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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/24/1986 - Workshop Minutes City Council MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 5:00 P.M. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Ringer, Councilmen Boughton, Brown, Jones, Tongco, Haddox COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilman Bond STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Cole, City Attorney Locke, Director of Capital Improvements Ash, City Secretary Jones, Assistant City Manager VanDever, Deputy Finance Di- rector Schroeder STUDENT GOV'T LIAISON: Mike Hachtman VISITORS PRESENT: See Guest register. A~enda Item No. 1 - Signin~ of a proclamation desi~natin~ October 2, 1986 as "National Day-in-Court for Legal Secretaries". Mayor Ringer signed the proclamation designating October 2, 1986 as "National Day-in-Court for Legal Secretaries". Pamela Bryson was present to accept the proclamation. Agenda Item No. 2 - Signing of a proclamation desi~natin~ October 5-11, 1986 as "Bicycle Safety Week". Mayor Ringer signed the proclamation designatinG October 5-11, 1986 as "Bicycle Safety Week". Mr. Gregory Phelps accepted the proclamation. Agenda Item No. 3 - Council Concerns. Councilman TonGco reported that the Cemetery Committee met last week to finalize the rules and regulations for the City Cemetery and have instructed City Secretary Dian Jones to draft a final copy for council's consideration. She added that the Committee approved the memorial landscaping plans presented by Mr. Tony Cisneros. q05883 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING ~EDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 PAGE 2 Councilman TonGco reported that board members of the Lone Star Municipal Power AGency met in Huntsville; General discussion covered the Gulf States Utilities rate increase. She added that the Energy Committee has sent bid specifications for the data base study and bid results will be brought before Council in October. She noted that she has received several calls about the new section of Holleman Drive; citizens are concerned that this area of Holleman is a "speed trap", because of the 30 mph speed limit. City Manager Cole replied that staff is aware of the con- cern. Mayor Ringer stated that the Council could designate another speed limit, or post additional 30 mph signs alonG Hol- leman Street. Councilman Haddox reported the "Adopt-A-Spot" Program is beinG implemented by the Community Appearance Committee. CIP Director Elrey Ash has volunteered to prepare a list of potential city sites. Councilman BouGhton informed the Council that the Parks Board has initiated the park name contest, and the staff is writinG an article for publication in the school newspaper, to announce the contest. The deadline for entries is October 31, 1986. Councilman BouGhton suggested to the Parks Board that the selec- tion committee include two or three members of the Council. Mayor Ringer suggested that Councilman BouGhton and two members of the City Affairs Committee, Councilman Jones and Councilman Bond, serve on the selection committee. The council concurred. Councilman BouGhton also pointed out that staff should begin thinkinG about the 1990 census. Councilman BouGhton mentioned her request of a year ago about the possibility of the City's cleaninG the drainage area by the high school. She added that the City cleaned the area around the junior high school, but never cleaned the high school area. City Manager Cole replied that he would convey the request to the public services department. Councilman Brown asked staff for an approximate date of comple- tion for the Harvey Road project. Mr. Ash replied that it would extend beyond Christmas time. Councilman Jones commended the staff for their immediate response to a trash problem at Manuel Street. Councilman BouGhton complimented the Water and Sewer Department for cleaninG the easement behind her father's home, where city sewer lines were being replaced. .~05884 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING ~EDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 PAGE 3 Student Gov't Liaison reported that construction at the Holleman Drive rail crossing is still in progress. Mr. Ash replied there were several delays, but the project should be finished the first week of October. Mayor Ringer stated that the City had a very successful load management program through the efforts of the staff, media, and citizens. He also mentioned that Council has received a draft of the screening ordinance being prepared by City Attorney Cathy Locke and the Planning Department. The proposed ordinance was prepared following discussion with the Mile Drive residents. He asked staff to place the discussion of this proposed ordinance on the next workshop meeting agenda. Mayor Ringer added that Council had received a letter from Step- ping Stone concerning $2000.00 the city allocated to them for a needs assessment study. The department of the University re- sponsible for this study has withdrawn their proposal and Step- pinG Stone would like to put these funds into a restrictive grant fund. Council members had no objection to the request from Step- ping Stone. Councilman Haddox suggested that the amount of money saved from the Load Management Program should be advertised on Channel 24 cable television. Agenda Item No. 4 - City Manager Concerns. City Manager Cole did not report any concerns. Agenda Item No. 5 - Report from Deloitte Haskins & Sells on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and Management Letter. Mr. Charles Chaffin, Audit partner with Deloitte Haskins & Sells, came forward to make his presentation. Mr. Chaffin introduced the auditors responsible for the field work. He announced that a draft of the audit report has been distributed to the Council for their review. He began by discussing the "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" for the year ended June 30, 1986. He referred to the auditor's opinion and summarized each paragraph, as follows: The first paragraph is the scope paragraph; the second paragraph states that the financial statements are fairly presented; the third paragraph states that