Finance Committee - January 31, 2024 Minutes
FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting Wednesday, January 31, 2024
The Regular Meeting of the Finance Committee of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, was held in the Commission Chambers at City Hall at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
The Finance Committee Members present or absent were as follows:
Present: Timothy Mahoney, Dave Piepkorn, Michael Redlinger, Susan Thompson, Steve Sprague, Tanner Smedshammer, and Brenda Derrig.
Others Present: Nancy Morris, AC Stefonowicz, Desi Flemming, Tim Dirks, Denise Kolpack and Jordan Corneliusen, and Jill Pagel.
Approval of Minutes
Mr. Piepkorn moved the minutes of the November 20, 2023 Finance Committee meeting be approved as presented. Second by Mr. Sprague with all Members present voting aye, and the motion was declared carried.
Regular Agenda
2024 City and County Sales Tax:
Mr. Sprague commented that we are off to a slow start this month but as the year progresses it will surely pick up.
Budget Adjustment Project Safe Neighborhoods Approved:
Assistant Chief Stefonowicz stated that the Police Department was awarded $61,924.74 in grant dollars through the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) to aid in the reduction and prosecution of violent offenders. How the police department is utilizing the funds is with equipment and protective gear or technology items, such as cameras and video equipment to document activities.
Mayor Mahoney asked who is finding grant money and AC Stefonowicz responded that he typically works on grant funds for the Police Department, but there are a lot of financial hoops and uses the Finance Department to help navigate through the process. He believes there are more funds available if the City had a grant writer that could dedicate more time to find and apply for grants.
Ms. Thompson mentioned that the Finance team has recently subscribed to a grant-finder software that might help.
Recommended Motion:
Approve the budget adjustment of $61,924.74 for supplies and equipment to be used for the Project Safe Neighborhoods program.
Ms. Thompson moved to approve, second by Mr. Redlinger and all members present voted in favor.
Budget Adjustment Farm to School/Table Programs Approved:
Ms. Flemming requested a budget adjustment of $3,250.00 from the ND Department of Health and Human Services for increasing the Farm to School/Table Programs. This grant will be used to help some local childcare to promote a healthy eating plan.
Recommended Motion:
Approve the budget adjustment of $3,250.00 for Farm to School/Table Programs.
Mr. Redlinger moved to approve, second by Ms. Thompson and all members present voted in favor.
Budget Adjustment Library Lockdown Approval:
Mr. Dirks requested a budget adjustment of $14,082.00 for the installation of door override functionality at the Main and Dr. James Carlson Libraries. The library would be using anticipated State Aid to Libraries Revenue.
Recommended Motion:
Approve the budget adjustment of $14,082.00 for installation of door override functions completed by Johnson Controls.
Ms. Derrig moved to approve, second by Ms. Thompson and all members present voted in favor.
Other Item:
The Mayor asked Ms. Thompson to speak to changes to the Finance Committee. Ms. Thompson explained that discussions are happening to look at changing the structure and function of the current Finance Committee.
Ms. Thompson explained that the focus is on making the Finance Committee more of a quarterly meeting with all City Commissioners in a Brown Bag type discussion and revert back to Finance staff meeting held by-weekly for logistical type items. The new committee structure is not yet ready to roll out, but the hope is to put a new meeting plan in place hopefully in February.
Adjourn:
The time of Adjournment was 10:19 a.m.