On Monday, the Plainfield City Council advanced major items improving financial oversight and management of all City funds. Three resolutions were approved and two ordinances were approved on first reading (with seconding and final reading to occur in August). Two additional ordinances will be introduced in August (with second and final reading to occur in September). Collectively, these 7 items can be referred to as the Fiscal Accountability, Integrity and Responsibility Legislation Package (FAIR for short).
There were several changes made throughout the night. Here is a review on Monday night’s meeting as it relates to these items:
3 RESOLUTIONS AMENDED AND APPROVED
1) Resolution requesting that the State appoint a temporary Certified Financial Officer (CFO) and assist the Administration in hiring a qualified, certified permanent CFO
At Monday’s meeting, the Administration announced that a candidate for CFO had been offered a position and as such, this resolution was no longer necessary and should not be considered. Upon hearing this, I requested that a copy of the offer letter and applicant’s resume be provided to the Council. The City Administrator informed the Council that such information was not available. I requested a 10 minute recess so that the information could be retrieved from City Hall by the City Administrator, Corporation Counsel, Mayor and Mayor’s Confidential Aide (all of whom were at the meeting). Unfortunately, the Administration opted to not retrieve any of the information that the Council requested. As such, several members of the Council urged that we move forward but agreed to amend the resolution so that if a qualified candidate was brought before the Council and approved on or before July 28th, the resolution would be considered null and void. The purpose of this resolution is not to embarrass the Mayor or Administration, but to ensure that we have adequate staff in place. If the Mayor was able to find a qualified person, even if it was at the last minute, the Council should be willing to look into this candidate. A special meeting on July 28th will provide us with the opportunity to review and possibly approve a CFO. If this happens, then the resolution will be considered null and void and no copies will be sent to the State. If not, the resolution will be put in our records and sent to the State as originally intended.
2) Resolution urging the Mayor to fill the position of Director of Administration & Finance immediately
Similar to the CFO position, the Administration announced that a candidate for this position had been identified, although no offer had yet been extended. Again, the Council opted to move forward with the resolution, but amended it so that if a qualified candidate was approved on or before July 28th, the resolution would be considered null and void.
3) Resolution appointing FY2011 Citizen’s Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC)
Minor changes were made and 2 new names were added to the list of appointees.
2 ORDINANCES APPROVED ON FIRST READING
** These items will return to the Council in August for second and final reading
4) Ordinance requiring the Administration to present all bills for the Council review prior to payment
5) Ordinance setting the bid threshold at a lower amount to encourage greater competition between vendors
2 ORDINANCES SET FOR AUGUST AGENDA
**If approved in August, these items will return to the Council in September for second and final reading
6) Ordinance setting a strict policy limiting discretionary spending for this administration and every administration that follows
7) Ordinance requiring the City to utilize an RFP process for City’s designated banking service provider
This item was originally on Monday’s agenda as a resolution. However, upon discussion with Corporation Counsel, it was advised that the Council put this in Ordinance form to better meet the Council’s intentions or making this a long-term practice. The resolution was tabled indefinitely, but the item will return in the form of an ordinance in August.
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10 comments:
I can understand why Council wants to see bills prior to payment and although I did not see the wording of the Resolution, there nees to be specific guidelines for this review, such as a specific limit. Is it really necessay to see bills where there is already an approoval by Council as with maintenance contracts? If Council already approved an annual maintenace contract, why would you have to see the monthly bill. Given the specific times when Audit & Control pays vendors, this additional review could set back the actual payment by 2 weeks to a month.
There are additional areas where a review is not necessary as in the case of utilities. Do you really need to see the payment of PSE&G bills? What are you going to do - say it is too high and not approve the payment? Any bills submitted to Council will have to be paid regardless of the amount.
I feel a review of a vendor payment report would suffice and should be submitted to the Finance Committe, and, if there are any questions, or items that warrant review, to seek that information from the Administration. To review bills prior to payment is only going to cause vendors to not do business with the City becuase it would take too long to be paid or result in additional fees as most invoices are due withing 30 days and will result in late fees.
Council needs to have a better understanding of the existing process which already takes too long for a vendor to be paid and adding to that delay, especially during the summer months when Council only meets once a month is only going to cause the accounts payable staff and Division Heads are going to be spending a lot of time on the telephone with Vendors looking for payment.
Did you know that Dave Wynn recently submitted paperwork for a grant that includes all of the youth organizations but purposely left off the Queen City Baseball League. How childish is that?
It's time for him to go! He clearly is not and has not been doing his job.
Thanks Annie for your hard work, and strong will.
To anon @ 9:52am.
Financial oversight is the Council's most important responsibility. The ability of the Council to review bills is actually already in our code books, although the bills have rarely been presented to the Council as required.
This ordinance will require the Administration to present bills to us in advance. If we recognize a pattern of bills that seem too high or without valid explanation, we can bring attention to the matter in advance of payment. The intent is not to hold up any payments, least of all payments that are fair, valid, contractual or expected. Also, please be aware that most NJ municipalities function on a once-monthly payment schedule. I see no reason that Plainfield should not be expected to work at the same standard. It may take time for the Administration to adjust to a new payment schedule, and we will be lenient and understanding with that, but it must be done.
The move toward transparent, professional government is not easy but it is necessary.
Feel free to reach out to me directly with any further concerns.
Thanks,
Annie
Someone has to look at our spending. It is evident that the mayor seems to not be concerned given her record of not hiring for finance positions, and stripping the City Admnistrator of support.
Thank you Annie, for taking your responsibility seriously, and watching out for our money.
Thank you for being the council president you are turning out to be. more concerned with correctness and process than staying in the good graces of those you should be overseeing [see Rashid Burney]
As a city resident I am very disheartened by the lackadaisical attitude City Hall has with our tax dollars.
You do realize that residents across the street in South Plainfield have MUCH BETTER SCHOOLS, SAFER STREETS and pay just about 1/2 what we do in taxes??!!
There is definitely something fishing going on and I hope we can get to the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Queen City needs to have her crown cleaned and brought back to its former glory!
These kinds of "reforms" are just what got Plainfield into the mess we are in.
Will this cut my taxes? Empty calories!
I heard the Council is looking to vote on the solar panels. Please be very careful with this. There is a lot of informaiton you are not being told about. You must understand that the majority of those approached by the UCIA have declined. So why is Plainfield going along with this? Who benefits from this?
Why is there so little information about this? There are too many unanswered questions on this.
It locks Plainfield into a deal while there are many, many better deals out there.
We have no actual concerns. Just questions that are unanswered. And we won't even tell you what these questions are.
Until these concerns are addressed, a through review is given, the new council takes seat, A CITIZEN'S COMMITTEE is created to review this, bids from 5 others are obtained, hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and there is a blue moon,this must be put on hold.
Otherwise, I am all for it.
What is your view on this UCIA junket?
Stay strong Annie ,lets not forget all the wasted money with 107 firerfighter,we just can't afford it,good luck
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