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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995 03-02 FCA• AGENDA BROOKLYN CENTER FINANCIAL COMMISSION March 2, 1995 City Hall Council Chambers 1. Call to Order: 7:00 P.M. 2. Roll call. I Approval of Minutes: September 1, 1994 4. Meeting with Representative Phil Carruthers. 5. Election of Officers for 1995. 6. Organization Evaluation Process: Service Evaluation Process • Employee involvement/continuous improvement 7. Budget Calendar 8. Discussion of Financial Commission Goals and Objectives 9. Set Date of Next Meeting. 10. Adjournment: 9:00 P.M. • • MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FINANCIAL COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER SEPTEMBER 1, 1994 BROOKLYN CENTER CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER Chair Donn Escher called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. in the City Hall Council Chambers. ROLL CALL Present at roll call were Chair Donn Escher, Commissioners: Lee Anderson, Viola Kanatz, Ned Storla and Larry Peterson. Also present were City Manager Gerald Splinter and Finance Director Charlie Hansen. Denis Kelly arrived at 7:10 P.M. and Ron Christensen arrived at 7:12 P.M. ADDroval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Viola Kanatz to approve the minutes of the June 16, 1994 meeting. Commissioner Larry Peterson seconded the motion and all members voted in its favor except for Ned Storla and Ron Christensen who abstained. 1993 Annual Financial Report Charlie Hansen reminded the Financial commission that the annual • financial report had been briefly discussed at the June 16, 1994 meeting and was to be put on the next ,agenda for further discussion. Donn Escher asked about the auditor's management letter and their recommendation that programs be transferred from the General Fund to other funds. Charlie Hansen described the various transfers which have been made or are contemplated. Denis kelly asked if these transfers require us to modify'the Adequate General Fund Balance Policy Formula. Charlie Hansen responded that we should reconsider this policy and modify for the new situation. Donn Escher stated that this review should be completed before the end of 1994. Discussion of 1995 Annual Budget Jerry Splinter drew the Commission's attention to a memo in the agenda packet and to a memo from City Assessor Mark Parish handed out at the meeting which answered many of the questions raised at the joint meeting of August 15, 1994. He went on to explain that our purpose at this time is only to recommend a preliminary tax levy to be used by Hennepin County in the Truth In Taxation Notices. Detailed consideration of the budget will come later this fall and a final tax levy must be adopted in December. Vi Kanatz stated that the preliminary levy shouldn't be set too low, because it can't be raised later, but that further scrutiny is needed before a final budget and levy are adopted. 0 • Denis Kelly stated that we must develop a long term vision of the City's needs for services and the resulting tax burden. There needs to be an examination of which services the City should provide in five or ten years and change in an evolutionary way to the new service model. Denis Kelly moved that the Financial Commission recommend the City Manager's preliminary tax levy to the City Council and state that the Financial Commission will work with the City Council and Staff to minimize any increase in the final tax levy. Commissioner Ron Christensenn seconded the motion and all members voted in its favor. Audit Reauest for Proposal Process Charlie Hansen reminded the Commission of the upcoming Audit RFP process. Written responses are due from prospective firms by September 19, 1994. It will be necessary for the Audit Committee to meet shortly after that to review the written responses and select firms to be interviewed. The Finance Department is developing criteria to use in this evaluation and will share it with the Audit Committee. Donn Escher stated that he was appointing himself, Denis Kelly, and Ned Storla as members of the Audit Committee. Jerry Splinter stated that he was appointing himself and Charlie Hansen to the Audit Committee. Next Meetinq • The next meeting will be Thursday, October 13, 1994 at 7:00 P.M. ADJOURNMENT At 8:35 P.M. there was a motion by Commissioner Viola Kanatz and seconded by Commissioner Ned Storla to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. 0 0 MEMORANDUM TO: Donn Escher, Ned Storla, Ron Christensen, Lee Anderson, Lawrence Peterson, Kathleen Carmody FROM: Charlie Hansen, Finance Director C if DATE: February 22, 1995 SUBJECT: Organizational Evaluation Process Attached is a memo on the Organizational Evaluation Process dated March 31, 1993. The three areas identified in the memo have been undertaken in succession. Area 2, Supervisory/Management and Staffing Levels Review, was actually undertaken first and resulted in the Suburban City Management Study dated November 1993. • Area 1, Administrative Structure Reorganization was undertaken in 1994 and resulted in our current department structure. The Public Works Director became the Public Services Director and received responsibility for the Recreation Department. The Assessing Department became part of the Community Development Department. The Liquor Stores became part of the Finance Department. Mr. Splinter would now like to turn our attention to Area 3, the Service Evaluation Process. This may draw from the work of the General Fund Budget Prioritization Process which was the Financial Task Force's first mission and was completed in June 1992. It may also seek to install a process for employee involvement and continuous improvement of our operations. • MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Paulson and City Councilmemb 7 s FROM: Gerald G. Splinter, City Manager x DATE: March 31, 1993 SUBJECT: ORGANIZATIONAL EVALUATION PROCESS Your Financial Commission has been charged with the responsibility of evaluating the organization of the City of Brooklyn Center as to its effectiveness and report back to the City Council. The Council at a previous work session had discussed various approaches and questions they wish to be included in this process. I have developed the following outline of a process we believe will address the City Council's interests. This process would cover three areas: 1) evaluation of the potential for