Administration Minutes 2013 09-19-13APPROVED 11/21/13
UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, September 19, 2013 6:00pm
City Hall Conference Room
Committee Members In Attendance:
Chairman Rose Spears
Alderman Chris Funkhouser
Alderman Joel Frieders
Absent: Alderman Jackie Milschewski
Other City Officials In Attendance:
Bart Olson, City Administrator
Rob Fredrickson, Finance Director
Meghan Ostreko, Human Resource Manager
Administrative Intern Jeff Weckbach
Guests:
Tony Scott, Kendall County Record
The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm by Chairman Rose Spears.
Citizen Comments: None
Minutes for Correction/Approval: July 18, 2013
The minutes were approved as presented.
New Business:
1. ADM 2013-46 Monthly Budget Report for July & August 2013
Alderman Frieders questioned the following budget items:
Page 12 & 16: “admission tax”—this is from the water park and authorized by the
annexation agreement. The City rebates 100% of that to Raging Waves since they built a
road and infrastructure. The rebate is for 10 years.
New World Line Scan: a computer program used by the Police Department that does
background and fingerprint checks and is connected with the County system.
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Page 15: Operating supplies—invoice for the new recreation building, all improvements
to the old Post Office were made in July and August.
Page 19: Contractual Services-Publishing and Advertising: this is for publishing notices,
legal descriptions, job postings, etc.
Motor Fuel Taxes: Mr. Frieders questioned why cold & hot patch were listed under
separate line items. They are different types of patches. The patch will be used to repair
the bridge on Baseline Road west of Rt. 47 next year.
General Ledger, Professional Services: The 4 postings under the Water Department are
for a monthly maintenance fee for the radio reads.
2. ADM 2013-47 Monthly Treasurer's Report for July & August 2013
Mr. Fredrickson reported the following:
JULY
YTD revenues: $ 7,409,731
YTD Expenses: $ 4,919,280
AUGUST
Beg. Fund Balance: $12,266,413
YTD revenues: $ 9,956,066
YTD expenses: $ 7,465,428
Projected ending
Fund Balance: $14,757,050
No further action.
3. ADM 2013-48 Cash Statements for June & July 2013
For information only, no comments.
4. ADM 2013-49 Bills for Payment
Alderman Frieders questioned an item (mallhead) on page 6. It is thought to be a large
axe or mallet. He also inquired about Better Business Planning on page 8. This is a fee
for administration of the FSA & HRA (for health insurance). No further action.
5. ADM 2013-50 Tax Levy Estimate
Administrator Olson said he is seeking a recommendation on the tax levy in order to hold
a Public Hearing. He said EAV rates have not been released yet, but the amount is
expected to decrease.
There will be a Public Hearing on October 8th for approval of the tax levy number and
then in November to raise the the capped taxes (for general funds police pension fund,
crossing guards) and reduce the uncapped taxes (unabated bonds). When added together
and including the library taxes, the aggregate levy would decrease by 2%. Depending on
the EAV, he estimated the Library taxes would decrease from $670,000 to $600,000. A
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year ago a budget decision was made to give the Library $21,000. In addition, under-
funded amounts were paid back in the last year. He said the practice has been that any
increment received either went to the Library and/or to the Police Pension Fund. About
$30,000 to $40,000 unfunded liability was paid back last year according to Mr. Olson.
Alderman Funkhouser commented that a decision will have to be made if the Library will
receive additional funds this year. Mr. Olson noted that it is possible the Library could
receive $91,000 extra and he noted they will have a surplus of about $40,000 to $50,000
this year.
Alderman Spears questioned the unfunded liability amount for the police pension fund.
Mr. Fredrickson said it is about $50,000 and that by 2015/16 the amount required by
actuaries must be met.
The numbers will be finalized by the November 8th meeting.
6. ADM 2013-51RFP for Employee Benefits Consulting Services
Ms. Ostreko said the City entered into a verbal agreement 4 years ago with insurance
broker, Better Business Planning. Other insurance brokers have been contacting the City
to present their services and as a result, an RFP has been drafted.
Mr. Funkhouser asked about the current costs for Better Business Planning. The only fee
paid ($150 annually) is for the administration of the HRA and FSA. New IRS regulations
required this fee. Mr. Olson said the broker helps to manage claims and they are an
advocate for the City. Mr. Funkhouser noted a small change in the RFP on page 8, item
#9, 2nd paragraph, 2nd sentence.
Chairman Spears said the RFP was a good idea and Ms. Ostreko added that it makes the
broker accountable.
This item will move forward to the September 24th Council meeting.
7. ADM 2013-52 Council Chambers Renovations
Jeff Weckbach said this item was brought up in the JuneAdministration meeting and he
is seeking committee direction. He obtained vendor estimates of $7,000 to $12,000 for
video cameras and live-streaming. For a small additional cost, the meetings can be
indexed. The vendors would perform all these functions with no additional staff time.
Chairman Spears commented she would rather see better microphones/better sound
systems if improvements are made and that the expenses are not a necessity right now.
She said Fox Valley TV does the video-recording and the payments to them are refunded
to the City. Alderman Frieders said the technology is overdue, but he would prefer the
indexing to be simultaneous with the website improvements for transparency concerns.
He said the website needs to be updated and that some keywords could be linked between
the indexing process and website. Mr. Olson said that microphone updates would
improve the audio and that the laser fische website upgrade has not been done yet, but
videos could be imported into that.
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Alderman Funkhouser addressed the transparency issue and said it is important to have
the laser fische functional so City information can be accessible and he would also like it
to be accessible from cloud-based services. He would entertain the idea of new
microphones if it's a simple fix, but he said it would be beneficial to have a live stream of
meetings since cable TV is not the best quality and meetings must be uploaded.
Additional research would be helpful, he said.
Mr. Weckbach said the quotes he received were based on the number of meetings and he
obtained quotes only on Council meeting at this time. Alderman Frieders noted that the
Administration Committee goals placed website improvements ahead of technology.
This item will be brought back to committee for more discussion at either the October or
November meeting. City staff will be attending the IML meeting in October.
Old Business:
1. ADM 2013-32 Utility Billing Process
Mr. Fredrickson said October 15th is the implementation/installation/test date for the new
utility billing process. The October 31st bill will include instructions for logging in to the
“Residential Portal” for payment. Residents can opt out of the paper bill and can also
sign up for direct debit which will start about January 1st. He gave an explanation of the
billing features. An automatic message will be sent when the e-bills are available each
billing cycle.
Mr. Frieders asked for a link back to the website regarding the fees for Better Roads.
No further action required at this time.
Additional Business:
Mr. Olson said the October Administration meeting would most likely be canceled due to
the IML conference discussed earlier.
The meeting was then adjourned at 6:39pm.
Minutes transcribed by
Marlys Young, Minute Taker
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