Village of Mantua
Finance Committee Meeting
June 3, 2010

Call to Order- 6:30 P.M.

Roll Call: Linda Clark, Ben Prescott, Roger Hawkins was absent

Others: Clerk-Treasurer Jenny August, Chief Harry Buchert, Bill & Patsi Gast

Minutes:

Linda questioned whether or not she stated that she planned to speak with Dept. Heads regarding purchase requisitions. The minutes stated that Linda had already spoken with Ed in Harry’s office.

Motion to approve the Minutes from the May meeting by Linda Clark, seconded by Ben. Both ayes on vote.

Financial Reports:

Jenny gave the Financial reports. The bank balance at the end of May was $452,314. Revenues were $149,170. Income taxes were still rolling in, mainly Employers Quarterly Withholding tax. Expenses including payroll totaled $117,851. This includes two of our Water & Sewer debt payments. We also made a semi-annual payment on our bond for this building, and we paid to have sludge hauled, so we paid some big bills in May. There were no fund adjustments in the Cash Summary report. Water and Sewer reconciled exactly, as did Income Tax, and the bank reconciliation only took about ten minutes because it went very smooth with no adjusting factors. Harry asked where we are compared to last year. Jenny said she didn’t have it in front of her, but Sue read a comparison at the last Council meeting that Jenny prepared for some of the major accounts. We were down in Income tax and others by significant amounts. Motion to accept financial reports by Linda, seconded by Ben. Both ayes on vote.

Legislation:

Ben reviewed the legislation that will be presented at the Council meeting Tuesday.

1. 2010-14 Jenny said we still need to have clarification in section 4. Ben said to check the tape because Council came up with the changes.
2. 2010-15 Trash pick-up- Linda said they will be asking for it to come off the table at Council. Linda reviewed the changes. They want to change it to “households and businesses” instead of households, pre-paid bags, or rolling containers with a 250 pound maximum, one large item per week such as furniture, bedding, or appliances so we can eliminate Spring and Fall Clean-ups. Bidders will have the responsibility to visit the businesses and determine their needs. Ben said he has had to fire trash collectors before and doesn’t like the idea of not being able to fire them. Linda said the Village would also get the Village dumpsters picked up as well as the 6 cans throughout town. Linda said we need to find out if the bidders can pick up the sewer plant grit. C.T. Consultants were mailing the bid specs to Michele, the Mayor and herself for review. Patsi asked what would be the advantages of doing this. Linda said it would reduce truck traffic, and lower costs. Michele was also going to add additional pickups for some holidays, and discounts for construction dumpsters. Linda was asking for pricing for three years. Linda said we may need to suspend the rules in order to get it on the ballot. Patsi Gast asked if this will be mandatory. Harry said if the company is doing the billing, it is not mandatory. It may not even need to go on the ballot. Bill Gast said if he can get a better deal from someone else, he will do it. Harry said the bidder will need a potential amount of customers and their use in order to bid. Ben said we will have to let bidders know whether or not people can opt out. Linda said residents asked Council to do this well over a year ago, and Council did not follow through. She wants to get this resolved for them.
3. 2010-16 American Legion contract for Park Lodge- this needs to remain tabled and reviewed more by the Parks Committee. Ben said everyone should have gotten copies of the Potato Festival contract. It is pretty simple.
4. 2010-20 Adopting the Electric Aggregate- 2nd Reading. Contract between the Village and First Energy. Two public hearings are scheduled. Jenny said the lady from First energy can’t make it for either hearing. Michele can answer questions from residents and Council.
5. 2010-21 2011 Budget- 2nd reading. Ben said we need to pass it so it gets to the County. Jenny said she amended it in one area. We needed to increase Parks by $1,500 for mowing.
6. 2010-23 2nd Reading. A Resolution designating the $50,000 grant. Ben said the e-mail stated that we would receive the check within 10 days. Council set the resolution to split it between Sewer for the pump, and Sewer Debt for the OWDA payment.
7. 2010-24 The Personnel Handbook. Ben said we need to accept Harry’s changes since they were approved by the Handbook Committee. We need to get this on 1st Reading and amend Harry’s changes. Jenny asked if we need to print hard copies for everyone? Ben said everyone has the final copy now, and not to print it out because at Council we will be adding Harry’s changes for the second reading. Harry thinks it should be on our webpage and kept updated.
8. 2010-25 Jenny originally wanted to increase Parks for mowing. Also there is some un-appropriated money in State Highway. It needs to be appropriated so it can’t be taken by the State. Also, the Street Fund has some that is not appropriated, and since we spent so much on repairs, we will run short. Also, the General Fund will need to appropriate some un-appropriated funds in order to transfer the shortage of the OWDA payment.

