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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 7 Finance and Investment Committee Regular Meeting Town of Los Altos Hills - March 7, 2022 Members present Nate Blair, Allan Epstein, Kjell Karlsson, Susan Mason, Medha Rishi, Roddy Sloss and Chris Welborn Members absent: Cheryl Evans and Chris Nam Associate members: Jim Lai, present; Frank Lloyd, absent Council present: George Tyson, Mayor Staff present: Peter Pirnejad, City Manager; Sarina Revillar, Administrative Services Director; and Cody Einfalt, Management Analyst. Public present: None. Meeting handouts: Meeting handouts can be viewed on the Town’s website: https://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/AgendaCenter/Finance-Investment-Committee-8 Ms. Rishi called the meeting to order at 4 pm and conducted a roll call. Public comments - None Approval of Minutes – Medha Rishi Minutes of February 7, 2022 Regular meeting were approved as presented by all attending members. Westwind Community Barn Agreement – Sarina Revillar Ms. Revillar explained the subject agreement was for scheduled renewal next year and requested that an FIC member work with Staff, and representatives from the Parks and Rec. and Open Space Committees and concessionaire VDE on this task. Mr. Karlsson volunteered and indicated he would consult with Mr. Epstein as appropriate. Status of Liability and Workers Compensation insurance review – Roddy Sloss A summary was presented that Mr. Sloss summarized including two open items; liability insurance Deductible pricing, and Workers Compensation insurance premium allocation among the members of the insured group. Mr. Epstein asked whether the open questions would be addressed in the next annual renewal. Mr. Sloss noted the insurance manager agreed to perform the analysis, but timing was not specific. Ms. Revillar stated that a plan JPA budget meeting is imminent, and status of actuary will be determined. Item to be addressed when further information is available. Committee Planning – Nate Blair Now that the Council has established priorities for the year, Mr. Blair suggested it would be helpful to present planned committee meetings and related topics for the balance of the year to facilitate member tasking. Ms. Rishi offered to draft and present a topical Committee meeting calendar for discussion at the next meeting recognizing that unplanned topics do arise. Continued March 7, 2022 FIC Minutes, continued page 2. Review of Reserves and the Gann Spending Limit – Sarina Revillar Ms. Revillar presented a General Fund Reserve Distribution chart showing Unassigned Fund Balance slightly exceeds $8 million. Ms. Revillar noted that the unassigned fund balance is close to the Gann spending limit for the Town of $8.2 million. Intends to consider a capital or underground reserve be created as a possible alternative if eligible and needed to avoid exceeding the limit. Tax revenue exceeding the limit can become payable to the State and therefore suggested a review of the subject. Ms. Revillar requested that Mr. Sloss work with her on reserve recommendations. Committee members noted a general awareness of the limit and also a general unfamiliarity with the details and therefore suggested that a review be performed in conjunction with the auditors who are responsible for reviewing the calculation. She suggested this work be performed for the committee’s April meeting. Members Epstein and Sloss offered to work on this with Ms. Revillar and the auditors and then report in the April FIC Committee meeting. Ms. Revillar offered to share relevant information from the Town’s auditor and noted that ARPA funds are excluded in the GANN limit calculation. Emergency Service Hazard Mitigation Grant – Cody Einfalt FEMA funds are available through CalOES for wildfire protection. Mr. Epstein assisted the Town in submitting a notice of intent to file a grant application for a program to assist homeowners in wildfire protection hardening of their properties.by replacing wood shake roofs and creating defensible space. The three-year program requires the homeowner and/or Town match 25% of the FEMA funding. Mr. Epstein proposes a $2.7 million program where the homeowner(s) using these funds pay up to $600,000 and the Town contribute up to $200,000 in the form of services or cash and the roughly $2 million balance provided by FEMA. The next step is Council approval to file the application in their March 2022 meeting If approved, funds would not be available until late 2023. The program would be conducted in phases with the first phase being identification of homeowners committed to participate. The FIC unanimously voted in favor of continuing to pursue this opportunity. Council Matters of Interest – Mayor Tyson Mr. Tyson a March 24, 2022 open meeting on new regional housing requirements and proposed regulations. The Town Manager noted a March 30 meeting of Staff and Committee chairs to discuss priorities and interdependencies between committees. A former Mt. View staff member will attend as a consultant. The Town Manager requested a permanent agenda slot on future FIC meetings. Next meeting date - April 4, 2022 FIC discussed concern that Licenses, and Permit Fees and Charges for Services are running at twice the budgeted rate and the need to understand cause and implication. City Manager stated resources are not available at this time to do the investigation and changes in costing will be proposed. He proposed this work should be done in the new fiscal year and plans to provide funds for a new fee study. Suggested non-recurring topics are updates on: Service revenue, Insurance recommendations and the Gann limit calculation. Actuary to present Draft OPEB actuarial report. Staff presentation on Overhead Allocation method. Adjournment: As there were no further comments, the meeting adjourned at 5:54 pm. Recording link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/zog52PLNHwORKxfe0zWtem0B39AWxLbuNI9vwcBD8V1q3F74DGp 0pQVkqjPPAoOF.QOshwT0RjfHMzNLf?startTime=1646697130000