COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE -Minutes 20100511
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE – CITY OF MUSKEGO (Unapproved)
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2010
Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. and led those present in the Pledge of
Allegiance.
ROLL CALL
Mayor Johnson, Aldermen Snead, Harenda, Borgman, Werner, Soltysiak, Schaumberg,
Fiedler, Deputy Clerk Jill Blenski. Also present Community Development Director Jeff
Muenkel and Finance Director Sharon Mueller.
STATEMENT OF PUBLIC NOTICE
The meeting had been noticed in accordance with the Open Meeting Law.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
There were no issues with the agenda items listed.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ald. Borgman moved to approve minutes of the April 27, 2010. Ald. Harenda seconded;
motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Discuss Bring Back the Lake concept plan.
Mayor Johnson stated that according to the Muskego Now approximately 230 people attended
the public meeting on May 4, 2010 – much of the comments were negative.
Community Development Director Jeff Muenkel stated that his department is still compiling
data and has about 200 written comments accumulated at this time. Mayor said that there are
three options: do nothing – leave as is – or to modify the project.
Ald Werner noted he has heard a lot of comments both pro and con and that other options and
alternatives could be explored. He feels there are opportunities within the project that are less
expensive and or possibly a smaller project, less intrusive to that space. One of the biggest
comments was “does it have to be that big and that expensive?”
Ald. Snead heard a lot of comments from citizens concerned about the costs involved but they
have to understand that the City is talking about three overall projects: Janesville Road,
Durham Drive and Bring Back the Lake. Bring Back the Lake project being the most
expense. She explained that this project has nothing to do with the development of Parkland
Mall. The message the City received 2 years ago from the citizens was to do nothing with the
Parkland Mall site. That issue is now in litigation. The City and Council have tried repeatedly
to work with the owner to no avail and we need to focus on this project.
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Ald Borgman questioned which properties are still interested in pursuing the Bring Back the
Lake project? Ald Werner stated that Dillworth, DJ’S and possibly Gardetto are interested.
The Community Development Department will continue to compile the survey results and
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will present copies to the Council as of June 1 so they can review them for the June 8
Committee of the Whole meeting. The committee will discuss the results at that time.
2. Discuss Clerk/Treasurer position.
Mayor Johnson reviewed the attached memo with his proposal to combine the Finance and
Clerk-Treasurer Departments. With the resignation of Clerk/Treasurer Janice Moyer the City
has the opportunity to review the organizational structure. At present the core functions of
City Government: Clerk, Treasurer and Finance are divided into two departments the
Clerk/Treasurer and Finance. His recommendation is to promote Finance Director Sharon
Mueller to the new position of Director of Finance & Administration. Sharon would oversee
the three core functions: City Clerk, Treasurer/Finance and Human Resources. Each of these
functions would have a lead person who would be the primary person to assist in carrying out
that responsibility (see attached organizational charts). Sharon will also take the investing in
house saving the $20,000 plus per year that is currently paid to Public Finance Specialists for
that service.
The financial function would be assigned to a new accountant supervisor position hired to
perform what Sharon currently does with the exception of the budget. The accountant position
has been strongly recommended by our audit consultant, Don Vilione of Baker Tilly, LLP but
due to the economy of the past 3 years has been put on hold. This position would serve as a
much-needed back up to Sharon. Mayor feels that overall there is a potential to save as much
as $33,000 per year with the restructure.
Mayor believes this process will facilitate more flexibility with the cross training of all
department employees to assist with the workload during the busy periods such as tax
collection and elections. Sharon would assume the statutory title of Clerk/Treasurer therefore
a charter ordinance change would not be needed.
The consensus was that the proposal moves forward. The Mayor noted that time is crucial, as
Sharon needs to begin the process to recruit applicants for the Accountant position.
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Resolutions will be placed on the May 25 Council Agenda to potentially finalize the process.
ADJOURNMENT
Ald. Snead moved to adjourn at 7:14 p.m. Seconded by Ald. Fiedler, motion carried
unanimously.
Cindy Schweitzer
Secretary
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Date: May 7, 2010
To: Committee of the Whole
From: Mayor Johnson
Re: Clerk/Treasurer Position
With the resignation of Clerk/Treasurer Janice Moyer comes the opportunity to
review the organizational structure with an eye for increased efficiencies and needs.
At present the core functions of City government; Clerk, Treasurer and Finance are
divided into two departments the Clerk/Treasurer and Finance. While this structure
has worked up to now, I believe a more efficient model is one department that
contains all these functions under one Department Head. The advantages of that
model is that we would flatten our overall organizational structure by reducing one
department head and increase the efficiency by placing the employees of the two
departments under one umbrella. This change will facilitate more flexibility with cross
training all department employees to assist with the workload in these tight budget
times. Specifically, the peaks of activity, such as tax collections and elections would
be spread across more employees.
My recommendation would be to promote the Finance Director, Sharon Mueller,
to a new position of Director of Finance & Administration. The Department of Finance
& Administration would have the three core functions under her responsibility, City
Clerk, Treasurer/Finance and Human Resources (see attached organizational
charts). By assuming the Statutory title of Clerk/Treasurer, a charter ordinance
change would not be necessary.
Each of these functions would have a lead person who would be the primary
person to assist in carrying out that responsibility. The Clerk function would remain as
is with Deputy Clerk Jill Blenski and Sharon Mueller sharing that responsibility. The
Treasurer function would be split between cash reporting, which would become a
finance function, and investments which would be managed by Sharon Mueller and
assisted by Senior Fiscal Assistant Judie Paryl. The long-term goal would be shifting
to in-house investment decisions versus our present utilization of Public Finance
Specialists. This would allow us to maximize our returns on investments and save the
City approximately $20,000+ on investment fees.
The financial function would be assigned to a new accountant supervisor position
hired to perform what Sharon Mueller currently does with the exception of the budget.
This new position would not only allow Sharon to focus on managing the new
department and the investing responsibility but would also achieve a strategic goal to
provide a back up to the Finance Director responsibility. The new finance position
has been on our to-do list for 4 years and strongly recommended by our audit
consultant Don Vilione of Baker Tilly, LLP. Due to the economy of the past 3 years,
money to fund new positions was not there, no matter how important. The current
Clerk/Treasurer salary and savings from in house investing in year 2, would offset the
cost of this new position and any salary adjustments to current staff (see attached
projected savings detail).
This recommendation does not come without questions.
Is this change in compliance with sound financial principles? In a conversation
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with Mr. Don Villione he believes it is and agrees with the consolidation of
departments. The hiring of the accountant manager position is essential to a
sound financial process.
Will the Director of Finance & Administration be over tasked? The learning curve
is steep but is manageable in my opinion. Sharon recognizes the challenge and
is confident of her abilities to perform in this new position. The hiring of the
accountant supervisor position is critical and needs to happen now so Sharon
can devote her time to the Clerk function.
Is staff on board with the recommendations? Other Department Heads agree
that this proposed change is positive and that Sharon is up to this task.
Personnel in the Clerk, Treasurer and Finance areas were briefed on the plan
and were generally supportive but were concerned with the workload being
placed on Sharon. The hiring of the accountant as soon as possible is critical to
the early success of this new department.
In my opinion this change is needed to better meet the City’s current and future
workload by spreading responsibility over a larger group of employees with decision
making being handled by one department head.
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