HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/20/2007 Work Session
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
. MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20,2007
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225
Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Tuesday, February 20,2007 at 6:15 p.m., with Mayor
Leiken presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Ballew, Ralston, Woodrow, and
Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Interim Assistant City Manager
Mike Harman, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff.
Councilor Wylie was absent (excused).
I. 2006 Annual Financial Report.
Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report on this item. In accordance with Oregon
statutes and the City's Charter, the City is required to complete an annual audit and financial
statement. The report will be presented to the City Council at the February 20,2007, work
session and is scheduled for formal acceptance by the consent calendar during the regular
meeting.
Grove, Mueller & Swank, PC, the city's independent auditors, have completed their audit ofthe
city's 2005/2006 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and have issued their opinion
thereon.
As a preliminary summary for the Council's information, you may note that the auditors found
no material weaknesses in the City's internal financial controls and they issued a "clean opinion"
on the City's annual fmancial report. This means we are properly accounting for the City's
financial resources and that we are using adequate financial controls to help prevent any
improper use of those resources.
Mr. Duey introduced Chuck Swank and Ignacio Palacios from Grove, Mueller and Swank. This
was the third year this organization had conducted the audit. It was the last year of the contract,
but Council had approved two one-year renewals when the contract was first awarded. Staff
would bring the proposed renewal to Council soon. Mr. Duey gave a brief summary of the
process. Mr. Duey introduced Nathan Bell, the newest accountant for the City. Mr. Bell
recently passed his CPA and would be pursuing an audit requirement to receive certification,
with assistance from the Finance Department.
Mr. Swank said Council could ask questions as he went along. He referred to the financial
statements and the other documents included in the agenda packet. He explained the documents.
He discussed the requirements from the Federal Government and the State and what the auditors
looked at to understand how the City's accounting system worked. Preparing the financial
statements took a lot of work by City staff and were reviewed from cover to cover by himself
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 20, 2007
Page 2
and another auditor in their organization. The document was well put together and the City
should be proud. He said the City cooperated fully with the auditors.
Mr. Swank referred to the Annual Financial Report and explained parts of the document.
Councilor Ballew asked if they did program auditing or number auditing.
Mr. Swank said they did number auditing. He explained. He discussed grants and the
compliance requirements for grants from the Federal Government.
Mr. Swank continued to explain the Annual Financial Report, regarding internal control reports.
He discussed Oregon's laws and requirements. He discussed financial trend and statistical
information. The statistical section was totally redone this year, and was only enforced when an
agency was going for the Government Finance Officer's Association (GFOA) certificate, which
Springfield had held for the last 25 years. He recommended Council look at the statistical
information. Mr. Swank discussed the budgetary information which was listed by fund. He
discussed the presentation listed on pages 16 and 17 and the differences between business
activities and government activities. He discussed the management discussion and analysis
(MD&A). He said this report was a well done document. He referred to the management letter
and the recommendations made by the auditor. The letter showed the three recommendations by
the auditor and the follow-up from last year'srecommendations.
Councilor Ballew asked what a non-cash adjustment would be in ambulance billing.
Mr. Swank explained it could include write off amounts. He said he was available for questions
anytime.
Councilor Ralston referred to page 7, total net assets, and asked about the difference between
FY05 and FY06. He asked if the City gained $7M.
Mr. Swank explained where the $7M came from. He said a lot of it was timing and when large
items were purchased.
Councilor Ralston said it would be nice to see where those assets showed up and whether the
money was in a fund to be spent on something already planned.
Mayor Leiken asked if some of them were pass-throughs. Yes.
Mr. Duey said some could also be bond sales for the Justice Center. He said he could work
through the details for Councilor Ralston.
Councilor Ralston said he just wanted a general idea.
Mr. Swank explained further and noted that many of those funds were allocated for specific uses.
2. Regional Radio Proiect.
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 20, 2007
Page 3
Police Chief Jerry Smith and Interim Assistant City Manager Mike Harman presented the staff
report on this item. In Fiscal Year 05/06 the Police Departrp.ent began working on a regional
radio system project funded in part by a COPS grant awarded to the City of Eugene. When
completed, the shared radio system will provide wider, more reliable coverage and greater
interoperability for the Police Department than is currently available. The current radio system
will be transferred to the Public Works Department.
