South Cook News

Village of Alsip Committee of the Whole Met April 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Trustee McLawhorn called the meeting to order at 6:32pm and called the roll with the following in attendance: Trustees Dalzell, Zielinski, McLawhorn, Murphy, Nava- Esparza and Mayor Ryan.

The Finance Director, Joyce Tucker, led the discussion. The net income changed from the last budget meeting and is now $153,000. Some things have been added and some that hasn't been included as it just happened today. There was a meeting with Dude Solutions to look at incorporating a work order program to be used by multiple departments. To implement is about $13,000 and then $11,000/ annually. This program will also be available to the public to report issues like a pothole. She will be working with the departments to see what work order system they are currently using to see if that can be built upon instead of doing something completely new. The Mayor spoke to the budget for the Administration Department. Trustee salaries stayed the same at previous fiscal year at $60,000. The Mayor' s salary was adjusted per ordinance to $80,000. The payroll for his assistant was $25,700. Half of her salary is split between the Heritage Apartments for the time she works at that office. There was discussion between the Mayor and Trustee McLawhorn about cutting her time at Heritage to give more time to the Mayor' s Office with all the things that are going on. If that happens the allocation of the salary could be adjusted. Training and conference expense was the same at $2,500. The seasonal temp if for the economic development person at $10,000. Consulting fees stayed the same at $35,000. Engineering fees stayed the same at $10,000. There will be some engineering involved in the capital assets. Newsletter remained the same at $15,000. The newsletter is issued twice a year. Membership dues are at $36,200 and went up slightly from the previous few fiscal years. There are several organizations those membership fees cover that are helping us to find grant money and other resources. Office supplies was raised from $1,500 to $2,500 but thought it could be left at the $1,500. The Beautification Committee stayed the same at $8,000 but will be removed because it went to a separate account as it is completely funded by donations and not tax payer money. Special events was left at $2,000 as it was previous years. The hotel/ motel payout was allocated at $100,000 and has averaged about $90,000/ annually and is anticipated to bounce back after being slightly down due to COVID. On average about $20,000 or so is spent on contingencies. Last year the number was higher because of the PPE purchases and some economic development items were listed under contingencies. This year economic development will have its own line item. Legal fees will remain the same at $175,000. The amount fluctuates depending on what is going on that requires legal assistance. Some previous years were above the allocated amount due to contract negotiations. Union contracts are due to begin again so that number will be adjusted by $40,000. Legal retainer stayed at $12,600 as it has been previously. The economic development has the intern pay set at $10,000. Economic development consulting fess are set at $55,000 but maybe be adjusted as the Mayor is exploring an Economic Development Consultant. There was a consultant used for Pulaski and was paid for from the TIF. This consultant would focus on the whole Village and specifically Cicero Ave to help fill some of the voids there. There was discussion between the Mayor and Trustee Nava- Esparza about hiring a Community Development Manager. An economic development consultant is more project based and focuses on filling vacant properties/ parcels. Community Development is more comprehensive focuses on other aspects not just the economic development. For example, they would also focus on connectivity, impacts on public health, environmental impacts, helping the Board identify strategic priorities identified to our comprehensive plan and providing staff reports to help make the best decisions possible. The salary of $80,000 would actually be higher once benefits are factored in. The next item is budget was the economic development expense that was for the upcoming Gas N Wash facility for their work with IDOT expenses and would be a reimbursement. Trustees Nava- Esparza and Dalzell thought it was important to have a translator service to help service those in the community that do not speak English with translation or the translation of forms. They would also be able to access other information at home giving them more options. There are other employees that do speak other languages so they could also be utilized instead of spending money. The next budget presented was for Finance led by Ms. Tucker. Training/ Conference has not be utilized much but she would like to pay for our employee Tom to take the CPA courses. It would be at a cost of about $1,900 and would take place over the next two years. The line item is at $4,500 and will be left at that for other training opportunities. Inventory costs are minimal. Membership dues are being kept at $2,000. The total for the staff accountant' s salary included a 2.5% increase and a $1,500 stipend. The stipend was included for all members of the Finance Department. The stipend is for operating a couple months without a boss and went above and beyond the call of duty. The AP position will have a 2.25% increase. The Finance Associate will have a 5% increase due to the great job and not getting an increase last year. The intern salary was included. The consultants are for Share Point. Share Point is a Microsoft product that allows work flows to be created and approval processes. There is way too much paper for approving invoices. This program will make that electronic and then route to the appropriate people for approval. All invoices will be scanned. The cost would be about $32,000 for about two months of work. Avanti (the current program associated with Laserfiche) is not user friendly and she felt Share Point would be a better option. Ms. Tucker will be checking to see what the annual cost is far Avanti and what the contracts for it are. Demonstrations can be provided if the Board would like to see how Avanti works. Share Point will not communicate with HTE so all invoices would still be entered by AP. The amount of invoices that are received would not be a huge work load to scan them in to use the Share Point. Instead of using the stamp and physically writing out account codes it will be typed in which will save time too. Actuarial fees will stay the same. Due to the Coronavirus grant money we will be receiving that will force us to have a single audit so another $20,000 could be added. Professional services is the training provided by HTE. Payroll services is for Paylocity and there will be an increase because their services are going to increase. Office supplies has the copier leases/ purchases and software called Debt Book. Debt Book allows us to enter all the debt and leases into a cloud based software and then has multiple other reminders and tasks. It produces language for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and provides different reports and schedules. Miscellaneous expenses was reduced. An additional IT person has been factored in because the IT Department needs help. An entry level person could be about $45,000 but more experience would be preferred starting at $60,000. There was an IT part-time person for IT before at a salary of $29,000. The IT Manager has a 2.25% increase with a $1,500 stipend. The $120,000 for computers will change. All software should be purchased through IT so we can know all the software, contracts and the contract expiration. The maintenance computer is what houses the HTE maintenance expense of $100,000/ annually. Equipment computers will include the new phone system. It will cost 89 $10,000/ annually for the new system. The implementation will be about $60,000 and that does 90 include the cost of the phones. A cloud based program costs about $35,000 more than keeping it in 91 house. The HR budget was very small and pretty basic. A new printer is needed. Fraud training will 92 be provided for every employee each year. Dues/ subscriptions is basically the SHRM subscription. Physicals for new hires will be in this budget.

ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Trustee Maurphy to adjourn and; seconded by Trustee Dalzell. All in favor; none opposed. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7: 26pm.