HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/09/1994 COW minutes MINUTES
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
AUGUST 9, 1994 ~
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meebng was called to order by Mayor Gerald Farley at 7.43 p m. Present at
the meebng were Trustees George Clowes, T~mothy Corcoran, R~chard
Hendncks, Paul Hoefert, M~chaele Skowron and Irvana Wilks Also present at the
meebng were V~llage Manager Michael Janonis, Assistant to the Village Manager
Dawd Strahl, Finance D~rector David Jepson, Assistant F~nance D~rector Carol
Widmer, Data Processing Programmer/Operator Kewn Cnswell and Adm~n~strabve
Intern Cathleen Freels
II. MINUTES
Acceptance of the M~nutes from July 12, 1994 Motion was made by Trustee
Corcoran and Seconded by Trustee Skowron to accept the Minutes Mmuteswere
unanimously approved
III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
Frank Vlasny, 2103 Jody Court, spoke. He questioned the Mayor as to why the
Northwest Municipal Conference Mayors are getting together to put a Referendum
on the November ballot to address State regulabons and restncbons placed on
mun~c~pahties
Mayor Farley responded that the Mayors were d~scussmg a Referendum for the
November ballot as a tax issue concerning tax hmlts on non-home rule
communities and hope to provide education to ~bzens concem~ng the Referendum
in the near future
Emle Lasse, of 805 Souttt Elm, spoke He wanted to d~scuss the V,Ilage
Manager's salary increase which was approved at the last V~llage Board meebng
~ he unable to attend the last week He stated
since
was
meeting
that
the
Village
Manager in one year and three months has received a rinse of $17,000, or 25%,
and the staff has increased by the addition of an Assistant Village Manager at a
cost of approximately $60,000 which includes benefits He asked why was the
Board ~s approwng these large increases for the Vdlage Manager and increas~ng
taxes and fees to the c~bzens at the same brae He feels the raise is too high
IV. VILLAGE-WIDE COMPUTERIZATION PLAN
Assistant to the Village Manager Dave Stmhl prowded a general overview of the
computer goals which have been estabhshed by the Computer Task Force made
up of Dawd Jepson, Carol Widmer, Kewn Criswell and Dave Strahl The focus of
the general goals which were determined to prowde the tools for Departments to
address management needs These goals increase the tlmehness of service,
minimize or ehmmate paper handling/processing, ehmmate duphcat~ve work, share
informatmn across d~fferent Departments and ~mprove mformabon accumulatmn
w~thout Incurnng additional staff brae These goals were estabhshed to prowde
general gu~dehnes for dlscuss;on relating to each Department as ~t becomes more
computenzed in terms of operabons and work processes The need to accumulate
and analyze ~nformabon w~ll be streamhned w~th~n each Department through the
use of the five general goals as a reference tool so that any chosen d~rect~on of
the d~fferent Departments w~ll acknowledge the goals The five general goals are
broken down ~nto short-term, m~d-range and long-term goals w~th objectives or
examples used to achieve each level of goals
Dave Jepson prowded a general overview of specific Departmental objectives and
what each computer module ~s intended to achieve As part of the review of the
computer program for the V~llage, he stated the Project Team looked at numerous
other mun~c~pahbes for a sample of their expenences and recommendabons
relating to software and hardware. Among the ~tems reviewed was the range of
prices and approaches the d~fferent munic~pahbes used to achieve their
computerization goals Departmental benefits are d~rectly attnbuted to the software
and ~ts ab[hty to address the general goals as outhned prewously For example,
a work flow rewew will occur in Inspection Services and Human Services as
necessary to achieve general computer goals and ~mprove Department efficiency.
Mr. Jepson rewewed the b~d process for the V~llage Board members stabng that
a Request for Proposal (RFP) of over 100 pages was submitted to approximately
ten vendors Of the ten vendors, five returned b~ds. He also stated that he
requested ~n the proposal that all software vendors recommend the hardware to
be used Th~s approach ~s somewhat d~fferent from prewous computerization
programs ~n which the hardware was purchased first and then the software
General d~scuss~on among the Board members followed ~n which employee user
groups were suggested to be encouraged and the staff was also encouraged to
make sure the hardware ~s s~zed to run properly ~f it is necessary to run parallel
and oversize the hardware for future growth Board members also recommended
the use of electromc ma~l and p~cture ~dent~ficat~on cards for employees
General consensus of the Village Board was to move forward with the proposal as
presented.
