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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP June 21, 1989 o CITY of ANDOVER Special Council Meeting - June 21, 1989 7:30 P.M. Call to Order 1. Status of Computer and Accounting System 2, 1990 Budget and Status of Truth in 'Taxation Laws 3, Assessment Policy Discussion 4. Bonding Procedure and Use of a Financial Consultant 5. Laptuta Property and New City Hall Building 6, Financial Institution Discussion 7. Administrative Trust Fund Purpose and Use 8. Authorized Banking Personnel Adjourn o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION June 21, 1989 DATE Finance AGENDA SECTION NO. ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT ITEM NO. Status of Computer and Accounting System BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director REQUEST The Finance Director would like to discuss with the City Council the status of the City's computer system as it relates to the following four topics: 1. The potential options for the future and the Finance Director's recommendation, 2. The process and proposed calendar to be used in reaching a solution. 3. The continued involvement of Chapel Consulting. 4. The offer made by Ameridata to compensate the City for the hardware. BACKGROUND Attached is a summary from Jim Stern of Chapel Consulting which was prepared for City Council in September of 1988. Several items in this summary have changed since Mr. Stern's memo was written, These changes include: 1. Page 2 - The moonlighting Ameridata employee is no longer available. 2. Page 3 - The NMS marketing rights were acquired by the Wisconsin company for the personal computer version of NMS only. I have talked with them and they are not capable of supporting the programs on DEC hardware, COUNCIL ACTION MOTION BY TO SECOND BY Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o Based on discussions with Mr, Stern and the City Staff it appears there are several options available to the City. Each option is discussed below. OPTION 1: KEEP CURRENT SYSTEM AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT WORK The City could keep the current system and use City staff to set it up and attempt to operate the software, Advantages: *The City will have word processing and spreadsheeting software which work effectively. *There would be no additional costs incurred except for annual maintenance agreements for the hardware and support for the word processing and spreadsheet software, Disadvantages: *The City will have a financial accounting package which is not supported. This lack of available support combined with problems with the system has led most city's with which I have talked to purchase new accounting systems. *There is no guarantee that the City staff will be able to set up and train themselves on the system. Should a problem be discovered, the staff would be forced to solve it without any available expertise. *The City would be using a financial accounting package which will not be upgraded or improved. *The City will be using a word processing package which will also not be updated. The company is, however marketing a newer version of the software which could be bought, OPTION 2: KEEP THE CURRENT SYSTEM AND PURCHASE A SEPARATE SYSTEM TO RUN THE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE The City could continue to do wordprocessing and spreadsheeting on the current hardware and purchase a separate system for running the accounting software. o Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o OPTION 2: KEEP THE CURRENT SYSTEM AND PURCHASE A SEPARATE SYSTEM TO RUN THE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE(Continued) Advantages: *The City would have a computerized accounting system which would be functional and supported. *The City staff would receive training in the use of the new system and would be well supported by the vendor during the conversion process, *The City would receive on-going support of its accounting software *The City will have word processing and spreadsheeting software which work effectively, Disadvantages: *This option would be costly over the long term since the City would be paying maintenance on two hardware configurations. *The City staff would need to be knowledgeable in the operation of two different systems. *The two systems will not be able to communicate with each other which will decrease their effectiveness. *The staff would have to convert the existing utility billing data to the new system. OPTION 3: ACQUIRE NEW HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR ALL PURPOSES The City can purchase new hardware and software to run all applications including accounting functions, word processing, spreadsheeting and office automation. Advantages: *The City would have a computerized accounting system which would be functional and supported, *The City staff would receive training in the use of the new system and would be well supported by the vendor during the conversion process, o *The City would receive on-going support of its accounting software *The City could be using word processing and spreadsheeting software which is actively being improved and upgraded. *The City would be able to sell the all or part of the current hardware (depending on the system acquired). Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o Disadvantages: *This option could be very costly depending on the system selected and any proceeds from the sale of the current system. *The City staff would have to learn new word processing and spreadsheeting software, *The staff would have to convert the existing utility billing data to the new system. OPTION 4: FIND ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE TO RUN ON CURRENT HARDWARE The City could attempt to acquire accounting software that would operate on our current system. (This assumes that such software exists.) Advantages: *The City would have a computerized accounting system which would be functional and supported, *The City staff would receive training in the use of the new system and would be well supported by the vendor during the conversion process, *The City would receive on-going support of its accounting software *The City will have word processing and spreadsheeting software which work effectively. Disadvantages: *There are currently no vendors in Minnesota selling software for Cities designed to run on DEC hardware, This means that the City will have to acquire software and support from an out-of-state vendor, *The City will have to rely on an out-of-state company for support which may not be effective. *The staff would have to convert the existing utility billing data to the new system. o Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o OPTION 5: DO NOTHING The City could do nothing and continue to use the computer for wordprocesing and spreadsheeting only. The accounting system would continue on a manual basis. Advantages: *The City will have word processing and spreadsheeting software which work effectively. Disadvantages: *The City would continue to incur large costs for personnel to administer the accounting system. *The City's current accounting system does not allow easy comparison between budget an actual expenditures or revenues. EVALUATION OF OPTIONS It is the Finance Director's belief that the City Should take a long-term perspective when dealing with this issue. Those alternatives that look costly over a short period may be more cost effective in the long run than other options. Option 1: This option does not appear to be feasible. Should the City need information or the answer to a question in setting up the system, there is no guarantee that an answer could be found either in the manuals or through other sources, If staff was successful in implementing the system, there is still the problem of lack of support, It is possible that the City would spend a significant amount of time and money attempting this option, only to hit a point where we could go no further without software support and maintenance. o Option 2: This option is feasible and could be implemented. It does have several drawbacks, First, from preliminary discussions with two vendors, it appears the City could acquire an entire new system for approximately the same cost over a five year period, depending on the system chosen, Second, the City would have word processing and spreadsheeting capabilities that would not be upgraded until a new system was installed. Option 3: This option is feasible and could be implemented, It is probably the most costly in the short run, but as mentioned earlier, over a five year period, the cost is very close to Option #2, The major benefit of this option, is the training that all City staff could receive on the new software packages for word- processing and spreadsheeting, Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o EVALUATION OF OPTIONS(Continued) Option 4: This option does not appear to be a wise option. First, neither Mr. Stern or myself are aware of any software for cities available to run on our current hardware, Second, relying on out-of-state support can result in periods where the computer is down and there is significant time delays between the call for support and help arriving, Ideally, a vendor from the Twin Cities would be the best, since they could respond in houts to a call. A vendor from around the area, (such as Mankato, Hudson Wisconsin, etc.) would be the next best alternative. Option 5: The option of continuation of our current system is not appropriate. There is a wealth of information that could be gained from a different system. Some of this information includes budget comparisons, cash forecasting and increased timeliness of financial data, FINANCE DIRECTOR'S RECOMMENDATION Based on the above analysis, it is the recommendation of the City Finance Director that the City pursue the option of acquiring new hardware and software, (Option 3 above), This alternative should ensure the City receiving a hardware configuration that it will be able to expand and grow with as well as meeting our current needs, As a second choice, purchasing separate hardware and software for financial accounting only would be