HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 10
Finance and Investment Committee Special Meeting
Town of Los Altos Hills
Town Hall, Monday, July 10, 2017
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 pm by Chairman Sloss.
Members present: Allan Epstein, Kjell Karlsson, Susan Mason,
Christopher Nam and Roddy Sloss.
Members absent: Betty Kayton, Stan Mok, Bill Silver and Chris Welborn
Associate members: Jim Lai, present; Frank Lloyd, present
Council: Gary Waldeck, present; John Radford present
Staff present: Pak Lin, Administrative Services Director, Karen Huang, Finance
Manager, Frances Reed, Management Analyst
Public present: None
Guests present: Doug Pryor, Vice President, Bartel & Associates
Discussion of pension prepayment matters - Doug Pryor
Mr. Sloss summarized prior discussion and meetings on the subject, referred to a list of questions handed
out before the meeting and then called upon Mr. Pryor to discuss the subject and take questions.
A five page memo is attached summarizing the discussion. Further, Ms. Lin made a DVD voice
recording (approximately 70 minutes) of Mr. Pryor’s discussion which is available on request. At the end
of the discussion, attending members indicated their preference for making a prepayment as follows:
Messrs. Epstein, Nam and Sloss prefer a split between a Section 115 Trust and a direct CalPERS pre
payment with the amount to be determined after receipt of the Bartel report. Mr. Karlsson favors
investing all the prepayment funds in a Section 115 Trust; and Ms. Mason favors investing $1 million in a
Section 115 Trust and $1.5 million in a CalPERS prepayment.
Approval of minutes:
May 1, 2017 meeting minutes were approved as presented by members who attended that meeting.
Report on Council activities of interest – Gary Waldeck
The Organizational Assessment project report issued with twenty five recommendations. Council will
appoint an ad hoc committee to consider the recommendations and report back to Council. Also,
Council is considering a new audio visual system and is participating in a Bay Area wide commission on
airplane noise. The Town Manager’s employment agreement has been extended two years with a three
percent per year increase.
Continued
July 10, 20177 FIC minutes, continued page 2.
Mr. Epstein informed the Committee about the outcome of two budget related issues. 1.) The originally
proposed 2017-2018 Sewer Fund expense budget would have resulted in reserves falling below the
desired 150 day reserve level thereby necessitating an immediate rate review. Staff agreed that the
proposed expense budget was overly conservative and unlikely to be spent. After removing “cushions,”
budgeted expenses declined and the resultant reserve level was sufficient. 2.) The Town did not complete
the Overhead Allocation study planned in 2016-2017 due to work on higher priority projects. Staff
intends to start this work in April 2018 and review fees at the same time.. Mr. Epstein believes the Sewer
Fund is being overcharged for administrative overhead and Internal Service Fund costs. The Staff
agreed that should the study show that an adjustment for these costs is appropriate, then the adjustment
would be made retroactive to 2015-2016 fiscal year by reducing the amount charged to the sewer fund
going forward from the date of the decision.
Report on Finance Department activities of interest – Pak Lin
Ms. Lin’s family leave will begin September 8, 2017 and Ms. Huang, the town’s finance manager, will be
filling in and assisted by Ms. Reed, the Town’s Administrative Services Technician plus a consultant for
special projects as needed. The final draft of the fiscal 2018 budget will be available at the end of July or
early August and Ms. Lin requested final comments be returned by mid August. An internal review will
be completed in July of historical third party professional services contracting work that may be subject to
a CalPERS benefit audit. Ms. Reed will serve as the Town’s ABAG representative on the workers
compensation insurance transition from management by Sharp to management by Bickmore. Ms. Huang
will manage the annual audit year end field work which will begin after Labor Day. OPEB valuation
work was awarded to Bickmore this year and will be available in November. The Bickmore bid was
considerably less than that of Bartel & Associates.
Election of officers:
Attending members elected, for the one year term ending June 30, 2018, Mr. Sloss as the committee’s
Chairman and Secretary and Mr. Epstein as Vice Chairman.
Review of future meeting calendar:
The next FIC meeting will be a Special Meeting on Monday, September 11, 2017 at 4 pm to discuss the
non recurring topic of the Bartel & Associates Report on prefunding pensions among other things.
Presentations from the floor – none.
Adjournment:
At approximately 5:40 pm there were no further matters to be discussed and the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Roddy Sloss, Committee Secretary
Attachment: Memo on Mr. Prior’s presentation.
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