HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 08-26 PreMeridian City Pre-Council Meeting August 26, 2003
The Pre-Council Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:30
P.M. on Tuesday, August 26, 2003, by Mayor Robert Corrie.
Members Present: Mayor Robert Corrie, Tammy de Weerd, Cherie McCandless,
Bill Nary, and Keith Bird.
Others Present: Bill Nichols, Gary Smith, Kenny Bowers, Anna Powell, Doug
Strong, Brad Hawkins-Clark, Reta Cunningham, Diane Stewart, Stacy
Kilchenmann and Will Berg.
Item 1. Roll-call Attendance:
X Tammy de Weerd X Bill Nary
X Cherie McCandless X Keith Bird
X Mayor Robert Corrie
Corrie: Meeting on Tuesday August 26th
2003 at 6:30 P.M. in the City Council
Chambers and I would ask the Clerk for Roll-Call attendance please.
Item 2. Adoption of the Agenda
Corrie: Number two on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we adopt the agenda as published.
Nary: Second.
Corrie: Motion made and second that we adopt the agenda as published. Any
further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed no? All ayes, motion
carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES
Item 3. Update on Request from Farwest LLC for Return of Road Trust
Fund Deposits (Pedestrian Bridges in Thousand Springs
Subdivision):
Corrie: Item number three is the update from Farwest LLC for return of road
trust fund deposits pedestrian bridges in Thousand Springs Subdivision. I
believe Brad you have that.
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August 26, 2003
Page 2 of 10
Hawkins-Clark: Good evening Mayor, members of the Council. You have a
memo that I submitted last week that I think kind of gives you a little bit of an
update on this since your May 27th
meeting. What I’ve put on the screen where
that arrow is sort of beating like a heart is the micro path that this whole
discussion is really surrounding. Thousand Springs Subdivision there on the
right. It’s close to the Tarawood boundary between Tarawood Subdivision and
Sherbrooke Hollows Subdivision. The wider common lot here is of course the
Ridenbaugh itself and then I was just going to put up a blow up of that area but
just so you know generally where we are talking. I also wanted you to see there
is one street crossing of the Ridenbaugh Canal that’s about a little over 1,000
feet north of where this pedestrian bridge would go. That crossing is just south
of the Kiwanis Park and then the Eldorado project is over here. Vanauker’s 80
acres is here to the north. So I will put up a blow up of that area. So the
Sherbrooke Hollows Subdivision does have as you can see a micropath that
leads back to a common area that is sort of shared between some of the
Ridenbaugh easement area and some of their own open space. The Council’s
direction at your May meeting was to meet with the Sherbrooke Hollows
Homeowners Association and Thousand Springs. We did that and I submitted
copies of emails from those two Homeowners Associations. A question basically
posed to them was do you, are you in support of a crossing of the Ridenbaugh to
join your neighborhoods or not. Thousand Springs was strongly in favor and
Sherbrooke Hollows was pretty strongly opposed. Sherbrooke Hollows if you
saw they listed a couple of reasons why they were opposed. Increased children
playing in the common area behind there, that is a concern. Liability, no
sidewalks, maintenance of the bridge and a couple of other items. I think
generally where this leaves us is the Highway District Commission does still hold
about $33,000 of bond from Farwest LLC, the Thousand Springs developer.
Well $16,500 from Farwest and $16,500 from Greg Johnson and Westpark. So
about $33,000 that would be contributed to the construction of the bridge. I tried
to get a little more of a breakdown on those bridge costs for you. Unfortunately
both the engineering people at the Highway District that could provide that
breakdown have been unavailable for a while so I couldn’t get that. What I have
been told verbally is by the time you get all the ADA requirements in there and
acquisition and the construction between 70 and 80 thousand dollars. There is a
difference of 40,000 or so without knowing what that breakdown is. So basically
the commission is wanting formal notification from the City Council if you agree
to the release of these funds which would essentially kill the opportunity to put a
pedestrian bridge in there forever. They are obligated to use those funds within
a x number of years. That time is up so they either need to use them or lose
them. They are asking for the City Council’s opinion on that. At this point it
appears that the only way to really get the bridge constructed should that be your
direction is to dedicate some city funding or some other way to get the other
money. Ada County Highway District is not prepared to contribute anything to
the pedestrian bridge. So I put a couple of options at the bottom of my memo.
Either have us inform the highway district that the city agrees with the release of
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August 26, 2003
Page 3 of 10
the trust funds or that we do not agree and then of course we would have to
meet with Nampa Meridian and work on identifying funding or say that the city
agrees and they would release the funds. I did talk with Mr. Nichols a little bit
about whether that means the city needs to then amend our condition that says
to build a bridge and I think we’ve all been down that road the last couple of
weeks after Packard Acres No. 2. Correct me if I’m wrong Mr. Nichols but I think
we can let this one stand as an unenforceable condition. We wouldn’t amend the
plat.
