Minutes of CT-GFOA Executive Board Meeting

Minutes of CT-GFOA Executive Board Meeting Thursday, July 28, 2011 Middletown Town Hall

Attendance: President Mike Walsh, 1st Vice President Ann Harter, Treasurer-Sal Pandolfo, Emilia Portalinha, Robert Tait, Diana Doyle, Jim Wren, Jim Finch, Diane Waldron and Robert Curry.

Board Members absent: Past-President Maryanna Stevens, 2nd Vice President Tony Genovese, Rick Darling, Michael Lupkas and Robert Barron.

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Walsh at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of Minutes of the April 28, 2011 meeting: Motion: Diane Waldron; Second: Sal Pandolfo to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously with JimWren, Emilia Portalinha and Diana Doyle abstaining.

Approval of Minutes of the June 2, 2011 meeting: Motion: Jim Wren; Second: Diane Waldron to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously.

Audit Committee Report on the FYE 2011 financials: Motion: Diane Waldron; Second: Diana Doyle to approve the report as presented. The motion carried unanimously. President Walsh noted his appreciation for the work of Chairperson Greg Simmons and his committee of Deb Cerrato and Linda Trzetziak.

Treasurer’s Proposed Budget FYE 2012 and Establishment of Dues Rate: Sal Pandolfo presented the following quarterly meeting dates of November 15, 2011, February 2, 2012, April 26, 2012, and June 7, 2011 and also to approve the Holiday Board meeting and luncheon on December 8, 2011.

Sal Pandolfo presented proposed budget. President Walsh asked for a motion to set the FYE 2012 dues to remain at $65 which includes $45 for the General Fund, $5 Miklus/Walsh Scholarship Fund and $15 for NESGFOA. Motion: Jim Finch; Second: Diana Doyle The motion carried unanimously.

President Walsh asked for a motion to approve the FYE 2012 budget as presented with the proposed expenditure budget of $60,930, revenue estimates of $67,680. Motion: Jim Wren; Second: Bob Tait. Discussion on certain line items commenced. The motion carried unanimously.

Committee Reports: Accounting Standards: None (Nina Cousins absent) Education Committee: Diana Doyle and Jim Wren reported that Jim Reynolds is proceeding with teaching the Introductory Course at Tunxis. The schedule is set for every Friday from September 23, 2011 through and including November 4, 2011. Cost Of Program: $150.00 which includes the course fee and the textbook which is the GAAFR Blue Book. There are 10 registered as of today but there is availability for a total of 20 participants. The on-line notice is working great.

Historian: None (Jim Reynolds absent)

Internet: Bob Curry reported on the clearing out certain files and the success of the on-line registration. Sal Pandolfo commented that it does create more work for him when reconciling the receipts to bank statement.

John Walsh Scholarship/ Don Miklus Memorial Fund: Nothing to report.

Legislative: None (Tony Genovese absent)

Membership: President Walsh recognized that Barbara Bertrand has left and the Membership Chair has been reluctantly filled by Rick Darling. President Walsh commenced a discussion on how to improve the number of members. It was determined that an e-mail would go out with a reminder that September 1 is the due date for membership dues. For those finance directors that did not subscribe to the organization, President Walsh will send an e-mail with the benefits of the becoming a member. During November the board members will begin recruitment.

National Event: Nothing to report

Newsletter: President Walsh noted that the minutes of the April 28th meeting discussed revamping the Newsletter. He suggested replacing the Newsletter Chair with each board member and committee chair coming up with a couple of paragraphs on a financially related matter. Contributions will be reviewed by the officers then posted to the website.

Program: Ann Harter presented correspondence received from Alan Desmarais on EGWP-Wrap savings. Various program topics that were shared with the board included upcoming IRS regulations, the final state budget and demonstration by Town of Windsor on the Interactive Budget by Citizens.

New England GFOA: Jim Finch reported that the NESGFOA board discussed the fund balance of the organization. Annual Conference will be held in Maine 2011 9/15-9/18; Future dates are Connecticut 2012 9/30-10/3 and Vermont 2013 9/19-9/21.

Old Business: None

New Business: President Walsh asked for a motion to add two items to the agenda: D. Adopt Bond Advisors; E. Repository on the Website. Motion: Jim Finch; Second: Sal Pandolfo; motion carried unanimously.

A. Committee Chairs: President Walsh asked for a motion for the appointment of committee chairs. Motion: Jim Wren; Second: Diana Doyle to approve the following committee chairs: Accounting Standards-Nina Cousins, Audit Committee – Greg Simmons; Education – Co-chairs Diana Doyle and Jim Wren, Historian–Jim Reynolds, Internet–Bob Curry, Miklus Memorial/ Walsh Fund– Diane Waldron, Legislative–Tony Genovese, Membership–Rick Darling, National CT Event–Tom Hamilton, Newsletter–Mike Walsh, Program– Ann Harter, and the National Representative –Bob Curry. The motion carried unanimously. B. Gift Basket Contribution – Sal Pandolfo stated it was incorporated into approved budget. President Walsh asked for a motion to have Diane Waldron and Ann Harter to continue purchasing items for gift baskets which are used as door prizes at the NESGFOA conference sessions. Motion: Jim Wren; Second: Sal Pandolfo. The motion carried unanimously. C. Energy Performance Contracts – President Walsh discussed the concept of the DPUC setting up one-stop shopping for Energy Performance Contracts such as the Colorado Energy website. GFOA will take a proactive role in helping the DPUC to adopt best practices and help with the selection of pre-approved bidders for the State Department of Administrative Services. D. Adoption of Bond Advisors – In regards to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection Act, Rich Kehoe from Senator Blumenthal’s office was seeking an appropriate witness to testify to the efficacy of the act and asked for the GFOA’s assistance. The act includes legislation for better oversight of municipal securities industry which requires registration of municipal advisors and subjects them to rules written by the MSRB and enforced by the SEC. President Walsh directed Mr. Kehoe to IBIC to start a discussion. E. Repository on the GFOA Website – President Walsh discussed that many times the GFOA message board has requests for RFP. He suggested that the CTGFOA website become a library of Request for Proposals. He will forward RFP documents that he used that can be loaded onto the website and would welcome other towns to add their RFPs.

Adjournment: Motion: Diane Waldron; Second: Emilia Portalinha to adjourn the meeting at 4:49 p.m. The motion carried unanimously.