McLean County Finance Committee met Sept. 4.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
The Finance Committee of the McLean County Board met on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 400 of the Government Center, 115 East Washington Street, Bloomington, IL.
Members Present: Chairman Jim Soeldner, Members Chuck Erickson, Catherine Metsker, Laurie Wollrab and Jacob Beard
Members Absent: Member Carlo Robustelli
Other Members Present: Chairman John McIntyre and Member Shayna Watchinski
Staff Present: Ms. Camille Rodriguez, County Administrator; Mr. Eric Schmitt,
Assistant County Administrator; Ms. Cassy Taylor, Assistant
County Administrator, Ms. Jessica Woods First Assistant Civil
State’s Attorney; Ms. Julie A. Morlock, Recording Secretary;
Department Heads/Elected Officials Present: Ms. Kathy Michael, County Clerk; Ms. Michelle Anderson, County Auditor; Ms. Marshell Thompson, McLean County Animal Control
Others Present:
Chairman Soeldner called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM.
Chairman Soeldner presented the Minutes of the July 16, 2019 special meeting and August 7, 2019 regular meeting of the Finance Committee for approval.
Motion by Wollrab/Beard to approve the Minutes of the July 16, 2019 special meeting and August 7, 2019 regular meeting of the Finance Committee.
Motion carried.
Chairman Soeldner confirmed there were no members of the public or employees.
Ms. Michelle Anderson, McLean County Auditor, presented her quarterly report. Ms. Wollrab asked about the Nursing Home employee benefits fund and if we transfer funds in for pension plans. Ms. Anderson indicated we would not transfer in from the Employee Benefits Fund for IMRF and Social Security only health insurance comes from that fund. She said the pension payments come from the IMRF fund. Ms. Anderson indicated the end of the year transfer is for property insurance, liability insurance, unemployment and workers compensation. Ms. Wollrab asked if there was a way to put the transfers in for those on a more regular basis and asked where that would show up on the report. Ms. Anderson said it would show under Other and they could work on transfers. Ms. Anderson and Mr. Schmitt discussed that insurance payments are made once a year but the social security could be done quarterly, they would have to discuss with the Treasurer transfers and general ledger entries. Ms. Wollrab asked that they try to set up transfers at least quarterly. Ms. Metsker asked about Metcom number. Ms. Anderson explained Metcom revenues. Mr. Beard asked about increase in revenue. Ms. Anderson indicated she would look at reports that fall into the Other category and get back to him. Mr. Schmitt indicated that part of revenue funds would be from the Wind Farm. Mr. Beard asked if any of the expenditures by department seemed off since we are over midway through the year. Ms. Anderson indicated none of them seemed extremely off. Ms. Metsker also thanked her for the PAFR report that she submits each year. Chairman Soeldner asked if there were any additional questions; hearing none, he thanked her.
Ms. Kathy Michael, County Clerk, presented for action a request to approve a Resolution of the McLean County Board Authorizing the County Clerk to Offer a Salary above the Starting Maximum Salary. Ms. Michael handed out additional information on the request and indicated the report showed salaries for the different positions in her office. She explained they had a Deputy Clerk position open due to a retirement and a current part-worker who expressed interest in full-time. She indicated she was requesting to bring her in at the same rate as person who left as she has experience and education and already trained. Mr. Barnett asked if she would be filling the part time position. Ms. Michael indicated they would not at present and they have a full-time position she has not filled. Ms. Wollrab asked what other deputy clerks are making in comparison to what she wanted to pay this individual. Ms. Michael indicated she did not have exact figures. Ms. Metsker agreed that we want to make sure our current staff would not make less. Ms. Wollrab indicated she was not comfortable with this unless she had comparable information for other clerks. Ms. Michael indicated that others in the office that would do the same work are Office Support Specialist II and make more money. Ms. Wollrab asked if OSSII individuals are operating as Deputy Clerks. Ms. Michael said no, they are doing OSSII work but are cross-trained to do Deputy Clerk work. Ms. Michael went over other staff working in her office and titles. Mr. Beard asked if this step is within expectations of work, she would be completing. Ms. Michael indicated individual is already taking on things that other Deputy Clerks have not and went over some of those additional responsibilities. Ms. Metsker asked for clarification on the steps and range for position. Ms. Rodriguez explained there are 101 steps so this would not be at the top of the range.
Motion by Erickson/Barnett to recommend approval of a Resolution of the McLean County Board Authorizing the County Clerk to Offer a Salary above the Starting Maximum Salary.
Motion Carried.
Ms. Michael presented her monthly reports. Chairman Soeldner asked if there were any questions; hearing none, he thanked her.
Ms. Thompson, Director Animal Control presented her monthly reports. She went over current events and future events including adoption events at Tractor Supply and the Iron Coyote event. Ms. Metsker commended her for the variety of places she goes to try to get people involved and gain exposure and asked her to keep track of events and where she sees more interest. Mr. Soeldner asked if rain and late planting and harvest has affected them. Ms. Thompson indicated she has not taken extra calls on West Nile virus and she has noticed animals producing another set of offspring. She said if we have early winter that might affect animals. She also said gave her staff credit for all the work they do. Ms. Metsker asked her to pass along thank you to employees from the Committee. Chairman Soeldner asked if there were any further questions, hearing none, he thanked her.
