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Under the discussion of the budget for the Finance Department, Finance Director Wade Bartlett noted <br />the tremendous amount of workload and activity his department had seen 'during the past fiscal year. He <br />cited the transition to new financial software from MUNIS as a big part of this workload, and stated that <br />manual input of data by his staff had saved the City at least $8,000. Mr. Bartlett stated that in the coming <br />year his personnel would be concentrating on fully developing the use of the new system. He then provided <br />a description of the personnel complement for his department, and Mr. Reynolds stated the intent to provide <br />Council with a new organizational chart later that day. Mayor Crabtree then noted his intent to create an <br />informational "matrix" document to show a comparison of costs and services provided by several <br />comparable entities, to demonstrate the efficiency of City services. Mr. Roop then asked what the budget <br />sheets on Risk Management were. Mr. Bartlett then explained that this area had to do with the various <br />insurance costs and policies the City must provide. Mr. Reynolds noted that the General Services <br />Administrator, Mr. Gary Via, had recently indicated that the current carrier for the City' s liability coverage <br />was requesting a 9 to 12% increase in premium costs in the coming year, which would probably prompt a re- <br />bid of this coverage and the possibility that the new provider might not be a local company. Vice-Mayor <br />Teague then asked about the line item for the Insurance Consultant, and Mr. Reynolds explained that this <br />was for professional services provided by McNeary and Associates, in the preparation of insurance bid <br />packages as well as negotiation of favorable terms. Mr. Roop then asked if this work could be done in- <br />house, by existing City staff Mr. Reynolds stated that this would not be recommended, as this was a very <br />specific and sophisticated area of practice, requiring very current knowledge about the marketplace. He <br />indicated that it would cost a great deal more to hire staff to do this full time, as opposed to the use of a <br />private tinn. Mayor Crabtree agreed with this assessment, noting the complexity of dental insurance alone. <br />Mr. Ferrill asked how the effectiveness of this consultant was measured. Mr. Reynolds replied that part of <br />such a measure was the savings in money from such processes, noting that this firm had saved the City <br />$28,000 in the prior year, thereby more than paying for their cost. Mr. Reynolds went on to explain that in <br />evaluating the effectiveness of such consultants it was difficult to compare one jurisdiction to another, since <br /> <br /> <br />