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Finance Committee Meeting Minutes – September 20, 2017

Written by Janice Meridith on . Posted in Finance Committee Minutes.

For your consideration, please read the minutes from the Finance Committee Meeting held on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 2:00 pm.

Finance Committee Minutes 9-20-17 with Attachments

To read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above, or you may see more below:

Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water & Sewer Commission

1703 Gloucester Street, Brunswick, GA 31520

Commission Meeting Room

Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 2:00 PM 

FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES

PRESENT:                             

Donald M. Elliott, Chairman

Steve Copeland, Commissioner

Mike Browning, Commissioner

Jimmy Junkin, Executive Director

John Donaghy, Director of Finance                                               

ALSO PRESENT:                 

Andrew Burroughs, Deputy Executive Director

Pam Crosby, Director of Procurement

Jay Sellers, Director of Administration                                                                                   

Chairman Elliott called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.  

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

There being no citizens that wished to address the Committee, Chairman Elliott closed the Public Comment Period.

APPROVAL

  1. Minutes from August 16, 2017 Finance Committee Meeting 

Commissioner Browning made a motion seconded by Commissioner Copeland to approve the minutes from the August 16, 2017 Finance Committee Meeting.  Motion carried 3-0-0.

  1. Sanitary Sewer Flow Monitoring RFP Award – P. Crosby

Pam Crosby presented to the Committee a recommendation to make a contract award for the Sanitary Sewer Flow Monitoring RFP.  She provided the background information that the monitoring is to be performed on St. Simons Island for a three month period of study, and then from there we will be able to determine if it needs to be extended further.  Mrs. Crosby also explained that the purpose of the Proposal is to address the inflow and infiltration to help to establish the next list of target areas that need to be addressed for grouting, manhole rehabilitation, etc.  In overview, she advised that there were 5 Proposals received, and a technical team of 3 staff reviewed the Proposals.  She also provided a copy of the project background information from the RFP, the evaluation summary sheet, and a price bid sheet.  Based on the evaluations, staff recommended award to McKim & Creed at the proposed cost of $311,800.00.  It was also noted that McKim & Creed has a more comprehensive proposal and recommendation, and that 60 locations were to be monitored.

Commissioner Browning made a motion seconded by Commissioner Copeland that the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water & Sewer Commission award the contract for Sanitary Sewer Flow Monitoring to McKim & Creed.  Motion carried 3-0-0. 

DISCUSSION 

  1. Water Production Report – S. Sallins

John Donaghy introduced the information provided for this report and advised that it was obtained via the Open Gov program.  Shanesha Sallins explained to the Committee the details of the two charts provided regarding the amount of water produced during the Fiscal Year 2016-2017. The first chart indicated the water produced in gallons per month, and the second showed the water billed in gallons per month.  Chairman Elliott requested the percent of water produced that is unbilled.  John Donaghy advised that this will be provided in the annual audit, and estimated that the percent is about 10 to 12%.  Mr. Junkin added that if this is correct, that is a good number for a utility.  There was further discussion on reporting separating the districts within the reports and how well they can be broken down in future reporting.  John noted that the data and charts can be manipulated and designed in different forms depending on the use and need and also be provided on the website if requested. 

  1. FEMA Reimbursement Plan – S. Sallins

Shanesha Sallins displayed a chart indicating the dates of the milestones thus far for Hurricane Irma and FEMA reimbursements.  She advised that the formal application had not been turned in as of yet, and that after the application is filed the representative project manager from FEMA would then be assigned for JWSC. There was some additional discussion regarding Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Irma, and the preparation and documentation for each. 

  1. Tentative Calendar for Bond Issuance – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented to the Committee the tentative calendar for the bond issuance.  He noted that the schedule as provided was prepared with the assistance of Courtney Rogers of Davenport & Company, the financial advisors for JWSC.  The bond issuance is expected to be March of 2018.  He noted that some of the necessary tasks would need to be condensed due to time lost from the hurricane.  The total amount of the bond issuance has yet to be determined as studies and reports are in progress which will be used for that determination.

  1. Current Status of Innoprise Implementation – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented to the Committee the update on the Innoprise implementation.  The CIS system and billing system went live on July 1 of 2017.  Many of the issues have been solved, the databases have been reviewed, problems have been addressed, and the billing system appears to be working well at the current time.  John noted that the meter reading and utility personnel have been using the system for about six months and have done quite well.  The Billing Department is up to speed on the system and are ready to learn more about it.  Customer Service is still discovering some differences in the Innoprise system as compared to the previous GEMS system.  Fields within the database are being cleaned up and corrected by Customer Service as they find those fields that are incorrect or not filled in.  Additional items discussed were fees and costs involved with customer bill payments via lockbox services, credit cards and online. Chairman Elliott requested that staff begin working on the future RFP for the banking services and to try to partner with one who will offer the least costs for credit card and online payment fees.  John also briefly updated the Committee on Open Gov, Time Clock Plus change, and some additional modules in Innoprise. 

  1. Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Audit Status – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy informed the Committee that the accounting firm of Mauldin & Jenkins did the audit for JWSC.  Their personnel spent 1 week at JWSC working on the audit.  He noted that JWSC still has some items to provide and questions to answer for the audit to be completed and the findings made ready to present.

  1. August End of Month Financial Comparative – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented the end of month financial report for August 2017 to the Committee.  The complete packet included the Balance Sheet, a summary and detail by GL description Combined Revenue Statement, the Overtime Report, and the Project Report. There was some additional discussion pertaining to the overtime and trends that had been seen from year to year, as well as some reasoning as to why certain departments budget overtime versus hiring additional staff.  John then proceeded to review the Projects which are currently open and provided a chart for review.  Noted was the balance of $20M to complete all Projects, not including the SPLOST Projects #702 and 703 of which there is a shortage of about $17M to complete both of those Projects.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Mr. Junkin reported that they did meet with the financial consultant on the previous day.  They are making good progress in developing a hands on model for a tool to use in looking at financial data and financial outcome.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:53 p.m.