McLean County Finance Committee met Dec. 5.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
The Finance Committee of the McLean County Board met on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 400 of the Government Center, 115 East Washington Street, Bloomington, IL.
Members Present: Chairman Jim Soeldner, Members Catherine Metsker, Chuck Erickson, Laurie Wollrab, Carlo Robustelli and Jacob Beard
Members Absent: Member Scott Murphy
Other Members Present: Member Logan Smith
Staff Present: Mr. William Wasson, County Administrator; Mr. Eric Schmitt, Administrative Services Director; Ms. Jessica Woods First Assistant Civil State’s Attorney; Ms. Julie A. Morlock, Recording Secretary;
Department Heads/Elected
Officials Present: Michelle Anderson, County Auditor, Marshell Thomson, Animal Control
Others Present:
Chairman Soeldner called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM.
Chairman Soeldner presented the Minutes the October 16, 2018 special meeting and November 7, 2018 regular meeting of the Finance Committee.
Motion by Wollrab/Erickson to approve the Minutes of the October 16, 2018 special meeting and November 7, 2018 regular meeting of the Finance Committee for approval.
Motion carried.
Chairman Soeldner indicated that there had been a request from a member of the public but the individual was not present.
Chairman Soeldner indicated that Ms. McNeil was not present but the Committee had her reports. He went over the numbers of the Tax Summary report. Ms. Wollrab asked if there was a reason behind the increase in revenue. Mr. Wasson stated he was not aware of anything specific. Mr. Soeldner presented the Nursing Home Fund report. Mr. Wasson stated that Medicare revenue increase had been assisted with the increase in ACO referred residents. Mr. Soeldner stated he hoped we would continue to work on reducing the outstanding receivable numbers. Mr. Erickson asked for clarification on goal of Medicare reimbursements. Mr. Wasson stated it is hoped that our census continued to increase for Medicare residents as Medicare residents tend to be short term and generate the most revenue. Mr. Beard asked if there were targets regarding resident census to help us determine where we might break even and if there were other targets for programs, the facility and financials that are presented all together in one place. Mr. Wasson stated that the Health Committee receives that information. Mr. Schmitt indicated models regarding headcount were built when the Blue Ribbon group was meeting, but each group of patients is reimbursed at different levels and requires different levels of medical staff, which makes it difficult to have a set model. Mr. Robustelli indicated that the Health Committee does get reports on goals and targets in all areas and while they do not get the reports that are presented to the Finance Committee, the Health Committee gets the same information in a different form.
Mr. Soeldner presented the Blue Cross Blue Shield report and asked Mr. Wasson if there were any things to note on this report. Mr. Wasson stated that he felt it was consistent with numbers over the past several months. He stated that the Committee needed to keep in mind that we need to be conservative with rates, as we need to plan for good and bad years. Ms. Wollrab pointed out that the first month in 2017 was low because there were claims still going to the past program. Mr. Wasson agreed that comparison should probably start in February. Ms. Wollrab asked if employee pharmacy services were being bid out. Mr. Wasson stated that was not happening this year as they wanted to have 2 years minimum experience before we considered bidding out pharmacy services. He stated that he would recommend it be considered for 2020.
Mr. Soeldner presented information for investment report. He called for a vote to accept and place on file the reports.
Motion by Wollrab/Robustelli to accept and place on file the County Treasurer’s Monthly reports.
Motion Carried.
Mr. Wasson noted that he received an email from the individual who had requested to speak and they were not going to be able to attend.
Mr. Soeldner presented for action on behalf of the Treasurer a request to approve a Resolution authorizing the Chairman of the McLean County Board to execute a Deed of Conveyance. Mr. Wasson went over delinquent tax process and indicated that this was part of that process.
Motion by Robustelli/Beard to recommend approval of a Resolution authorizing the Chairman of the McLean County Board to execute a Deed of Conveyance. Motion Carried.
Ms. Marshell Thomson, Director, Animal Control Program presented her monthly reports to the Committee and summarized recent activities. Mr. Robustelli asked about the reported lizard bite. Ms. Thomson indicated that hospitals have to report those instances. Ms. Metsker asked how we get new transfer agencies interested in assisting with animals. Ms. Thomson indicated that she reaches out to new individuals and groups to try to develop relationships with the Center. Ms. Metsker asked if there were guidelines regarding social media and if that had affected how she works to network with other groups. Mr. Wasson stated that there were no social media guidelines in place, so departments had not been limited utilization. He stated that some discussions have taken place and meetings scheduled to put guidelines together for adoption. Chairman Soeldner asked if there were any further questions for Ms. Thomson, hearing none, he thanked her.