administrative structure reorganization; 2) evaluation of the supervisory/management and other staffing levels (using comparative data currently available); 3) a Service Evaluation Process. AREA 1. ADMINISTRATi!VE STRUCTURE REORGANIZATION • The Financial Commission would evaluate the potential for developing a future organization plan which could be implemented over time to serve'the changing needs of Brooklyn Center. I have attached for your information a copy of the organizational chart of Brooklyn Center just prior to the reorganization of the Community Development Department in the 1992 budget; a rough draft of an administrative organization which divides our organization into functions, departments, and divisions (this chart identifies most all functions of the City); a slightly modified organizational chart of the City of Brooklyn Center recognizing recent changes and doing some minor modifications to the existing structure; and a copy of the City of Bloomington organizational structure. The purpose of this evaluation would be to give a guideline to future councils and staff as to what the organization should or could eventually be and once it is decided, then as opportunities occur, you could make changes and implement portions of the restructuring. AREA 2. SUPERVISORKMANAGEMENT AND STAFFING LEVELS REVIEW The second stage of this process would be to evaluate and compare staffing levels in all portions of the organization: in the supervisory/management area, and in total personnel. We propose to use existing, readily available information from the Stanton Survey and other sources to give the Financial Commission and the Council an initial evaluation of comparable staffing levels in similar metro area communities. If this data demonstrates a need for further, more detailed analysis, then the recommendations could be made, appropriations approved, and a more detailed analysis could be completed. . Memo to Council Page 2 March 31, 1993 AREA 3. SERVICE EVALUATION PROCESS After your discussion at your last work session, the Council appeared to be leaning toward processes which involve employees within the organization rather than outside time analysis experts. We concur in this focus and propose a Service Evaluation Process structured similar to the 1992 prioritization process. The Service Evaluation Process would have a similar employee involvement committee system and would be directed at answering the following questions: 1. What do we do well and why? 2. What do we do okay and why? 3. What needs improvement? How/why? 4. Are there other cities or businesses which do particular tasks better than we do? • How/why? 5. How can we provide services better? 6. Are we doing the right things? 7. How should your department's performance be measured? 8. What opportunities are there for additional cooperation between departments? 9. In what ways can we encourage cooperation with other cities and governmental units? 10. What other departments do we interact with and in what ways? ll, Dtiu-ft' tue-sl-i©14vS. If the City Council and Financial Commission can agree to this general outline, I believe it is something which could give us a guide to use in future budget decisions and in general overall policy discussions. Attachment 0 February 21, 1995 bdgt.ch\calendar CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER 1996 BUDGET CALENDAR • May 2, 1995 Tuesday Preliminary 1996 Operating Budget conference for City Manager with city department and division heads. May 4, 1995 Thursday Financial Commission discusses 1996 Budget May 12, 1995 Friday Data processing capital outlay requests due. Vehicle capital outlay requests due. May 22, 1995 Monday City Council discusses elements of Capital Improvements Program (C.I.P.). City Manager presents 1996 Operating Budget issues. June 8, 1995 Thursday 1996 Operating Budget requests due from all departments for submission to the Finance Director. June 19, 1995 Monday Consolidated 1996 Operating Budget requests forwarded from the Finance Director to the City Manager. June 19 through June 30 Manager consults as necessary with department and division heads as 1996 Operating Budget document is shaped. June/July 1995 City Commissions make preliminary recommendations on Capital Improvements Program (C.I.P.) components. August 1, 1995 Department of Revenue is to certify Local Government Aid amounts. August 10, 1995 Thursday Preliminary 1996 Operating Budget is delivered to the City Council members. August 21, 1995 Monday Joint City Council/Finance Commission meeting. August 21, 1995 County must notify City of the public hearing dates selected by school districts. August 31, 1995 Department of Revenue is to certify Homestead and Agricultural Credit Aid (HACA). Sept 6, 1995 Wednesday City Council holds work session to review Proposed 1995 Operating Budget. 0 • • Sept 11, 1995 Monday Last day for adoption of the Preliminary 1996 Operating Budget and the Preliminary tax levy by the City Council. City must select initial truth in taxation hearing date and a date for a continuation hearing. Sept 15, 1995 Certify preliminary 1996 Operating Budget and preliminary tax levy to the County. City must also inform the County of City budget public hearing dates. Sept 18, 1995 Monday Utility Rate Study and Utility Funds budgets presented. Sept 25, 1995 Monday City Council adopts the Utility Rate Study. Sept 29, 1995 Friday Proposed 1996 Operating Budget is delivered to the City Council members. Oct 16, 1995 Monday City Council holds work session to review Capital Improvements Program (C.I.P.) and Enterprise Funds budgets. Oct 23, 1995 Monday City Council approves C.I.P and Enterprise Funds budgets. Nov 1995 County must mail Truth In Taxation notices to each property owner. Nov 20, 1995 Monday City Council holds work session to review Proposed 1996 Operating Budget. Nov 1995 Wednesday Notice of public hearing placed with Post Publishing December 1995 City Council holds original public hearing on the 1996 Operating Budget. December 12, 1995 Tuesday All counties to hold budget public hearings. December 1995 City Council holds reconvened public hearing on the 1996 Operating Budget. December 1995 City Council adopts the final 1996 tax levy and final 1996 Operating Budget at a subsequent public hearing held during the regular City Council meeting. December 27, 1995 Weds bast day to certify final tax levy and final 1996 Operating Budget to the County. 0