The Springfield Police, Fire and Public Works Departments currently operate on incompatible
radio frequencies (UHF for Police and VHF for Fire and Public Works). The police system
meets current FCC regulations but is not expandable because of a lack of available frequencies,
and does not allow field units to communicate directly with Fire or Public Works units. In June
of2006, the Council supported Option 2 of the attached Council Briefing Memorandum to use
unexpended General Fund dollars from FY06 to spread the City's cost of participation over
multiple fiscal years. The radio system coming out of this project will meet all of the current
state and federal goals for interoperability on a trunked UHF system. Also, the system will be
designed for future expansion.
Overall costs to the City are as follows:
· $160,000 from FY06 General Fund carryover toward the purchase of portable and
mobile radios compatible with the new radio system and with the current system.
· $40,000 (estimated) for upgrades to the Quarry Hill repeater site.
· $95,000 in matching funds required by the grant. $75,000 of this is budgeted in the
current year's Public Works budget, and the other $20,000 will come from Police
resources.
· $120,000 for costs outside the grant budget. $70,000 of this will come from the Police
Department's Fund 713 replacement fund, the rest from existing resources in the FY07
budget.
In return, the City will receive approximately $800,000 in new portable and mobile radios,
upgrades to three existing dispatch consoles (estimated value of$120,000) and ownership rights
in a shared, trunked radio system with substantial capacity for future growth. In addition, the
existing Police radio system will be transferred to the Public Works Department, resulting in
better radio communications between Police and Public Works.
Mr. Harman said this program complied with State interoperability goals. He discussed
interoperability and why it was important. He explained the difference between high and low
frequency signals and why the police and fire frequency needs were different. One of the goals
of the project was to be able to communicate between departments when needed.
Mr. Harman said the hand held radios and the radios in the police cars would be replaced with
new radios, and the current radios used by the police would be given to the Public Works
department. Public Works was providing the match funding for the grant. This upgrade would
give Police and the Public Works Department the ability to speak together.
Councilor Ballew asked how many police radios there were.
Mr. Harman said there were about 95 hand held radios.
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 20, 2007
Page 4
Councilor Ballew asked why each person had their own radio rather than sharing them.
Mr. Harman explained that each radio had an emergency button programmed with the user LD.
If an officer was in trouble, he could push the button and the department could tell who it was
and where they were.
Councilor Ballew asked if the radio worked the other way, allowing the department to locate
officers when they were off duty.
Mr. Harman said officers were not required to carry their radios while off-duty.
Chief Smith said it didn't work in reverse where the department could hit a button and find the
officer. .
Councilor Ballew said Public Works didn't have 95 employees.
Mr. Harman agreed, but said they had about 95 vehicles where they could be used.
Councilor Ballew asked for clarification of how public works and police would be able to
communicate.
Mr. Hamian explained. He said the City owned two radio frequencies and channels. We were
switching to a trunk radio system, and would be able to take two frequencies and assign three to
five channels per frequency.
Councilor Pishioneri asked ifthere was disabling capability in case the radio got stolen.
Mr. Harman said yes. He said the new radios would work on either the conventional system or
on the shared system. The current radios would not work on the shared system. Public Works
would not initially be using the shared system. Police would be able to talk on both.
Councilor Ballew said the radios now were purchased with bond assets that were not yet paid off.
She asked Finance Director Bob Duey to check to see if there were any issues in giving the old
radios to Public Works if the bonds used to purchase them were issued for a specific purpose.
Mr. Harman said the figures staff gave to Council in June for the purchase of the radios had
actually improved. The original quote was for about $523,000 for the City's share, but it was
now about $415,000 with $900,000 in benefit.
Councilor Ballew said there was an assumption of $250,000 in savings per year. She asked if
that would still be true on?e the jail was opened.
Mr. Harman said he was not sure. Generally the Police Department was under budget with
vacancies and other issues. He would expect there would be enough this year as well as funds .
from fund 713 reserves. Police had budgeted to replace the hand held and mobile radios anyway.
They should be able to finish the financial obligations this fiscal year. The project would be
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Council Work Session Minutes
February 20, 2007
Page 5
installed on the hilltops this summer and the radios would go live in January or February of
2008.
Councilor Pishioneri asked if they were analog or digital.
Mr. Harman said they were digital, operating at about 465 mhz range.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:57 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
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Attest:
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City Rec rder .