recommended. However, this option leaves the city with the current system which will have limited uses as well as having to pay support and maintenance on both systems. Also to be considered, is the fact that several optional uses of the computer, such as special assessment accounting and computer mapping, are not currently feasible on our DEC hardware. PROPOSED PROCESS AND CALENDAR Should City Council desire to act on either the Finance Director's recommendation or another alternative, it is recommended that the City prepare a request for proposal in order to evaluate potential vendors. Using the RFP process would result in approximately the following chain of events: July 19, 1989 - Council approve RFP for distribution August 11, 1989 (approximate) - Proposals due o September 22, 1989 - Completion of review of systems and preparation of recommendation October 3, 1989 - Approval by Council of recommendation and authorization to begin contract negotiations November 7, 1989 - Approval of Contract with selected vendor December 1, 1989 - Delivery of hardware and software Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 Status of Computer and Accounting System o PROPOSED PROCESS AND CALENDAR(Continued) December 1989 thru February 1990 - Training and testing of system April 1, 1990 - Total implementation of all applications While the process sounds long and drawn out, it needs to be in order for the City to get the best possible product and to produce a smooth transition to the new system, CONTINUED INVOLVEMENT OF CHAPEL CONSULTING Jim Stern of Chapel Consulting was originally engaged by the City in 1988 to aid the City in evaluating the computer system and the City's needs. He has completed this process which has brought us to this point. It is the belief of the Finance Director that his continued involvement is needed to ensure the City receives and recommends proposals meeting the City's needs. He estimates the cost of helping write the RFP through the recommendation of a system to be $6,500 to $9,000. The cost of negotiating a contract and aid in implementation is dependent on the vendor selected and could be negotiated with Mr. Stern once the vendor is picked. STATUS OF AMERIDATA OFFER Ameridata has made an offer to the City for it's DEC MicroVAX II Computer. The offer was reviewed by Jim stern and the Finance Director and does not appear to be real good. In addition, should the City decide to purchase new hardware, it could more easily be done through the software vendor. The Ameridata offer is enclosed in this packet, You will notice that it expires soon. It is recommended the Council authorize the city staff to contact Ameridata and inform them of our decision to reject their offer and request payment of the unused training costs be made to the City. As an alternative, staff can contact Ameridata requesting an extension of the offer. In informal discussions with Ameridata, they indicated a willingness to extend the offer for a limited time. SUMMARY AND REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION To summarize, the council needs to act on the following three items: 1. Provide staff with direction relating to the options available and, if appropriate, authorize the preparation of a request for proposal. o 2. Authorize staff to request from Chapel Consulting an engagement letter outlining the services they will per- form and the cost to the City. 3. Provide staff with direction relating to the Ameridata offer, --' ~ o CITY OF ANDOVER COMPUTER SYSTEM SITUATION ANALYSIS Sentember 26, 1988 HISTORY o System acquired 2/87 after selection by Council. Ameridata selected to provide DEC hardware, all software and training. o Software acquired was: NMS utility billing, fund accounting, cash disbursements, purchase order, and payroll software 20/20 spreadsheet software Wordmarc word processing software ASI office automation software o Hardware acquired was: Q1!.... Descrintion 1 DEC MicroVAX II minicomputer with 17MB Main Memory, 16 I/O Ports, 1 Console 195MB Tape Drive 271MB Hard Disk (Total of 142MB) 1 8PPM Laser Printer 1 400/100CPS NLQ Printer 10 Workstations 1 2400BPS Modem o Total initial cost - $93,304 (Hardware - $60,104, NMS Software - $22,250, Wordmarc Software $6,050, 20/20 Software- $2,850, ASI Software - $2,050) o System delivered - 8/87 o Training commenced - 8/87 o Began using word processing - 9/87 o Began using spread sheeting - 9/87 o Began installing utility billing - 9/87 o Ameridata dropped hardware maintenance - 9/87 o Ameridata stopped marketing NMS software and DEC hardware - 9/87 o o City acquired hardware maintenance from DIS - 10/87 o Ameridata dropped support on word processing software - 10/87 .. .f --..,,7' / f o o o city acquired support on word processing from MARC Software International - 11/87 City signed NMS software support agreement with Ameridata 1/88 o 0 city teamed with Shoreview (other NMS user) for additional 20/20 spreadsheet software training from DIS - 3/88 0 Ameridata dropped NMS software support - 3/88 0 city acquired NMS support from moonlighting Ameridata employee - 7/88 \; I