Loading...
2017.12.18_FAB_Minutes_RegularTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH FINANCIAL ADVISORY BOARD * R REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Town Hall / Commission Chambers Date: December 18, 2017 3614 South Ocean Boulevard Time: 12:30 PM Highland Beach, Florida 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair Babii called the Financial Advisory Board Regular Meeting of Tuesday, December 18, 2017 to order at 12:30 P.M. in Commission Chambers. Roll call was taken followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. MEMBERS PRESENT UPON ROLL CALL: Member John Ross Member Lori Wolin — ABSENT Member Edward Kornfeld ,.� Member David Buchsbaum Vice Chair David Stern Chair Greg Babij Finance Director Cale Curtis MEMBERS ABSENT: Member Lori Wolin 2. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA: Chair Babii called for any additions, deletions or modifications to the agenda. MOTION: Vice Chair Stern moved accept the agenda as presented. The motion was seconded by Member Buchsbaum, which passed unanimously. 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS: There were no public comments. 4. PRESENTATIONS: There were no presentations. Financial Advisory Board Regular Minutes Tuesdav, December 18, 2017 Paye 2 of 6 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: • November 15, 2017 — Regular Meeting Chair Babii advised that he had a few updates that were provided to Deputy Town Clerk Cuebas. Deputy Town Clerk Cuebas read the pertinent changes into the record. Chair Babii called for a motion to approve the minutes as amended from the November 15, 2017 Regular Meeting. MOTION: Vice Chair Stern moved to approve the minutes of November 15, 2017, Regular Meeting as amended. Member Buchsbaum seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 6. OLD BUSINESS: None. 7. NEW BUSINESS: A. Approval of the Annual Report for Palm Beach County Infrastructure Surtax Finance Director Curtis presented this item and outlined the information contained in the draft Annual Report. MOTION: Chair Babii moved for the Board to approve the Annual Report for Palm Beach County Infrastructure Surtax, as presented by Finance Director Curtis. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Stern. Board members discussed and questioned the Finance Director with regard to the draft of the annual report for the Palm Beach County Infrastructure Surtax. Member Kornfeld questioned Finance Director Curtis regarding the distribution of funds among the different municipalities to ensure Highland Beach receives its fair share. Finance Director Curtis advised that he will have the capabilities of seeing the distribution of funds to the 37 municipalities from the State. Member Kornfeld inquired about the $2.1 million Streetscape project with regard to the crosswalk lighting that the Commission decided to take out of the budget for the project. Finance Director Curtis clarified that the Commission decided to take the crosswalk lighting out of the Streetscape project plan and fund them separately. However, the money will not be taken out of the budget of $2.1 million. Financial Advisory Board Regular Minutes Tuesday, December 18, 2017 Page 3 of 6 Member Kornfeld then questioned Finance Director Curtis regarding the $100,000 outlined in the draft report for the Design Phase of the project. Finance Director Curtis clarified that the $100,000 is allotted for the consulting services needed in order to design the Streetscape project should the voters pass the referendum. Member Kornfeld inquired how the figure of $245,000 was constructed. Finance Director Curtis advised the state came to that number based on their revenue estimates. Vice Chair Stern inquired about the interest rates associated with the funds that the state will provide to the Town. Finance Director Curtis advised the surplus funds will be pooled in with all the other cash of the Town and the interest rates will be calculated accordingly. As far as the interest rates that we would be paying for the money that we borrow from ourselves, would be a great topic for the board to discuss next. Member Ross inquired what would happen if there happens to be an event that the Town did not budget for since the funds are already appropriated for the money to be received from the state based on the One Penny Surtax. Finance Director Curtis advised that the Town has a Disaster Relief fund that has $850,000 allocated for Hurricane relief and there is an additional $2 million dollars in the Unassigned Fund Balance that could be used. Member Ross questioned if the voters do not pass the Streetscape Referendum, what would ,--� be the next steps for the project. Finance Director Curtis advised that the Financial Advisory Board would then be able to provide recommendations and assist the Town Commission with moving forward. Member Ross questioned about the contingency fee that has been added into the $2.1 million estimate. Finance Director Curtis provided comments relating to the necessity of the contingency factor to be included as the cost of construction may not be the same once the project begins. Member Ross advised that he would recommend that the Town look into other projects that we may be able to use the funds from the One -Penny Surtax, in the case that the referendum does not pass. Member Buchsbaum questioned about the $350,000 