HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 2Finance and Investment Committee Regular Meeting
Town of Los Altos Hills
Town Hall, Monday, April 2, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 pm by Chairman Sloss.
Members present: Allan Epstein, Kjell Karlsson, Betty Kayton, Susan Mason, Stan Mok, Chris
Nam, Bill Silver, Roddy Sloss and Chris Welborn
Members absent:None
Associate members absent:Jim Lai; Frank Lloyd
Council present:Roger Spreen, Vice Mayor
Staff present:Pak Lin, Finance and Administrative Services Director; Jim Steele,
Management Associates (financial support during vacancy beginning April 10,
2018), and Frances Reed, Administrative Services Technician
Public and Guests present: None
Approval of minutes:
March 5, 2018 meeting minutes were approved as corrected by members who attended that meeting.
Finance Department Activities of Interest – Pak Lin
Ms. Lin introduced Jim Steele who will be assisting the Administrative Services Department until a successor
for Ms. Lin is in place. The permanent position opening is being advertised until April 25, 2018. Mr. Steele is
currently a Special Advisor from Management Partners with 15 years of municipal finance experience with
South San Francisco, in addition to serving as Budget Manager and Treasury Manager for Palo Alto prior to
that. The Finance Manager open position is being filled with a consultant who previously served as a Senior
Accountant with Maze & Associates, the Town’s financial auditor. Finance Manager permanent replacement
recruitment will begin when the new Administrative Services Director is in place. Ms. Lin’s will serve as a
Town employee through April 9, 2018. The Committee thanked Ms. Lin for her service and wished her well.
Ms. Lin noted that Maze & Associates completed their interim audit work this month but in light of the staffing
changes will assess the internal control procedures in place from April through June.
A Request for Proposal for Overhead Cost Allocation and Comprehensive (excluding Sewer) User Fee Study
drafted by Ms. Lin was reviewed and suggestions were made primarily through a memo drafted by Mr. Epstein.
Revenue and Disbursement procedures and controls were used for the transition period while
temporary Finance staff is in place.
Fiscal 2019 Base Budget Review – Pak Lin
Ms. Lin presented slides distributed before the meeting. In contrast to past budgets, this is a two-year
Base Budget covering General Fund and Sewer Fund recurring activities. Capital expenditures,
Service Enhancement Requests, non-recurring activities and special fund activities are not included in
he Base Budget and will be presented in a May 30, 2019 Joint Council and FIC meeting. The Base
Budget assumes all existing staff positions are filled and compensated at their current levels. Staffing
Continued
April 2, 2018 FIC minutes, continued page 2.
changes and salary increases are included as part of the Service Enhancement Requests. The slides
described the methodology and underlying assumptions for budgeted amounts and third party revenue
sources for capital expenditures. A two year Sewer Fund cash flow analysis indicates a rate increase is
not required in the budget period, however unbudgeted but planned sewer plant expansion costs were
not included in budgeted costs as Sewer Plant management has not yet presented them or the related
timing. The proposed entire budget should be distributed for review by May 15, 2018. SB-1 financing
of roads and required Maintenance of Effort (MOE) level were discussed. Mr. Steele will investigate
Town’s required MOE level, what costs can be included reimbursement procedures. Betty Kayton
made suggestions related to IT security and Adobe Creek clean up. Unassigned Surplus Reserves were
discussed including disaster recovery and related FEMA resources expected to be available and the
FIC’s Pension recommendation made in the March 5, 2018 meeting.
Ms. Lin reported that Open Gov effort was making progress and was accessible for staff, but further
work on templates, landing pages, standard questions and public access would be delayed until new
financial staff was in place.
Report on Council Activities of Interest – Roger Spreen
Reported that the Post Office did not approve the Council’s unique Town zip code initiative.
Proposed Investment Policy for Section 115 Trust – Roddy Sloss
Mr. Sloss stated that changes proposed to the subject policy by the Committee in its March 5, 2018
meeting were incorporated and the updated draft was sent to Andrew Brown with HighMark Capital
and Steve Mattas, the Town’s outside counsel, for comments that were received and reviewed by the
Committee in the meeting without suggesting further changes. Mr. Sloss will prepare the draft for
Council approval in its April 19, 2018 meeting.
Review of future meeting calendar:
The Regular FIC meeting scheduled for May 7, 2018 is cancelled. The next FIC meeting will be a
joint meeting with Council on May 30, 2018 to review the proposed fiscal year 2019 Town Annual
Budget. Other topics for future meetings include: A Security Audit of the Town’s electronic data
processing controls; a recent Workers Compensation provider change; Review of long term capital
plans and related policies; Financial policy and procedures review; Status of Planning and Building
software (Filemaker replacement); Cost Recovery/Cost Allocation Study; LAH Sewer rate study and
updates to related published schedules and literature; review of FIC Monthly Project Summary Report
and review of Quarterly Finance Department report on financial controls.
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