iil Iii " I" i" II , CURRENT STATUS o city is experiencing major problems in using NMS utility billing software. until ..recently, bills were not being generated accurately or efficiently. These problems were caused by poor training and installation assistance received from Ameridata and by' a lack of ongoing support from Ameridata. The city is just beginning to make effective use of this software. . o In the short term, some software support is being provided by an Ameridata employee moonlighting from his llregularll job. This support is of marginal value. The cost of this support is minimal. o The moonlighter is not a reliable source for long term comprehensive support on the NMS software. o The NMS fund accounting, cash disbursements, purchase order and payroll software is not being used. o The ASI office automation software is being used in a limited way. This level of usage is appropriate. o Both the word processing and spreadsheeting software are being used and are adequately supported. o The NMS documentation is weak. It is operator documentation which is more appropriate for use as a reference manual by someone who already knows how to run the system. It does not include sufficient technical detail to allow the city to support itself. It's processing descriptions are not complete enough and it does not include enough technical detail to allow the city to operate the system on an on-going basis without outside support. o The word processing and spreadsheeting software documentation is adequate, given the availability of (outside software support. .,.../ ".,"" / , / / ./ / , o o o The hardware is performing in an acceptable fashion. large enough and fast enough to meet the city's needs. It is o Hardware maintenance is being provided by DIS. is adequate. This support o city is 1 of 2 cities with this configuration (other is Shoreview). o The NMS software marketing rights were acquired 8/88 by a vendor in Madison, Wisconsin. This firm may be in a position to provide software support in the future. However, this is not a certainty. Not-- 'irJe - iJ.c..oS-. fdJ- 'itruU()'" Corporate Headquarters 10200 51st Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55442 612-557-2500 800-442-3006 (Minnesota toll-free) 800-328-3072 (National toll-free) o AmeriData April 26, 1989 James Schrantz City Hall 1685 Crosstown Blvd. N.W. Andover, MN 55303 Dear Mr. Schrantz: This letter is to confirm our conversation of Monday April 24, 1989. AmeriData will provide the equipment listed below in exchange for the outstanding support credit due the City and the proceeds of the current equipment the City owns. The equipment listed below has a sale value of $17,000. The credit due the City for unused support is $3,000. If the sale of the MicroVax equipment exceeds the remaining balance of $14,000, the City would retain the balance, if the proceeds of the equipment sale does not equal or exceed the $14,000 balance the remainder would be due to AmeriData prior to delivery of the proposed equipment. The sale of the Microvax equipment would take place between the City of Andover and the purchasing firm. The equipment proposed will include on-site installation, on-site warranty service, and telephone "hot-line" support for twelve months beginning at the date of installation. AmeriData is available for service and support Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. The following is a list of the equipment proposed: Qty 1 IBM Model 80-71 Includes: 80386 micro processor, 71 mb hard disk, 2 mb memory, 4 serial ports, IBM 8503 monochrome monitor, VGA graphics adapter, keyboard, Irwin Tape backup system and DOS 3.3. Qty 1 Hewlett Packard LA2 laser printer Logical Connection Print Sharing Device Cables necessary to connect the printers and computers (Cable installation is not included, the City is responsible for cable installation and associated costs) o Qty 6 Hyundai Super l6TE includes: 8086 micro processor, 30 mb hard disk, 640k memory, serjpar ports, amber monitor, keyboard and DOS 3.3. An equal opportunity employer o o Qty 6 Microsoft Works integrated software, includes text processing, spreadsheet, and database capabilities. Qty 1 Lotus 123 current version Any training required by the City, will be at our published training schedule rates. AmeriData's training center is located in our corporate headquarters in Plymouth, MN. Delivery and installation .could take .place within 30-60 days of notification 'Qy the City.. This offer is available to the City of Andover for 60 days. If you have any questions please call me at 557-2500. sg:: Bruce Zimm Sales Mana ... cc: Jeff Swanson James Stern o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION June 21, 1989 DATE ITEM NO. "'. 1990 Budget and Truth in Taxation Howard Koolick BY: Finance Di rector APPROVED FOR AGEND/~ l . y. BY: / i/ AGENDA SECTION NO. ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT Finance REQUEST The Andover City Council is asked to discuss the 1990 budget, budget process and the effect of truth in taxation legislation. BACKGROUND As you are aware, the 1988 legislature passed truth in taxation laws, which amongst other things, mandated the City begin its budget process earlier than in past years, In theory, the law was designed to give each taxpayer a preliminary estimate of their tax bill and allow them to speak at scheduled budget hearings. The law was passed hurriedly in 1988 with the understanding that it was not workable and would be amended in 1989, The major problem for the City with the 1988 law was the need to certify a levy by August 1, while not being notified by the state of our levy limit or local government aid until August 2. Obviously, this would not work, The 1989 property tax reform bill amended these deadlines as well as making some other changes, It also addressed the local government aid formula and included a three percent limit on levy increases. As you are aware, the Governor vetoed this bill. You are probably asking yourself where does this leave us? Good question. Nobody really knows. We do know that by law we are still under the 1988 law which requires a levy be certified by August 1. We also know that the Legislature should be holding a special session in September to pass a tax bill which will include local government aid allocations, The City is operating under the recommendation of the League of Minnesota Cities, to continue to comply with the 1988 law. I will be attending a League seminar on June 26th, which will provide more information on how to comply. COUNCIL ACTION Q MOTION BY TO SECOND BY o o Special Council Meeting June 21, 1989 1990 Budget Discussion To date, each department has received various budget planning forms and has begun work and in most cases completed work on the 1990 general fund expenditures. The departments have also given some input into revenue sources and estimates. As described above, the two major sources will be unknown for some time, The Mayor and City Administrator have indicated a desire to exercise our option on the Laptuta property which expires in 1991, Prior to getting to far into the budget process, are their other items/services the City needs to include in the 1990 budget which were not in the 1989 budget? Based on the discussion above, the following is the projected budget schedule. June 27th - Completion of compilation of general fund expenditure budgets and estimation of general fund revenues(based on 3% levy increase and a scaled down LGA estimate,) June 30th - Completion of debt service fund budgets. July 4th - Initial presentation of the budget to City Council for discussion. July 7th - Completion of enterprise fund(water and sewer funds) budgets July 18th - Council approves preliminary budget and tax levy certification o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION AGENDA SECTION NO. DATE ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT June 21, 1989 Finance ITEM Assessment Policy NO. Discussion BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director REQUEST The Finance Director would like to discuss with City Council the City's assessment policy and its effects on city finances, BACKGROUND The recent development contracts used by the city include wording that requires the City to maintain the assessments internally instead of certifying them to Anoka County for collection. The assessments are to be paid by the developer twice a year. Thirty days after the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the developer must pay all remaining assessments. In addition, in the event of failure to make a semi-annual payment, the City has the right to accelerate the assessment and collect or certify to the County the unpaid balance plus interest. Two aspects of this policy need to be addressed, First, because of the City policy to have the developer pay interest only to the date of payment, the City is not receiving as much interest on its assessments as would be received if the County collected the assessments, When the County collects the assessments, a developer when prepaying as assessment only needs to pay the principal balance, since the County has billed all of the current year interest. Under the City policy, the developer only pays interest to the date of payment, The following is a comparison of these two systems. Developer pays off assessment on February 1, 1990 City System County Collection Principal Interest Total $7,108,65 44,91 $7,153.56 $7,108.65 528,78 $7,637.43 COUNCIL ACTION MOTION BY TO SECOND BY Developer pays off assessment on October 1, 1989 city System County Collection 0 Principal $7,108,65 $7,108.65 Interest 381,08 528,78 Total $7,489.73 $7,637,43 Developer pays off assessment on December 31, 1989 City System County Collection Principal $7,108.65 $7,108.65 Interest 528.78 528.78 Total $7,637,43 $7,637.43 AS you can see, the City is losing assessment interest under this policy. The amount lost depends on when the assessment is paid off. The second issue to be dealt with is the additional staff time needed to send out the statements to the developers and to keep track of payments. unfortunately, there is no estimate of how long this is taking. However, the