Bills of Resolution:

The Cemetery expenses may possibly be submitted to the trust fund. Michele said it wouldn’t hurt to try. We spent about $1700 in wages getting the Cemetery ready for Memorial Day. Otherwise, if we don’t get reimbursed, that fund is broke and we won’t have money to pay anyone this summer. We submitted receipts for flowers and flower pots. When payroll hits this week, we will go into the red and the computer will be stuck on June 2nd, and we won’t be able to run checks. Jenny said we may want to look into community service workers or volunteers. Patsi asked how we previously paid for care of the Cemetery. Harry said the Cemetery had a grant that we were using. Jenny said Bill Sontag mowed it for a long time. We do have a new mower for the cemetery. Jenny thought we might try putting something in Mantua Matters recruiting volunteers to alternate mowing. Harry said there could be a liability since they are using Village equipment. Bill Gast asked if Kevin Poland ever found the missing paperwork. Ben said no, he had not.

Motion to recommend the Bills of Resolution to Council by Linda, seconded by Ben. Both ayes on vote.

Other Discussion:

Harry:

He passed out a letter. He would like to find a way to give raises to his part time employees. The employees that already were brought up to standard would not be getting increases either. He and Linda are both willing to give up raises for themselves. Jenny said the General Fund could support raises for the Police Department and Sue, but the Service budget can’t. Jenny said it isn’t fair to say only people that are paid out of General Fund can have a raise. Ben said the way the wages are split out with Service employees makes it harder. Harry said he could do this without increasing his appropriations. Harry said he showed Ed his letter, and we could ask Ed if he could adjust his spending in order to give an increase. Harry also wants to adjust rates for several of his employees because somehow there are Dispatchers making more than Officers. He would like their increases to be slightly more than 3%. Bill asked if Harry needs to increase part time officers in the summer. Harry said we have the same staffing all year long, with extra officers out for special events.

Linda:

Jenny is working on the Grants.gov application. There is so much information that the Clerk has, so she turned it over to Jenny. Linda has found a grant for Disadvantaged Communities that we could look into. Once we are pre-registered, she will check it out. Another one is Ohio Rural Communities. Jenny said she is hoping to get to it next week.

Harry:

Harry said the application for the COPS Grant came in and it is a 62 page application he has to complete. They will let him know how many officers we can apply for, and then he will apply for whatever they offer, and we can later refuse whatever we can’t afford.

Jakes applied for their liquor license. He sent his paperwork in to the State saying that he does not object. Jenny said she returned her paperwork as well sating that the Village does not request a hearing for them to have the liquor license.

Soap Box Derby is on the 12th with a rain date of the 13th. The “Rogatta” thing is also taking place. They will send cars down between the racers. Linda Clark asked if we are supplying security. Harry said he notified the Soap Box people that we do not have the manpower right now, but the officer on duty will make periodic stops.

Schools last day is tomorrow.

Linda:

She has a question regarding the Council rules. It states that a resident can ask one question during legislation. Harry said it says Council President “may recognize”. Ben said the system is like this so that meetings don’t drag on until late at night. If he knows they have something important that maybe people don’t know, he would recognize them. Linda said if we pass something after suspending the rules, the citizens may have something to share that has not been discussed at prior meetings. Patsi asked how Council knows that they have something important if they don’t recognize them. Ben said if residents come to Finance meetings they can discuss legislation as Finance reviews. Jenny suggested a sign up sheet asking to be recognized, like they do at the Township. Ben said the best thing is to come to Committee meetings. Harry said Council meetings are not meant to be an educational session. Patsi asked about the resolution allowing Ed to use 59 hours to pay back the Village. Ben said the issue was regarding Ed being paid for driving the truck home. Ben said it is better for both parties to reduce Ed’s vacation time so we have a smaller payout when he retires. Ben said the new Personnel Handbook eliminates driving the Village vehicles home. Patsi asked why we couldn’t say it when she asked. Bill said it makes it look like a big secret. Patsi said not everyone can come to Committee meetings, so when they come to Council, they should be able to ask questions and get answers that people understand. Harry said the issues should be discussed at Committees so everyone is on the same page before Council meetings. It is a process.

Linda asked if we are having a workshop or not. Ben said he didn’t think it was necessary. Even if we have the workshop, it will be discussed again in Council. Harry asked what the workshop was for. Linda said it was service issues. Jenny said the last workshop cost us about $150. Ben said we have been over and over this so many times, and we can just talk about it in Council. Linda said they wanted to discuss the S.R. 44 turn lane, educating residents on the Northeast Quadrant, the timeline on the Southwest Quadrant project, and how residents feel. They (Service Committee) wanted to educate people. Also Ed would have his results on the testing that was done in the northeast concrete. Ben said he wants Ed to take the concrete back out of the Cemetery drains. Linda said an expert is coming. Linda was told by Ed that those were temporary caps. Linda said when the trees were cut down, we talked about the damage that was done at the Cemetery. Why wasn’t that taken care of months ago when Council told him to instead of waiting until Memorial Day to do anything? Patsi asked who is responsible for this when Ed doesn’t follow through? Ben said it is the Mayor and Council. Ben said it is very difficult to do anything. Harry said if the Mayor and Council are in disagreement on how things are handled, both of their hands are tied. Patsi said everyone should be held accountable in how they do their job.

Motion to adjourn at 8:16 P.M. by Linda, seconded by Ben. Both ayes on vote.

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Ben Prescott, Chair of Finance

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Jenny August, Clerk-Treasurer