FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES
March 23, 2006

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:    Chairman, Paul Tsatsos

                                        Vice-Chairman, Rich Buley

                                         Robert Horacek             

                                         Jim Papai

                                         Dave Kononitz

                                         Linda Bathel

                               

OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT:  Linda Carr, Town Accountant 

                                             Paul Mormino, Interim Treasurer/Collector/Clerk

                                             John Westcott, Supervisor Buildings & Grounds

                                             Robert Johnson, Electrical Inspector

                                             Jack Sinico

                                             Dan Moriarity, Westfield Evening News          

                                                Robin Solek, Secretary               

                                                       

MEMBERS NOT PRESENT:      Patti Dunn-O’Connell

                                            James Papai

                                            Robert Horacek                                                                

                                     

The scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Chairman, P. Tsatsos.

 

A MOTION was made by D. Kononitz, seconded by L. Bathel (Vote – Unanimous) to accept the minutes of March 9, 2006.

 

Chairman, P. Tsatsos gave the Finance Committee an update from his meeting with Tom Scanlon, Town Auditor in regards to the Management Letter. Mr. Scanlon would like to see Munis being fully utilized by all of the departments. L.Carr explained that Mr. Scanlon’s son will be coming to help with fully utilizing Munis and to help with debugging any glitches in the system.

 

Chairman, P. Tsatsos requested to place the Munis update as #1 on the Finance Committee’s Priority List.

 

Interim T/C/C, P. Mormino provided the Finance Committee information on the betterments, the department and various financial aspects along with investments. He also made suggestions on the responsibilities of the T/C/C position and the possibility of having two Assistant Treasurer Collectors.

 

Buildings & Grounds Supervisor, J. Westcott came before the Committee to request an emergency waiver to replace the Town Hall HVAC compressors. He also provided the Finance Committee with a report on the Town buildings.

 

A MOTION was made by D. Kononitz, seconded by R. Buley (Vote – Unanimous) for an emergency waiver Ch. 8-1 and 8-2 by Town code for $21,340.00 with the criteria set forth, performance bond, time schedule, past history, prevailing wage to replace the Town compressors for the HVAC system.

 

L. Bathel and D. Kononitz would like to set up a tour with J. Westcott to view the various buildings. They will schedule a time to meet with him.

 

The Finance Committee members and Town Accountant discussed the various budgets that are running in the deficit due to utilities, fuel and oil. There will be Reserve Fund Transfer Requests forth coming to address these issues. Mr. Stinehart, CAO, has put a freeze on all departmental spending. It was suggested to the Finance Committee to put identified surplus line items in the Reserve Fund. At this time the Finance Committee does not recommend this approach until there is further information provided.

 

The next scheduled Finance Committee meeting will be April 20, 2006.

 

Being that there was no further business to be brought before the Committee, A MOTION was

made by D.Kononitz, seconded by R. Buley (Vote-Unanimous) to adjourn at 8:10 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Robin Solek

Secretary, Finance Committee