Corrie: Okay thank you Brad. Any comments from Council? You want the
bridge or not?
De Weerd: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mrs. de Weerd.
De Weerd: I think that connectivity has been an important consideration in many
of the subdivisions that we’ve had in front of us. This is definitely a connection
between the two and one that will probably be used. I know we’ve had
discussion both in Tarawood and Sherbrooke as well as the Thousand Springs
about that bridge. I would like to see it happen and now that we are going to be
joining SAGE it might be also an application that the Parks Department can work
with SAGE to write a grant since we have matching funds. I believe to that
there’s pathway plans around there. Isn’t there Brad?
Hawkins-Clark: Yes there is. In Tarawood there is land that is dedicated – I don’t
believe we required the developer to construct it but there is adequate room to
run just adjacent to the Ridenbaugh. Sherbrooke did not construct it but again it
is a common lot within the homeowners association. So it really wouldn’t be
much of a continuous pathway at this point unless we invested quite a bit of time
to go meet with the homeowners and get them to agree to allow a pathway to be
put in their common lots.
De Weerd: But it is a connection between the three subdivisions.
Hawkins-Clark: Right.
Nary: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mr. Nary.
Nary: I guess it sounds nice but it seems like we missed the boat when we didn’t
require Sherbrooke Hollows to fund the other half. We required it of Thousand
Springs but we didn’t require it of the others. When I read at least the email,
what they are saying is they aren’t saying we don’t want to pay for it they are
saying we don’t want it at all. So I don’t know how we are going to build it. I
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August 26, 2003
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don’t know how anybody is going to build it. If the homeowners association owns
that common piece on the other side there’s no requirement for them to allow it
to be on their property. So I don’t know how this will ever get done. I mean
unless they change their mind it’s not a requirement for them.
Corrie: How much did you say it was going to cost? Around $80,000?
Hawkins-Clark: Correct Mayor, I believe. Between 70 to 80 was the verbal that I
was told over the phone.
Bird: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I agree with Councilman Nary. I don’t know how its going to get built with
the city fund. I don’t think it should get built with the city fund. I just personally
think that they can give back the money to whoever it was and whoever has the
(inaudible) down there and we can just do without. Unless the homeowners want
to give the up and build their building that’s fine. I don’t think that we have in the
city to have the money to do it. I think there’s other important things to do
instead of worrying about a bridge in between a couple of subdivisions.
Corrie: You say there’s only 1,000 feet from the bridge that’s crossing over
there?
Hawkins-Clark: Correct. To the north it’s a little over 1,00 feet along that street.
De Weerd: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mrs. de Weerd.
De Weerd: So am I to understand that that easement they would have the
option of whether to allow public access there? I mean they may not have had to
pay towards the bridge but that easement was a requirement of the plat. I agree
I don’t want to see any public funds to that out of our base but if we could get a
grant and use that 33,000 as matching it would be worth pursuing and then have
this conversation after finding out if we can get something for that or not. I don’t
know but if it was built they would not have access through the connecting
pathways in Sherbrooke?
Hawkins-Clark: Correct. Neither final plat for either Thousand Springs or
Sherbrooke Hollows has a public access easement on those two micro path
common lots that you see on there. They are just common lots that are owned
by the homeowners association that don’t have a public access easement on
them. That would have to be acquired.
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August 26, 2003
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De Weerd: I guess this isn’t a discussion then.
Hawkins-Clark: It would require a lot of work.
Corrie: Actually it was just an update and I guess we could have a vote on it and
we could have a resolution.
Nary: I guess we could ask them if they’ll just build half that bridge and then
eventually they will have to build the other half.
Corrie: Walk the plank.
De Weerd: Yeah but then what. They can stand on the bridge but –
Corrie: You can’t get across.
Bird: You can’t get across you just have to stay on the bridge.
(Inaudible discussion amongst Council members)
De Weerd: Well Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mrs. de Weerd.
De Weerd: I guess we just need to put our letter into ACHD and say return the
funds.
Nary: Second.
Corrie: Okay. Motion been made and seconded. The question has been called
for. I did hear you say question didn’t I. All those in favor of the motion say aye.
Opposed no. All ayes motion carried. ACHD’s letter will be coming.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4. Discussion of Jefferson Wells report:
Corrie: Stacy.
