Finance Committee - March 27, 2023 Minutes
FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting: Monday, March 27, 2023
The Regular Meeting of the Finance Committee of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, was held in the Meadowlark Room at City Hall at 10:00 a.m., Monday, March 27, 2023.
The Finance Committee Members present or absent were as follows:
Present: Terri Gayhart, Timothy Mahoney, Dave Piepkorn, Michael Redlinger, Steve Sprague.
Absent: none.
Others Present: Troy Hall, Dan Portlock, Tanner Smedshammer, Tim Dirks, Wyatt Papenfuss, Arlette Preston, Desi Fleming, Gregg Schildberger, Brian Sellin, Ben Dow, David Zibolski, Travis Stefonowicz and Robert Wilson.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes from the February 28, 2023 meeting were approved as presented.
CONSENT AGENDA:
Sole Source and PBC items Approved
Requests presented were as follows: Liberty Business Systems, Reile’s Transfer and Delivery and Seon System Sales, Inc.
Steve Sprague moved to approve. Second by Terri Gayhart. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
2023 City and County Sales Tax
Steve stated both the City and County increased.
REGULAR AGENDA:
Presentation and Memorandum of Understanding with Youthworks Approved
Robert Wilson, Cass County Administrator, presented an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Youthworks. Mr. Wilson gave an overview of the history of the program and how allocations were established until now. He said Cass County had led efforts with the local political subdivisions on a proposed funding model for future Youthworks services. A new cost-sharing formula has been developed to allocate the cost of services between Cass County and the Cities of Fargo and West Fargo, he said. The Cass County Commission approved the proposed MOU at its March 20, 2023 meeting, he said.
Dave Piepkorn asked Mr. Wilson who uses the program and who pays for the program?
Mike Redlinger stated that there is a need for high level reporting.
Mayor Mahoney asked why the City of Fargo and West Fargo are being asked to be involved in funding when the County typically took care of such services, Mr. Wilson state that it goes back to the historical plan with the Police Department bringing the youth into the program.
Chief David Zibolski asked for additional information from Youthworks.
Mr. Wilson said he will ask them to provide a more formal process going forward.
Dave Piepkorn moved to allocate $40,000.00 for the City of Fargo’s share of the services.
Second by Michael Redlinger. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Program Operation Manager Approved
Desi Fleming, Director at Fargo Cass Public Health, said she is requesting a full-time regular position designation be transferred to the Program Operations Manager position for Harm Reduction, and that the full-time temporary position designation be assigned to the Program Coordinator position. This is a budget neutral request as both positions are funded in the Health budget, she said.
Michael Redlinger moved to approve. Second by Steve Sprague. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Contractual Multimedia Producer Position Approved
Gregg Schildberger said the City’s first Multimedia Producer, working with all departments of the City of Fargo, was hired in 2019. The expectations of this position, he said, have consistently grown in scope, breadth and number of requests for services from many departments. He said in 2022, the CommsGA team accumulated 345.25 hours in overtime for the year. He said he is requesting to hire a contractual Multimedia Producer (Videographer) for the City of Fargo by utilizing existing 2023 CommsGA departmental personnel budget funds from May 22, 2023 through October 25, 2024. This would involve transferring residual 2023 CommsGA personnel funds into the 2024 CommsGA departmental budget to offset the costs in the 2024 Budget, he said and the remaining two months (November and December 2024) for the position would be paid by the 2024 General Fund.
Michael Redlinger moved to approve. Second by Dave Piepkorn. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Main Library Shade Replacement Project Approved
Tim Dirks explained that the Fargo Public Library shade replacement project was originally scheduled for fiscal year 2024. With continuous failures of the manual controls, he said, he is requesting to move the replacement to fiscal year 2023. The current system is no longer supported and no replacement parts are available, he said. The original budget amount identified was $210,000.00, but due to inflation impacts, he said, it is anticipated that the total cost of the project may exceed the current budget.
Michael Redlinger moved to approve. Second by Steve Sprague. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Volkswagen Rebate Grant Combination Sewer Truck Funding Approved
Ben Dow gave an overview of the Volkswagen Rebate Grant. On June 2, 2022, he said, he received notice that a grant application submitted in May of 2022, had been selected to receive funding totaling $316,697.00 for the replacement of a 2008 Vector Combination Sewer Truck. On July 1, 2022, he said, he received the Volkswagen Settlement Rebate Grant Agreement for the replacement of this vehicle. The agreements finalized the terms of the grant program, he said and allows the City to move forward with the replacement project. He said he is requesting the first year’s lease payment totaling $316,697.00 be funded through City dollars with reimbursement coming through the NDDEQ Rebate Grant when the check is issued.
Michael Redlinger moved to approve. Second by Dave Piepkorn. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
2022 Budget Amendments Tabled
Terri Gayhart stated that the Finance Department has identified ARPA (American Rescue Plan) funds that do not have a definitive purpose or timetable identified. She said Finance is seeking permission to redistribute the ARPA funds in order to support the General Fund.
Michael Redlinger said the Finance Department is working to end its administration of the ARPA funds in 2023. For that reason, he asked to table the approval until a chart of accounts could be generated establishing where the funds would be transferred to or from and send this information out to all committee members. He said he does not want to lose the intended use of the original plan for the funds as approved by the City Commission.
Michael Redlinger moved to table the item. Second by Timothy Mahoney. All the members voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
The time of adjournment was 10:47 a.m.