V. FINANCIAL CONDITION
Mayor Farley introduced the topic of the Village Financ~al Cond~bon and stated that
it ~s Village Board pohcy to have a snapshot of the finan=al conditmn of the Village
periodically This is a prehmmary rewew prior to the full s~x-month review which
will take place m the next couple of months
Dave Jepson provided an overview of the finances, outhned historical trends,
today's cond~bon and projected future trends He also discussed the vanous
Funds and the funding level of each Fund He also prowded an overview of the
Fund balances in the various schedules He pointed out that he projects an
approximate $400,000 deficit for the short budget year primarily because we will
only receive one installment of the Property Tax dunng the short budget year. He
also pointed out the future ~mpact of the new Revenues which the Village Board
recently approved and stated, the Village is in a much stronger financial pos~bon
than two years ago
General V~llage Board dlscussmn followed Members stated that this recap is one
of the better financial p~ctures they have seen in at least three years. The
d~scusslon also asked what is the plan for Parking Fund surplus funds and
suggested these funds be used for addressing downtown parking needs
This financial snapshot Is for Information only and additional Information will be
provided at the slx-moth budget review.
VI. REVIEW OF THE VILLAGE PURCHASING POLICY
Dave Jepson stated the V~llage uses a decentrahzed purchasing system which is
also the trend in other mun;c;pahtles ~n the field of purchasing In a decentrahzed
system, Department Heads have the respons~b~hty for purchas;ng ~tems specific
to their operations and there is general management oversight by the F~nance
Director and the Village Manager. He provided an overview of the nine specific
pohc~es for purchasing which all V~llage purchases must fall under The document
that ~s presented is an illustrat~on of what is already occumng among the Village
Departments and the written document w~ll serve as a guide for purchases in the
future There are three proposed changes outhned in the Purchasing Policy They
are as follows:
1. Increase in the V~ilage Manager's authonty to purchase ~tems w~thout
a formal b~ddmg process for $10,000 or less instead of the current
$4,000 or less The consensus of the Village Board was to support
the change.
3
2. Ehm~nate the bidding requirement for joint purchases with other
ent~bes ~f the entity the V~llage is coordinating with conducted a
compebtive bidding process Consensus of the Village Board was
to support the change.
3 To authorize the disposal of goods w~th a value of $100 or less on
an informal sale bas~s rather than a formal b~d process General
consensus of the Village Board was to support this change.
Add~bonal d~scuss~on of the V~llage Board members included suggestions to
include standard bid (RFP) ~nformatlon for each Department to standardize the
~nformabon which goes out for request. A breakdown of the d~fferent types of
Purchase Orders on the bill hst, for example, blanket P Os and then the
descnptlons of the purchases Members also requested vehicle purchase
~nformabon and other compansons for larger purchases use spreadsheets for
comparisons in order for V~llage Board members to more easily see the
comparisons Finally, the V~llage Code should be revised to address purchasing
respons~b~hties for the Finance Director and other members of staff in relation to
what is actually occurring compared to what the Code reads at th~s bme
General consensus of the Board was to approve the Purchasing Policy as outlined
with the recommendations requested and to draft the Ordinance making these
changes.
VII. VILLAGE MANAGER'S REPORT
No report
VIII. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Trustee Wilks stated that she received a call from a Mr Fefferman from American
Truck Care Company. Amencan Truck Care had requested a Zomng change at
the Mobil Tank Farm s~te on the south end of town for a truck repair fac~hty He
~nformed Trustee Wilks that Mobil has requested American Truck Care to w~thdraw
its request for reconsiderabon at th~s t~me
Trustee Clowes stated he has concerns relabng to Senate Bill 1822 which ~s
currently before Congress and feels that the leg~slation could be detrimental to the
control of the V~llage's nght-of-way relative to cable and telephone companies
Trustee Hendrtcks stated that he would request recons~derabon of the V~llage
Board approval to sell water to Prospect Heights for their new Pohce fac~hty at the
next Village Board meeting
X. ADJOURNMENT
The Committee of the Whole meeting adjourned into Executive Session at
1030 pm
Respectfully submitted,
DAVID STRAHL
DS/rcc Assistant to the V~llage Manager