the financial statements are broken n05885 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 PAGE 4 down even further and the financial statements are fairly pre- sented in relation to the combined financial statements; the fourth paragraph states that the auditors have reviewed the various bond convenants; and the fifth paragraph states the sta- tistical tables have not been audited. Mr. Chaffin referred to a spread sheet of the combined balance sheet and explained that the financial statements are set up in funds. The general fund represents every day operations of the city; the special revenue fund encompasses the federal grants; the debt service fund accounts for the bonds and debt; the cap- ital projects fund includes bond sales for capital projects and investments within that fund; the proprietary fund is the public utilities; and, the trust fund is the minor fund. Mr. Chaffin explained the general fund which includes the day-to- day operations, and includes every department within the city except utilities. He referred to a second spread sheet and pointed out that the fund balance in the general fund is $1.9 million dollars. He stated that $1.4 million dollars of undesig- nated funds are in the fund balance. This is the balance of monies carried into FY 1986-87. He explained that the capital projects fund has $9 million dollars of equity and the utility fund has $32 million dollars in equity. The fixed assets of $34 million dollars are assets other than utilities. The City has a total of $156 million dollars worth of assets and an equity of $81 million dollars. He reported that the City is in sound financial shape. Mr. Chaffin further discussed the statement of revenues and expenditures for the general fund. Revenues were approximately $5 million dollars consisting of taxes, majority being sales tax. General operations expended $9.4 million dollars; $4.6 million dollars were transferred from the utility fund. The net chan~e from the beginning of the year to the end of.the year was $50,000.00. He added that the transfer from the utility funds allowed the revenues and expenditures to balance. He explained the capital projects fund. Revenue received was $968,000.00, which was interest income, and expenses were $5 million dollars, consisting primarily of three road projects; $9.1 million dollars remain available for capital projects. He discussed the budget in relation to the general fund. $4.8 million dollars were budgeted in 1986 and the city received $4.8 905886 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING NEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 PAGE 5 million dollars in revenue; expenditures totaled $9.5 million dollars. Mr. Chaffin discussed the utility fund. The revenue totaled $34 million dollars and the costs for providing utility services was $26 million dollars; this resulted in an operating profit of $7 million dollars prior to taking into account financing. The City earned $2 million dollars on monies invested. He stated that the utility department earned $6 million dollars; after a $4 million dollars transfer to the general fund in lieu of property taxes, the result was a net income of $2 million dollars for the year and a fund balance of $32 million dollars. He explained that the notes to the financial statements are pre- pared for accountants uses and contain an explanation of the ac- counting procedures. He pointed out the long term debt within the city and utilities division. He reported that the City is possibly looking toward refinancing $20 million dollars in gen- eral obligation bond. He stressed the importance for the City to continue "making money" from utilities service, so the City will be able to meet the bond obligations as they become due. He stated that the com- pleted "Comprehensive Financial Annual Report" will be available to the Council within the next month to six weeks. After further discussion, Mr. Chaffin addressed the "Report to Management". The table of contents outlines three areas: 1) material weaknesses in internal accounting control; 2) other weaknesses in accounting control; and, 3) other matters. He pointed out that each area has been reviewed with employees of the city. He noted that since last year, the City has made significant improvements in accounting records and overall oper- ations of the City. Mr. Chafin stated that the auditors felt the conditions of the accounting records and the detailed property records in fixed assets were material weaknesses which needed to be addressed. A possible solution could be that the city purchase a data process- ing system to maintain a count of the fixed assets and to take a complete physical inventory. Other weakness areas he mentioned included the inventory area; and, other matters related to devel- oping system standards, and resolving unauthorized access to com- puter files. Also, the suggestion was made to have a backup system for utility billing. 05887 ~ITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING ~EDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 PAGE 6 Mr. Chaffin discussed the "Single Audit Act of 1984" passed by Congress Droviding a standarized way of auditing entities which receive federal funds. The City of College Station is respon- sible for the audit of the revenue sharing funds and comunity development funds. The overall accounting records in community development funds are good. Councilman Brown asked if the auditors are pleased with the changes in the internal oDerations of the city. Mr. Chaffin replied affirmatively and stated he is pleased with the method- ology the City is going through obtaining its goals. Agenda Item No. 6 - Closed session to discuss personnel [6252-17 (2)(9)]. The council moved to closed session. Agenda Item No. 7 - Action on closed session. No action was taken in closed session. Agenda Item No. 8 - Adjourn. Mayor Ringer adjourned the meeting. AP PROVE D: Larry yor ATTEST: Dian ~~-City Secretary 705888 me GUEST REGISTER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 5:00 P.M. MEETING 1986 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. ® 23. 24. Se 25. 26. 10. 27. 11. 28. 12. 29. 13. 30. 14. 31. 15. 32. 16. 33. 17. 34. 005889