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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Minutes 03.21.2000 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MARCH 21, 2000 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Chuck Rodgers Lauren Van Roekel Gay Easton Bill Staudinger Bud Johnson Gary Temple Mark Mace Norman Orr OTHERS PRESENT: V. Joe Leckie Larry McCarm Mary Embleton Rick Musson (6:50 p.m.) Jim Stevens Mary Embleton presented updates on the budget, the audit, and the LaserFiche system. Mary distributed the 2000-2001 Budget Calendar. The budget worksheets are due in her office on March 24th, and the information should be entered into the system within a week. The workshop meetings with the department heads and the Budget/Finance Committee will begin then. The Preliminary Budgthet should be completed by the end of June and will be considered by the council on July 5 , pending the release of the taxable value by the State Department of Revenue. Public notice will be published in the Laurel Outlook for the public heating at the council meeting on July 18t~. At the August I~t council meeting, the council will adopt the Final Budget and set the final tax levies for 2000-2001. A copy of the 2000-2001 Final Budget will be sent to the Department of Commerce in Helena by October 1a. Correction of the account numbers has been completed and the system is now BARs compliant. The auditors completed their fieldwork on March 3rd, and the adjusting entries were completed on March 17th. The corrections were made as thirteenth month entries, and the beginning balances will be correct for the new fiscal year on July 1~t. The auditor's pre-exit conference was held at the Budget/Finance Committee meeting on March 20a', and the exit conference is scheduled with the Council of the Whole on April 3fa. The auditor gave suggestions as to how to improve the process, and Mary will work to incorporate those suggestions before the end of this fiscal year. The auditor gave positive remarks regarding the prior system and Don Hackmann's work, but he was glad that the City of Laurel had changed to the Black Mountain Sof~ware system. The final drag; of the audit will be issued for distribution and a notice will be published that it is available for review. Gay, Gary and Mary discovered the LaserFiche Software at the Montana League of Cities and Towns meeting in Bozeman last fall. They thought that it would be a great improvement for the Clerk's Index system used currently. The LaserFiche representative recently gave a demonstration of this program to several employees. The program has the ability to scan documents, convert them to text, and search any word in that document. The LaserFiche could be used in all departments for all kinds of document storage and retrieval uses. Mary will present a proposal to the Budget/Finance Committee for approval at their next meeting. ComImttee of the Whole minutes of March 21, 2000 Gay Easton thanked Mary for her presentation and commended her for the excellent work on the budget. Mayor Rodgers also thanked Mary for her work~ Joe Leckie informed the committee regarding the status of the legal issues before the City of Laurel. The Hovious case is currently in the time period for appeal, but Joe does not have an indication about whether or not an appeal would be made. The city is involved in a legal matter in which the plaintiffs are suing the city in regards to water in their basement. This case is being defended by MMIA, there is no liability, and it is covered by insurance. Two actions have been brought against police officers, and both of those actions are being defended by MMIA. One of the actions is brand new, and it appears that the plaintiff in the other action is going to dismiss the suit without the city admitting any liability or paying any damages. A settlement has been reached on the contract with Grover Construction. There are still one or two issues related to the contract, but the actual contract balance has been resolved. Because of the litigation in the Hovious matter, the attorney's office is over budget. Joe has not been able to give enough time to complete the code audit because of the extra time required to prepare for the Hovious matter and because of problems with the editing program. Joe stated that the LaserFiche program would be a definite upgrade in his efforts to complete the code audit. Mayor Rodgers thanked Joe Leckie for his presentation and his efforts on the Hovious case. Larry McCann informed the council regarding a problem on the South Pond Project. It had been his understanding that the Lions Club would install the electricity into the park, but they are not going to do so. Montana Power would charge approximately $4,000 to install electricity to the building. Larry will probably take the expense out of the park budget. The DEQ in Helena suggested that a new facilities plan should be completed instead of the I&I Study that was originally planned. The last facilities plan was completed in 1982, and a facilities plan that is over ten years old cannot be accepted for grant writing purposes. Larry will contact DNRC regarding this matter. The Fifth Avenue project is progressing. We are negotiating with the railroad to get their prices down to just the material costs and no labor costs. The project will be started a_tier the school year is over and will take two weeks to complete. The project will be completed before July 4th or started and completed after that date. No word has been received from the Corps of Engineers. Larry has informed them that the information is needed, as the grants are due in Helena soon. Committee of the Whole minutes of March 21, 2000 Jim Stevens stated that the volunteers are busy building Brush 2 and working on the ladder truck. Three new volunteers will be added to bring the ranks back up to thirty-five at the next meeting of the company. Rick Musson received a request from the Laurel Homeschoolers to have a Civil War Day on March 24t~ in the park by the FAP Complex. They requested permission to shoot off a small canon. Mayor Rodgers told Rick to grant them permission. Rick reported that one of the new officers is ready to complete the 12-week field training session, and the second officer is completing the seventh week of field training. The department is working on complaints regarding traffic .and parking downtown. Gary asked for an update regarding Sandy Stevenson. Rick reported that his location is unknown at this time, If he were out of the country, the governor would have to issue a warrant to bring him back to the country. The meeting adjourned at 6:57 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen City Council Secretary