City Account Organization, Budget And Audit Main Topics During July Meeting

gvnews7
Jul 23, 2023
6 min read

The Graceville City Commissioners convened for the regular monthly city meeting on the evening of Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at the city commission chambers. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm, beginning with the opening prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

City Manager Michelle Watkins began with a modification to the agenda. Item two on the agenda was amended, changing the authorization to award CDBG-DR 0172 for administration and engineering, to a banking and funds review. With a motion from Commission Pinkard, seconded by Commissioner Olds, the modifications were unanimously approved.

The 2022 Fiscal Year Audit was the first item on the agenda. Manager Watkins and City Clerk Misty Smith was praised by all the commissioners after they reviewed the audit over the past week. Outside of the usual unavoidable issues such as staffing shortages, Manager Watkins said the audit was determined to be successfully compliant and without any findings or issues. Watkins also noted that “the bottom-line numbers were pretty good” and that the city’s “net worth went up.” Commissioner Obar described it as “a good, clean audit” while Commissioner Davis expressed satisfaction with their compliance and gratitude for the staff’s hard work. Manager Watkins then directed any questions the board may have to the auditor, “Teresa at Grimsley, Cavin, & Company” out of Marianna. With a motion from Commissioner Olds, seconded by Commissioner McClendon, the motion to approve the FY 2022 Audit was approved unanimously.

The second item on the agenda, the banking and financial review, was addressed with the goal of finding ways to simplify the city’s accounting process. Watkins explained that financial efficiencies are considered closely during audits, bringing forth opportunity to optimize the city’s financial system. Watkins then addressed what she called “an extensive banking and accounting situation” that necessarily requires reorganization.

Manager Watkins went on to say that most of these financial factors “revolve around the Fire Department construction grant.” Watkins further explained that the city has “pots of money” the city had agreed they “were not going to touch or even talk about, until [Graceville] had secured funding for the fire department”. Watkins went on to say, “to date, we have “$2,163,500 million in granted money, and we have $127,057.88 in matching money.” Noting that the matching money was received from FEMA and insurance proceeds related to Hurricane Michael, Watkins went on to say that the city had received more money for Hurricane Michael relief, but “we opted not to take those reimbursements back to the general fund until we could secure money for the fire department.”

Bringing Watkins to the first staff request “related to the Hurricane Michael Insurance/ FEMA money, to move the $127,057.88 that is to be used for the fire department matching funds, into the current Fire Department Reserve Funds.” Watkins said the remaining balance of the Hurricane Michael FEMA funds of $54,305.74, would be reimbursed back to the general fund as expenditures the city has already incurred. Manager Watkins and Clerk Misty Smith “basically declared all of the time, equipment, labor hours, related to debris cleanup… on the front end and did not touch the money at the time,” explained Watkins.

The second staff recommendation of item two on the agenda was related to the CARES funding the city received “for police department salaries, benefits, and personnel costs as related to Covid,” said Watkins. The staff recommendation was to convert the CARES funding into “an operating reserve,” said Watkins, which will act as a general operating reserve fund that will be available to cover any operational cost increases due to economic conditions. Following Mayor Obar’s inquiry, Watkins stated that the total amount of the CARES funding is “$318,000.” Mayor Obar then asked if the operating reserve would be used for demolition in the Fire Department construction project. Watkins explained that the demolition costs will be taken from the fire department matching funds (the $127,057.88 mentioned) because the building is inhabitable and poses a safety risk. A notion that earned a “very good” from Mayor Obar as well as the other commissioners.

According to Watkins, the Fire Department construction project design plans to keep the currently erect metal building on the site and demolish the old building. Following an in- quiry from Commissioner McClendon, Watkins clarified that David Melvin of Melvin Engineering verified that there is enough money for the Fire Department construction project to be built as currently designed, although the design work is technically not yet completed. Further noting, the current staff recom- mendations are aimed at simplifying and optimizing the city’s financial operations and accounting efficiency. As agreed prior to this meeting, the city decided to leave the FEMA and CARES funding sitting in reserve until secured funding was verified for the Fire Department project. Since funding for the fire department project is now secured, “we are now at a point where we can move forward and disperse these funds to the appropriate places,” stated Watkins. With a motion from Davis, seconded by McClendon, the motion unanimously carried an approval.

Third on the agenda, authorization to award Cliff Street and Second Avenue paving design work to Alday-Howell Engineering out of Marianna. With a motion from Commissioner Pinkard, seconded by Commissioner Davis, the motion carried with unanimous approval.

Item four addressed the liquidation of three police surplus police vehicles. Since the vehicles are “basically not road worthy,” Watkins requested authorization to advertise them for seal bids or salvage them. With a motion from Olds, seconded by McClendon, the motion was approved unanimously. Manager Watkins will list the “last four digits of the VIN numbers on the minutes report.”

Lastly on the agenda, a request for authorization to advertise for demolition bids on the old city hall building. With a motion from Commissioner Pinkard, seconded by Commissioner Davis the authorization was unanimously approved.

During the Manager’s Report, Manager Watkins did not go into great detail on the grant update, considering much of it would be redundant. Regardless of how expedient their efforts are, these projects are moving along at their known slow- moving pace explained Watkins. Taken as a positive sign, Manager Watkins did note that a site visit related to the splash pad project had occurred, which typically does not happen unless a project is moving forward toward an award agreement.

There will be a Blood Drive held at the City Hall on Friday, July 21 from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM.

The city is also hosting a Movie Night on Thursday, July 20 at 6:00 PM at the Civic Center.

The City Commissioners will complete Ethics Training in the chambers on Thursday, August 24 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

A Budget Hearing workshop is scheduled for Thursday, August 31. A public hearing will be held on Thursday, September 7, with the Final Public Hearing being held on Thursday, September 21. All these meetings will begin at 5:30 PM on their respective dates.

Watkins thanked Public Works as well as Parks and Recreation for completion of the Bayline Park Flagpole project. Noting the harsh working conditions this summer, she commended all those who came together to complete this challenge. Mayor Obar also took time to thank the McRae family for contributing to the project by providing much needed heavy machinery to complete the installation.

Another new development, the city has had a crew of inmates working in the city for a couple of weeks now. “We are having to transport from Malone to get them,” said Watkins, noting that it would be worth working a basic transport vehicle in the budget to overcome the city’s obstacle with transportation that is limiting their utilization of inmates for manpower.

Upon Commissioner McClendon’s request, Aaron Taylor suggested a need for a piece of hydraulic equipment for more control in the maintenance of the water system.

Code Enforcement has issued official letters to properties that have had complaints. Those properties include “the building just south of Service Drug… and the property on southeast corner of Sanders and Brown Street.”

During citizen comment, one citizen inquired about the work the inmates are doing. Watkins said they have been concentrating on the cemeteries right now, noting that prisoners are not allowed on private property after the speaker asked if they would be working on the “greenhouse that has been vacant since ’05.” Code Enforcement has contacted the owner, who lives out of state, which is making progress difficult. The citizen also asked if there will be any work done on Patterson Circle. Watkins said there has been discussion about working on the waterlines in that area, but that work will likely not begin until next year.

The meeting was adjourned after the Board of Commissioners made expressions of gratitude aimed at keeping communication lines open with the community.