cap and if it is per year, per contract? Finance Director Cale advised that the referendum requirement is applied on an overall project basis. Member Buchsbaum provided suggestions to make sure the funds are used in the Town judiciously and also when sending out for requests, ensure that people involved are familiar with this type of project. Chair Babij questioned Finance Director with regard to the process if the referendum were to fail and would the money have to be used within a certain time frame. Finance Director Curtis advised he would have to do further research to provide an answer but believes that there is not a time frame to expend the funds so long as they are used properly. Chair Babii clarified that the board at this time was just being asked to approve the conclusions part of the annual report. Finance Director Curtis confirmed that was correct. Financial Advisory Board Regular Minutes Tuesday, December 18, 2017 Page 4 of 6 Vice Chair Stern questioned if Finance Director Curtis has looked into the City of Delray and Boca Raton and their current infrastructure projects to see if there is some economy in the whole project. Finance Director Curtis advised he does not believe so but will look into it further. Chair Babii called for a Roll Call vote regarding the motion on the floor. UPON ROLL CALL: Chair Babij - Yes Vice Chair Stern - Yes Member Ross - Yes Member Kornfeld - Yes Member Buchsbaum - Yes The motion passed on a 5 to 0 vote. 8. REPORTS (PERMANENTLYADDED AGENDA ITEC A) Member Ross stated his concerns with the Streetscape project and the size of the overall project. Finance Director Curtis provided comments with regard to Member Ross' concerns. B) Member Buchsbaum provided comments with regard to the Streetscape project and his concerns with the RFP process being completed correctly. He expressed that he hopes the process will be transparent and wants to ensure that there is no conflict of interest throughout the project with respect to the consulting firm used as they may have a financial interest in the project. Finance Director Curtis reassured the Board that if any members wish to be involved in the ITB or RFP project, once it comes to that, he would be happy to work with them. Member Buchsbaum volunteered to help Finance Director Curtis throughout the RFP/ITB process if the referendum passes and the project moves forward. C) Member Kornfeld provided comments with regard to the discussions that took place at the previous meeting, as he was not able to attend. He did agree with the comments made regarding how to invest the Town's money. He advised that for the past 3 years he has worked closely with Finance Director Curtis regarding the monthly report that is distributed regarding the Town's finances. He has volunteered to put together a "Flash Report" of the monthly report, which will be a precise and short outline of the monthly financial report highlighting any key issues or major changes for the month. He also commended Finance Director Curtis on the work that he has been doing. Member Kornfeld provided comments with regard to the millage rate and the recommendations of the Financial Advisory Board to the Town Commission. It is extremely important to be conservative to ensure the financial success of the Town. Financial Advisory Board Regular Minutes Tuesday, December 18, 2017 Paye 5 of 6 D) Vice Chair Stern believes the Streetscape project is great and necessary but has a concern that the project will not be completed in a first-class way because the Town will have to hit the proposed amount for the project. E) Chair Babij provided comments with regard to the Town self -funding the Streetscape project. He suggested that the board should consider recommending an interest rate or something of that nature for the self -funding portion of the project. He proposed the board could recommend, on the low end, a rate that coincides with the interest rates of the current investments, or on the high end borrow from a bank or float a municipal bond, or it could be somewhere in between. He provided comments with regard to the Town Commission's previous vote against expanding the duties and roles of the Financial Advisory Board. He stated that the board can work with Finance Director Curtis and Town Manager Oakes to make sure the recommendations that are proposed are provided to the Town Commission on a case by case basis. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Deputy Town Clerk Cuebas made the following announcements: • Board of Adjustment &Appeals Regular Meeting —December 19, 2017 - 9:30 AM • Town Commission Workshop Meeting —December 26, 2017 - (CANCELLED) • Town Hall Closed: December 22, 2017 — Christmas Eve December 25, 2017 — Christmas Day January 1, 2018 — New Year's Day • Town Commission Regular Meeting — January 9, 2018 — 1:30 PM • Town Hall Closed: January 15, 2018 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day • Town Commission Workshop Meeting — January 30, 2018 — 1:30 PM 10. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Chair Babij called for a motion to adjourn. MOTION: Vice Chair Stern moved to adjourn the meeting at 1:18 PM. Member Buchsbaum seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Financial Advisory Board Regular Minutes Tuesday, December 18, 2017 Paye 6 of 6 APPROVAL: Greg Babi i ATTEST: erisha Cuebas, MPA Deputy Town Clerk Date: