Peoria Standard

City of Chillicothe Finance Committee met April 5.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Present: Chairman Thornton, Aldermen: Colwell, Braun, Gould, Connor, Jenkins Hughes, Sharp, Mayor White, City Clerk Hurd, Office Manager Passage ED Director Parker, Superintendent of Public Works Sutherland, Fire Chief Benisch, Police Chief Mettille

Chairman Thornton called the meeting to order.

Mayor White opened the meeting, as it was the annual budget session and asked that we discuss the audit agenda item first.

Audit Proposals:

Office Manager Passage stated that Pat McElhiney has decided to retire from doing the City's audit, therefore; the finance committee has requested audit proposals for three years. She stated three audit proposals were received.

Striegel Knoblock & Co., LLC $15,000 $15,450 $15,913.50

Ginoli & Company $18,000 $18,500 $19,000.00

Phillips, Salmi & Associates $19,950 $20,450 $20,950.00

She stated that the Mayor and herself has met with Phillips, Salmi & Associates and will be meeting with Ginoli & Company on April 12, 2018, as they offered the best proposals.

Mayor White stated that he has also reviewed the proposals and recommended meeting with Phillips, Salmi & Associates and Ginoli & Company. He stated that the Striegel Knoblock & Co., proposal did not meet what the city was looking for in an audit.

Chairman Thornton stated that he was familiar with Ginoli & Company. He stated that we could look at obtaining a price for five year, however was good with three years. A recommendation will be made at the April 23 council meeting.

Budget 2018-2019:

Mayor White stated that each elected official has been presented with a final follow up document regarding to the Council Self-Evaulation-2018. He explained that one of the areas needing improvement was understanding the budget. Therefore; with this year's budget presentation the Office Manager will be presenting more graphs and charts to help understand the budget process.

Office Manager Passage gave the budget presentation with is attached. Office Manager Passage stated that all elected officials have received a copy of the proposed budget via email. She stated in the presentation that a couple of major concerns for the council this year would be the increasing of water rates and the expiring TIF Districts.

Mayor White stated that another concern would be a decision as to whether to join the Fire District.

He stated that he would hold a Committee of the Whole to discuss the topic of joining the Fire District.

A discussion ensued regarding the budget.

The general consensus of the committee and other elected officials was to present the 2018-2019 budget at the April 9, 2018 council meeting for approval.

Office Manager encouraged all elected officials to use the Budget Comparison Report that is emailed to each elected official at the beginning of each month to track the budget. This report gives the Budget amount, the monthly expenditure per line item per fund, the Year to date amount per line item per fund and the unexpended budget amount per line item per fund and the % used per line item per fund.

There being no further business the meeting adjourned.

http://www.cityofchillicotheil.com/minutes.finance4518.pdf