Chairman Soeldner indicated that Ms. Michael was not present due to a family emergency but her monthly reports were in the packet. Mr. Robustelli stated that at some point, and maybe the County Administrator could request this, but he had heard in the media that she was planning to do a report on the election in particularly around ISU and the Bone Student Center and the challenges that we face there. He said he was interested in getting some kind of report on that just so that we have a sense of what we learned from that election cycle. He stated that the other thing was that he went back to the minutes of the June meeting of 2016 when he was on the Committee and we funded 58 laptops, 58 printers, 58 voter cards, 43 touch screens and spent a lot of money in 2016, so that we would have the equipment we needed to prevent or to try to do what we could to mitigate some of the long lines. Mr. Robustelli stated that he wanted to get some accounting of some of those expenditures and get a sense of what we did on that day, how it went and what we learned from it, if it is possible. Mr. Wasson stated he would be happy to communicate the Committee’s desires to Ms. Michael. Mr. Soeldner asked if there were any other questions, hearing none, he moved on to the County Auditor.
Ms. Michelle Anderson, County Auditor presented for action a request to retain the actuarial firm of Howard E. Nyhart. She indicated that we had used this firm since 2008 to prepare the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 45 report, which has been replaced with GASB 75. She went over the information that they gather for the report. Ms. Metsker asked if this report was to help us budget and prepare for our benefits including retirement benefits. Mr. Wasson stated that this analyzes and assesses the obligations that an organization has relative to long-term support for benefits. Ms. Anderson stated that we are required to do this and if we did not, it would affect our audit opinion, which would affect our bond status. Ms. Wollrab asked if we had to do this every year. Ms. Anderson confirmed we do. Ms. Wollrab asked about looking for a new firm since we have used the same firm since 2008. Ms. Anderson stated that the rate is still less than others quoted in 2008 when we last went out for bid, but was not opposed to doing a request if the Committee desired that.
Motion by Robustelli/Metsker to recommend that the actuarial firm of Howard E. Nyhart be retained.
Motion Carried.
Mr. Bill Wasson, County Administrator presented for action a request to approve critical hire requests including one for the State’s Attorney office, Circuit Clerk and Children’s Advocacy Center that are recommended by the Administrator.
Motion by Wollrab/Robustelli to recommend approval of the critical hire requests. Motion Carried.
Mr. Wasson presented for action a request to approve reclassification of positions at the Nursing Home. He stated that a few months ago, modifications were made to RN position salaries and these current requests are brought forward to try to avoid significant compression in these classification. He indicated these are direct supervisory positions as well as a position that was determined should be an exempt position. Mr. Beard asked what the Nursing Home could offer to new staff. Mr. Wasson stated they are restricted to offer up to step 40 of 100 and anything over that requires Committee authorization. Mr. Beard asked if Staff was comfortable that the Nursing Home could now offer salaries that individuals would accept. Mr. Schmitt indicated that with these adjustments we are now competitive with other facilities in the area. Ms. Metsker asked about reclass of an exempt position. Mr. Wasson stated that in this case this position’s exempt status is met through the salary threshold and the activities assigned that would require supervisory duties relating to scheduling duties. He stated that the goal is to provide an appropriate classification for the duties assigned to the employee and then to appropriately compensate that employee. Ms. Metsker asked them to confirm that the salary threshold was raised by the previous administration. Mr. Schmitt indicated that previous did put through an Administrative Order, but the order was rescinded a few weeks before it was supposed to go into place. He said staff had already made modifications to our pay range scale to account for the legislation change and the 10e classification meets the requirements of that if it had actually gone into place.
Motion Beard/Wollrab to recommend approval of the reclassification of positions at the Nursing Home.
Motion Carried.
Chairman Soeldner asked the Committee if there was any other business to come before the Committee. Mr. Erickson stated at the special meeting of the Finance Committee prior to the County Board meeting in November, Mr. O’Grady came and addressed us regarding the CDAP program and there was a specific line of questioning that I asked that I wanted to be on the record. So I would like to make sure that does get in to the minutes. It should be in the audio of that, but it is important to me that that be in the minutes, and I would like to see them in the minutes or I will be asking that the minutes be amended to include those in the minutes, so just pointing that out to you before we get, you give us those minutes that I would like to make sure those are in the minutes. Mr. Wasson stated that if he would identify those specific areas we would be happy to include those. Mr. Erickson stated that it would be the specific areas when I asked Mr. O’Grady questions. Every question that I asked him I want it on the record. Mr. Wasson stated it would be included.
Chairman Soeldner presented the Finance Committee bills and transfer from the County Clerk’s office for review and approval as transmitted by the County Auditor. He stated that the Finance Committee bills include a Prepaid and Fund Total of $756,646.66.
Motion by Wollrab/Robustelli to approve the presented bills in the amount of $756,646.66.
Motion carried.
Chairman Soeldner asked if there was anything further to come before the Committee; hearing none, he adjourned the meeting at 5:12 p.m.
https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6437
Alerts Sign-up