Board of Finance Minutes

Members Present:                                             

• Jim Bulick, Chairman                                           
• John Patton, Vice Chair                               
• Barry Wallett                                                   
• Geoff Prusak
• Robert Wiecenski

Members Absent:

• Peter Tanaka
• Mary Bowen – Alternate
• Annemarie Poole – Alternate

Also Present: Christina Mailhos, 1st selectman; Donna Latincsics, Business Manager; Tish Ignatowicz, Treasurer; Jacqueline Jacoby, Interim Superintendent; members of the public.

Chairman Jim Bulick called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.

Seating of Alternates – no alternates present

Approval of Minutes

Jim Bulick motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of August 17, 2017 with the following amendments, Barry Wallett seconded.  All were in favor, John Patton abstained, motion carried.

        Under approval of minutes, 3rd paragraph 1st sentence add: minutes of July 20, 2017.

        Under approval of minutes, 4th paragraph, 1st sentence add: minutes of August 3, 2017.

        Under Present to Speak, 3rd line, change to “Chairman Bulick agreed…”.

        Page 2 – under New Business –change TRB to Teacher Retire Benefit.

        Page 3 – under Old Business, last sentence add no decisions or actions were taken.

Jim Bulick motioned to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of September 21, 2017 as amended, Barry Wallett seconded.  All were in favor, John Patton and Robert Wiecenski abstained, motion carried.

        Page 2, half way down, paragraph begins Superintendent Jacoby, add: due to Capital      Improvement only.

        Page 3, #1 under Board of Education proposal, add:  several accounts and Part-time positions

Present to Speak – no one

New Business  

WEA Teacher Contract Update

Superintendent Jacoby wanted to start out by thanking Peter Tanaka for his participation with the negotiations.  The Admin and Teacher contracts have been filed with the Town Clerk.  There’s a 2% salary increase to the base. The contract duration was only 1 year given the CT State budget uncertainty. She went on to describe other changes.

Cost Review: 5-Areas

Fire / Ambulance (Peter / Barry) – Barry Wallett briefly summarized their findings so far.  No clear cost savings are not evident. More research is needed.  Peter Tanaka was also gathering per capita fire protection cost statistics.  

Education (Barry / Annemarie / Jim) – Chairman Jim Bulick summarized the preliminary findings – per pupil cost is approximately $18,600.  The median for the state is $16,900. Statistics came from the State Department of Education: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2635&q=320562. Superintendent Jacoby reported focusing on the facilities study to primarily drive down per pupil costs. Barry Wallett raised concerns about the (6) options presented and hoped a more pragmatic solution was presented. Superintendent Jacoby stated we could potentially see $600,000 in annual savings consolidating to one school. John Patton stated he would feel more comfortable seeing an option that would cost Willington no more than the $600,000 a year (limited to the annual savings realized). The Board agreed, and Superintendent Jacoby will check back with the architect.

General Government – Geoff / Jim – Chairman Bulick said we met with First Selectman Mailhos and reviewed the org chart.  Nothing jumped out for cost savings. Several employees are already performing multiple jobs (Treasurer / Human Services Assistant) as is common practice in other towns. We share the Building Official with Bolton. The Animal Control Officer is shared with Tolland. The Finance Office no only supports the General Government, but the School System and the Fire Departments. It is suggested that the Library look at investing their endowment to help with costs as the Cemetery Association and Historical Society have successfully done in the past.

Public Works (John / Bob) – Bob Wiecenski reviewed their findings.  Possible savings could be realized if we borrow instead of purchase specialized equipment that is used infrequently. Derek has also considered tradeoffs between asphalt vs. chip sealing.

Transfer Station (John / Peter) – No update from John or Peter. Considerable savings has been realized from little things like enforcing transfer station stickers and compacting trash (according to Christina Mailhos) since Derek Dimmock started managing Public Works.

Transfer Requests

The request is to cover the CIP budget shortfall on the lease of the wood chipper, 2018 GMC Sierra, and the Self Contained Breathing Apparatus for the Fire Departments.

Barry Wallett motioned to transfer $9,273 from #0831 Employee Insurance to #0931 Capital Expenditures, John Patton seconded.  All were in favor, motion carried.

Policy Regarding Year End Encumbrances

Donna Latincsics presented the Board with a draft of the Encumbrance Policy.  Discussion followed.  Some changes were made to the policy.  We will review the policy again at the next meeting.

Region #19 Start of Contract Negotiations Pre-Meeting of 3-Oct

Selectman Mailhos and Chairman Bulick attended meeting with the Region 19 Negotiations Committee. Both shared Willington’s current economic status with the committee and  Willington’s anticipated state funding reduction.

Correspondence

Letter from Superintendent regarding minor corrections to the regular minutes of 21-September.

Various correspondences from the office of Jill Krieger, Superintendent Region 19, regarding the 3-October-2017 meeting of the negotiations committee.

1-FOI request for correspondence (fulfilled).

GOOD & WELFARE

Chairman Bulick thanked Annemarie Poole and Robert Wiecenski for their years of service to the Town on the Board of Finance.  

We are scheduling a meeting on November 2nd to discuss the State’s budget.

ADJOURMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted
Debra L. Lewis
BOF Recording Secretary