City Clerk informs me it takes a large amount of her time, when she has time for assessments. I am fairly confident that not all developers have received their bills for 1989, although, I can not verify this at this time. This research will begin this summer in time for a billing to meet the September 15 payment date. ( At this time, this issue needs no action. However, the City Council may wish to review the City's assessment policy at a later date. o o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION AGENDA SECTION NO. DATE June 21, 1989 ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT Finance FOR ITEM Bonding Procedure and NO. Use of Fi scal Consul tan BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director BY: REQUEST The Andover City Council is asked to consider the current process used in bonding and discuss the use of a financial consultant. BACKGROUND The City currently expends City funds for improvements and engineering costs incurred for a variety of projects. When a large enough dollar amount of work is done or scheduled, the City then issues bonds to finance these projects. This method of bonding results in the City financing various projects with money from other funds, The effects of these "short-term loans" include decreasing the City's interest earnings, potentially violating bond covenants, and increasing the likelihood that an unfunded project is not discovered on a timely basis. The City's interest earnings are decreased for two reasons. First, there is less cash to invest since we are internally funding construction. Second, the City is losing the interest earned on the bond proceeds during construction. While this second aspect is not very significant, the first has a major impact. For example at December 31, 1988, the unfinanced construction costs financed by the City were $ 612,612. Assuming a 7% interest rate and an average unfinanced balance of $ 335,541, the lost interest calculates to $ 23,488. The City's bond agreements for permanent bonds include a paragraph relating to the debt service funds and which resources are irrevocably pledged to pay the debt, This means that is not allowed to borrow debt service funds for any reason. There is the possibility that debt service funds may be "borrowed" to pay construction costs, until the bonds are issued. While it is not likely that the City has violated these covenants yet, it will become increasingly possible as the City issues more permanent bonds, COUNCIL ACTION MOTION BY TO SECOND BY o The third potential problem relating to the bonding process became very evident in the general fund this past year. The city purchased at least $75,000 of equipment which it intended to fund through the issuance of equipment certificates of indebtedness. Through oversight or some other reason, the certificates were never issued and the general fund financed the equipment. The same could happen with improvement projects if a funding source is not identified prior to beginning the project, In order to bond for projects prior to or shortly after their beginning, the City needs to know what projects will be ordered during the summer construction season. To do this, the City must be advised of developer and citizen plans during the winter and spring. Should a developer request street improvements after this period, and the predetermined deadline, the City would have to determine if their are adequate funds in the City to pay for the improvements out of the City's pockets, or to tell the developer he will have to wait unitl next year. The second issue to be discussed is the use of a financial consultant. The services that these type organizations can provide include the usually bonding functions such as preparation of the official statement, applying for a credit rating etc. In addition, these organizations monitor the City's debt in order to identify and advise the City of opportunities for refundings and defeasance as well as provide other special studies and projects as requested by the City. There are several different organizations that fit this category. The most well known are Juran and Moody, Ehlers and Associates and springsted, I believe involving this type of consultant in the growth of the City will be beneficial to the City. ACTION TO BE TAKEN Should the City Council be interested in this ideas, the following procedures are recommended: 1. Request Staff notify present developers of the need to notify the City of their 1990 needs for street improvements prior to a predetermined date. 2. Request Staff to publish in the City newsletter the requirement to submit a petition for street paving prior to the predetermined date, 2, Request the Finance Director to contact the above named financial consultants and arrange a presentation for City Council at Council's convenience, o o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION DATE June 21, 1989 Finance AGENDA SECTION NO. ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT ITEM NO. Laptuta Property and City Hall Build. BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director REQUEST The Finance Director would like input from City Council relating to the purchase of the Laptuta property and the Council's intent relating to a new city hall. BACKGROUND The City Administrator has requested the inclusion of the option on the Laptuta property in the 1990 budget. In planning for the purchase, it would be beneficial to know Council's intent relating to a new city hall and if there is the potential to package the land and park improvements with the funding for the city hall building. MOTION BY TO COUNCIL ACTION SECOND BY o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION June 21, 1989 DATE ITEM NO. . Financial Institution Discussion BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director R AGENDA SECTION NO. ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT Finance REQUEST The Finance Director would like to discuss with the Andover city Council the current banking situation and a determine if the Council has interest in changing to local bank, and if it results in a loss of interest, how much interest is it worth? BACKGROUND The City currently does its daily savings and checking at First National Anoka, Mr. Lon Helgamo, Senior Vice President of Firstar st, Anthony Bank in Andover has approached the City about doing business with his institution, The City currently pays no fees at First National Anoka, while Firstar st. Anthony Bank's accounts have fees attached. Under this system, the City receives as interest, the interest earned less fees charged. Mr. Helgamo is investigating the alternatives available to his institution regarding waiving or restructuring fees or interest. Banking with in the City has potential pros and cons. For example, Firstar is more convenient to City Hall. Doing business at Firstar will make more money available within the City for local loans. Likewise, we have had no problems with First National Anoka. COUNCIL ACTION MOTION BY TO SECOND BY o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION DATE June 21, 1989 AGENDA SECTION NO. . ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT Finance ITEM NO. Administrative Trust Fund Purpose and Use BY: Howard Koolick Finance Director REQUEST The Andover City Council is asked to review the use and purpose of the Administrative Trust Fund. BACKGROUND This fund is used to account for the one-percent administrative fee the City adds to all assessments. The fund appears to have been originally set up to protect these administrative fees from being spent. Each year a portion of each assessment is transfered to the general fund to cover administrative costs relating to handling the assessments. In reviewing the fund, several things should be noted. First, there is no attempt to relate the transfer amount to the amount of assessments outstanding. For example, if a specific assessment roll has been paid off entirely, there still may be a part of this administrative charge in the trust fund. However, the City is not incurring any administrative costs. Second, the City has never identified what costs are being incurred in relation to the assessment. Therefore, the fund currently has a theoretical basis for continuation, but possibly not a practical one. There are several different options open to Council, One would be to simply close all monies into the general fund and deposit the one-percent of future assessments in the general fund. This runs the risk of totally losing control of our costs, while it would increase the general fund substantially, A second alternative would be to have the City Staff analyze the fund and the related assessments to determine the proper amount of remaining administrative transfers to be made. This alternative is more logical and easier for long-term planning, It's drawback is that a portion of the money may be withheld from use for several years, COUNCIL ACTION MOTION BY TO SECOND BY o CITY OF ANDOVER REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION June 21, 1989 AGENDA SECTION NO. DATE ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT Finance ITEM o. NO. Authorized Banking Personnel Howard Koolick BY: Finance Director APP.~.~VUFOR AGEI'fD;A ( . '-, BY: / j REQUEST The Andover City Council is asked to clarify the City personnel authorized to perform bank transactions in order to clarify the City Council's intentions. BACKGROUND The Finance Director's job description includes the responsibility for investment of City funds. In order to recieve the most favorable rates, it is ocassionally necessary to wire transfer funds between financial institutions. currently, First National Anoka requires wire transfers be done only by an authorized check signer. Other institutions so far have not required this. The City Treasurer and myself are unclear as to Council's intention relating to whether the Finance Director should be an authorized check signer, and thereby authorized to transfer funds between institutions. This request should not be interpreted as a request for authorization, but merely a request for clarification of City council's desire, c MOTION BY TO COUNCIL ACTION SECOND BY