Kilchenmann: Okay. Given time constraints for the Jefferson Wells report I’m
not going to go into a lengthy discussion about the purpose and the scope of the
audit. I think we’ve already discussed that. So I’m just going to briefly talk about
the conclusion of the audit and the management response to the specific findings
in the audit. I won’t go through each one individually because that would be
lengthy. Basically the conclusion of the audit is that internal financial controls
existing in the utility billing system have been weak and some of the basic
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August 26, 2003
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controls that are missing are segregation of duties, lack of adequate
documentation for entries, and lack of review over entries and transactions that
were made into the system. There was also a security component of that audit
which pretty much came down to the same things that were lacking in the
financial system. There were no controls over who had access into the system,
everyone had access into the system. There was no segregation of duties over
who could perform specific functions and there was no review over reports to see
who actually had completed transactions. There was also some inherent
weaknesses in the Cacel billing system itself such as it doesn’t take a transaction
with the individual who did it and it also allows people to void receipts which is
not common in most accounting systems. So the findings really dealt – there are
several findings and they all come back to those issues. In specifically just to
talk briefly about how we’ve addressed some of those finings. The auditors
prepared a really detailed process flow chart of every step that we go through in
the billing system. For example opening the mail, that was detailed out on where
the paper goes when we open the mail, who opens the mail, what individuals
open the mail. So I was able to take those flow charts and break them apart and
divide the duties between the five individuals in the Utility Billing Department. So
we can take that and that gives us just a process flow chart that I use to develop
new job descriptions that are in the process of being reviewed going through a
revaluation in the Human Resource Department. So we have been able to
achieve the segregation of duties that really is kind of the core of the problems
with the system. The problems with the documentation we have instituted some
procedures for example the Treasurer now reviews a computer print out of
receipts every month and she looks for that sequential order of the receipts. She
actually does go back to the hard document that was written for the customer
and she spot checks those to make sure that the receipts are in sequence and
that they agree to the computer generated report. If there are any voided
receipts which the way the system works there are times that you have to void a
receipt, for example if the system goes down it makes you void the receipt and
start over. So she would (inaudible) the documentation to back up any voided
receipts. We are doing as far as the adjustments that we make in the accounting
system, now that the Utility Billing System is under the accounting system we are
a lot more hard core I guess you could say about requiring documentation for
why adjustments are made, we require a printout of the customers account, we
require an explanation, if we don’t like the explanation we look for further
documentation. So that has given us a lot more control over the billing
adjustments. One of the big factors in addition to the lack of financial controls, is
the work flow in the fact that we have kind of outgrown the once a month billing
process so that all the work came in in one weeks time or four days time which
meant that everybody participated in opening the mail. Everybody waited on the
front counter, everybody entered receipts. So we have finally completed the
draft of the billing ordinance, in addition to the landlord tenant agreements we’ll
also allow us to split that billing apart and I think we have that scheduled to come
before you on September 9th
. So that will help because we will have the work
flow spread out more evenly. We have assigned an individual to the front desk
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August 26, 2003
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and we are going to be assigning that person the cash drawer, we will actually
have two cash drawers and two people so that when the person goes to lunch
and so forth we will be responsible for balancing their cash drawer and then an
individual who does not enter receipts will make sure that the person balances
out at the end of day. We are waiting for correctional industries to come in and
work on the remodel of the front counter, they will give us two workstations but in
the meantime we will institute that control over the cash drawer. So that the
security items and the system were kind of broken on the actual computer
system were broken into high medium and low. All the high items have been
dealt with. Those are – I had Terry’s list of them and I can’t explain them as well
as he can but some of those items were just closing holes in the system where
people from the outside might have had access to it. Locking the database so
that only certain people can get into the database. That was kind of a crucial
thing because the way it was before any individual could get into the database
and I actually, even though I’m not a MUBS employee I probably could of gone in
through my computer and gotten into the database. So that’s been locked.
Employees have been locked out of modules that they don’t use. So that was
another key component of that. The password policy has been instituted which
is really crucial for some of us its like this is a pain to have to do that but when
you have computers that are out in front and information that’s as sensitive as
MUBS where people are wondering by their computers it was crucial that we had
those password controls. So that’s been instituted citywide. We lockdown their
terminals – their terminals lockdown if it hasn’t been in use for a certain amount
of time so that somebody can’t walk by and say oh somebody’s computer is up,
I’m going to go in and do transactions because that was another one of the
problems with the system was that transactions were done under peoples names
who were on vacation. So that was one of those high security controls. Some of
the controls – I mean the audit was done from the viewpoint if you were the CIA
what would be the highest level of security that you would have and obviously we
are not the CIA and we met on a middle ground of what can we do to still get our
job done efficiently but give us the maximum control. The final component of the
auditor, the third component of the audit dealt with suspected misappropriation of
funds. The auditor did go ahead and specifically pick a month, I think it was
June of 2001. Where he looked in detail, I mean detail at every transaction that
happened that day. He found that there were several red flags. It’s something
that we think probably happened but we can’t prove it happened and we can’t
prove who did it. So the cost of continuing with trying to do that would be upward
of $25,000, it wouldn’t be recoverable so I think the consensus was made that
we will just go on from where we are here. Again all those little problems or
areas that I’ve talked about were all in concert, they were all happening at one
time. Another thing away from just the strict technical computer and financial
controls that the audit discussed is the turn over and the supervision in the
MUBS Department. From now on like I said the job descriptions have been
rewritten and the minimum qualifications have been made fairly specific as to
experience that the individual will need to have. So I think that will up the skill
level and the experience level. In the future when there are interviews for
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August 26, 2003
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positions I as well as the MUBS person and Human Resource person will
participate on the panel. I think that will give us a little better hiring process.