Chairman Soeldner indicated Ms. McNeil was not present but since her action items were routine items they would take those now and receive her reports for Stand-up. He presented for action a request to approve Resolutions authorizing the Chairman to execute Deeds of Conveyance regarding Real Estate Parcels #19-21-302-031; #24-15-154-006; #23-16-153-002 and 08-11-100-004, Resolutions authorizing the Chairman to execute Assignment of Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase for Mobile Homes ID#ST-00-0013 and ID#MB-00-0201 and a Resolution authorizing the Chairman to execute Cancellation of Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase for Mobile Home ID#SG-00-0298. He asked for a motion to approve all three action items.
Motion by Wollrab/Beard to recommend approval of Resolutions authorizing the Chairman to execute Deeds of Conveyance regarding Real Estate Parcels #19-21-302-031; #24-15-154-006; #23-16-153-002 and 08-11-100-004, Resolutions authorizing the Chairman to execute Assignment of Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase for Mobile Homes ID#ST-00-0013 and ID#MB-00-0201 and a Resolution authorizing the Chairman to execute Cancellation of Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase for Mobile Home ID#SG-00-0298.
Motion Carried.
Ms. Rodriguez presented critical hire requests for the Public Defender’s Office, Court Services, Regional Planning and Children’s Advocacy Center. Ms. Metsker asked about vacant position in Court Services. Ms. Taylor indicated the position was vacant for about six month before they hired someone in June and person has now resigned as of August 23rd. Mr. Beard asked how many current existing vacancies there are. Ms. Rodriguez said it is hard to know for sure with the 24/7 operations such as with Nurses. Mr. Beard clarified by asking how many positions are currently open that we are having a hard time filling. Ms. Rodriguez indicated we have those issues with corrections, nurses and leadership positions.
Motion by Metsker/Wollrab to recommend approval of the critical hire requests.
Motion Carried.
Chairman Soeldner presented for action a request to approve the Proposed Insurance Program for Policy Year 2020. Mr. Schmitt indicated this is for health and life insurance for employees. He went over costs and coverages for each program. He said they are also adding option for employees to purchase identify theft coverage. Mr. Soeldner asked about the increase cost and how they felt about the increase. Mr. Schmitt indicated at the beginning of year the insurance provider had indicated it might be as high as 10% so the 3.75% was good. Ms. Wollrab commended them for going to a self-insured program. She asked if there were changes in coverage. Mr. Schmitt said three was an increase in the stop loss amount. Ms. Wollrab asked about getting a quote on pharmacy plan. Mr. Schmitt indicated they discussed with broker and broker recommendation was to stay where we are for now. Ms. Wollrab said she would like to see about getting some independent information instead of from our broker to see if we could save money. Ms. Metsker agreed it would not hurt to look. Mr. Soeldner asked how they determine if employee or spouse uses tobacco. Mr. Schmitt stated employees have to sign an affidavit.
Motion by Beard/Wollrab to approve the Proposed Insurance Program for Policy Year 2020.
Motion Carried.
Ms. Rodriguez presented for action a request to approve an Equity Adjustment for the Sheriff’s Department Lieutenants. Ms. Rodriguez stated Staff had been working for the past three months with Sheriff on the inequity and felt it was unsolvable unless they work to mitigate this compression issue. Mr. Soeldner asked what this would cost annually. Ms. Rodriguez said it would cost 30,800 a year. Ms. Wollrab asked about remainder of this year. Mr. Schmitt stated it would be about 7,700 for rest of this year. Ms. Wollrab asked Staff to clarify the raise Lieutenants would receive. Mr. Schmitt indicated there are four Lieutenant positions, two would receive about $11,000 and other two would be about $4,500. Ms. Wollrab asked if Staff was proposing to bring all up to same salary and asked how tenure was considered. Mr. Schmitt indicated they were proposing to bring to same salary and this follows model of comparable counties. There was discussion about whether this would cause more issues, and also discussed other options and reasons to go this route (please refer to audio section 51:00 – 1:05.00). Mr. Erickson stated that what he was hearing was the Sheriff approved this and that it is comparable to other counties.
Motion by Barnett/Metsker to recommend approval of an Equity Adjustment for the Sheriff’s Department Lieutenants.
Motion Carried.
Ms. Camille Rodriguez, County Administrator, presented her report on recent employment activities.
Chairman Soeldner asked for a motion to go into closed session pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2) of the Open Meetings Act for the purpose of discussing collective negotiating matters between public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedule for one or more classes of employees.
Motion by Barnett/Erickson to go into closed session pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2) of the Open Meetings Act for the purpose of discussing collective negotiating matters between public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedule for one or more classes of employees.
Motion Carried.
Finance Committee entered closed session at 5:38 p.m. Finance Committee returned to open session at 5:53 p.m.
Chairman Soeldner asked if there was other business. Ms. Rodriguez thanked all Administration Staff and Highway Staff for their leadership last week when the County lost a long time Highway Employee. Mr. Erickson thanked Chairman McIntyre and Administration for letting the County Board members personally know.
Chairman Soeldner presented the Finance Committee bills for review and approval as transmitted by the County Auditor.
Motion by Barnett/Beard to approve the presented bills in the amount of $1,364,585.97.
Motion carried.
Chairman Soeldner asked if there was anything else, hearing nothing he adjourned the meeting at 5:55 p.m.
https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6909
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