of absence and funding sources for leave and acting director’s stipend):
· The Director’s leave of absence came under the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA). She used a combination of personal, sick and vacation leave to cover part of the 12 weeks that are allowed. Mr. Keyes started that she will be paid for the 3 weeks’ vacation she has left on the books. There will be no need to come before the Finance Committee for more money. She is off the payroll as of January 24, 2013. When questioned about employees using sick leave when they’re not sick, Mr. Keyes explained the FMLA to the satisfaction of all.
Public Access TV (town cable – balance in account, detail of expenditures and insurance requirements):
· The Town’s insurance only covers events such as these meetings and in reality we cannot expect the Town to come up with the money to pay for other video events. Mr. Chaplin said it was his understanding that it was going to be explored what the rider would be to cover others. Mr. Forget said that maybe we need a board set up like certain other towns have with regard to running the cable program where they get their own insurance and that was mentioned as a solution. It might be something the Town needs to look at. He thinks that is the direction that should be pursued. Mr. Keyes said that right now we will put a disclaimer on the cable t.v. It is public access. Negotiations with cable contractors are beginning and it is one of the things that will be looked at. Mr. Forget questioned whether Mr. Keyes will be negotiating with multiple vendors as other towns in the area have Fios and what is the reason why Blackstone can’t get Fios. It ought to be considered to be made available to people in Blackstone. Mr. Keyes said before finalizing any contract there would be a public hearing. Mr. Forget would like to see progress being made in terms of what options are available for the cable viewing public. Mr. Keyes noted that under “Additional Equipment” there is an amount of $9,883 which is for streaming video and we have received good feedback. Mr. Chaplin asked if the school committee could be on streaming video with sound. Mr. Keyes would like to see additional equipment for students to learn communications, etc. Mr. Chaplin noted that money keeps going into the cable account and it is foolish that we do not use the money for programming, video streaming, etc. Mr. Forget noted that at the start of the fiscal year, the Finance Committee meetings have been televised and thinks it is good for the public to have access to the meetings. The meetings can be accessed through the Town’s website (www.town of blackstone.org). There are a lot of big issues the Town has to face which the voters need to be aware of.