Then some managers will be taken to improve the level and skills of the
supervision. So that’s kind of it in a nutshell. Are there any questions?
Corrie: I will say one thing Stacy. You’ve done an excellent job with the report in
instigating new procedures and including the rewriting of job descriptions and
what we need to do in security and I think you’ve done an excellent job from
what I have heard so far and I’ve talked to them and also our attorney and you
and I commend you for that. I think we are going to have a little tighter security
here and (inaudible) what we need to do. So I thank you for that. Council any
other discussion or questions?
Bird: Very nice.
Corrie: I guess at this point we need a motion to accept the (inaudible) is that
right?
Bird: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we assess the audit done by Jefferson Wells and make it a public
document now.
Nary: Second.
Corrie: Okay. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further
discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed no? Also we have a statement
that’s ready for the press if they so desire and we are all ready to go. Thank you
Stacy.
Item 5. Discussion of Finance Report – Stacy Kilchenmann:
Corrie: On item number five is discussion of the Finance Report.
Kilchenmann: The only thing I was going to discuss here is I put in front of you
the amendment sheet that came in your financial statements and I highlighted
the bottom of it in yellow. We are getting ready, we want to have the amendment
to Will by the second. So by next week, so we are finalizing what we are going
to do to amend 2003. The items that are on here, there are a couple items we
have not yet discussed. One of them is for the Police Department, when they set
up the new building they purchased exercise equipment for an exercise room
and the treadmill that they purchased was actually a residential treadmill it was
not a commercial treadmill and it is no longer functional and actually what
appears to be shocking people when they use it. So they have looked at moving
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August 26, 2003
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to a commercial grade – it makes them go faster. They have looked at
purchasing a commercial grade treadmill that actually has a warranty and a stair
step machine and they can use some money that they are not going to use that’s
in their operating training budget and transfer it down to Capital Outlay to
purchase that equipment. So we needed to get your approval for that.
De Weerd: Okay.
Corrie: Okay. Do you want that tonight?
Kilchenmann: I do because I want to finish this.
Corrie: Tonight. Okay.
Kilchenmann: Then the second item has to do with the ACHD impact money and
specifically especially for parks because if we were going to do something with
that money, if we were going to carry it forward we need to decide like
immediately so we can have it as a carry forward item. If we are not going to do
that we can let the money revert and either reappropriate it next year or leave it.
So I pushed and made Doug come up with these numbers like he had a minute
to do it. So we tentatively have $20,000 in Capital for a new truck. $30,000 for
Centennial Park and $126,628 for Storey Park irrigation. Fire also gets about
$16,000 and Kenny does not need to use that this year so we are going to just
let that revert to fund balance. So I guess the park items are the hot topic.
Corrie: I think we have a possibility of the truck being $10,000 from the Whitney
Fire Department that’s already got the truck and we are looking at that rather
then the $20,000. Council comments?
De Weerd: Mr. Mayor.
Corrie: Mrs. de Weerd.
De Weerd: I guess I would like to see the money stay in Parks and not revert
back to the General Fund.
Kilchenmann: You can always – as long as we have it in Capital if you decided
next year, well these are not the specific items we want to spend it on you could
make a motion and move it from project to project. Its just if we don’t do it now
we are out of time to do the amendment.
(Inaudible discussion amongst Council members)
Kilchenmann: Is that okay to do it that way on these items? Okay.
Corrie: Is there any objection from the Council?
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August 26, 2003
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Bird: No I think that’s the best way to do it.
Kilchenmann: Those were the only items I was going to discuss on the financial
statements unless there are any questions. I will be emailing the amendment,
the final amendment to you soon. So you can take a look at it.
Corrie: Okay thank you Stacy. Okay that takes care of the Pre-Council agenda.
I will entertain a motion to close the Pre-Council Meeting.
Bird: So moved.
McCandless: Second.
Corrie: Motion been made and seconded to close the Pre-Council Meeting. All
in favor say aye. Opposed no? Pre-Council Meeting closed at 7:00.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:59 P.M.
(TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
APPROVED:
/ /
ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR DATE
ATTESTED:
WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., CITY CLERK