Will County Gazette

The Will County Finance Committee met Oct. 18 to discuss increasing training costs.

Here is the meeting's agenda, as provided by the committee:

WILL COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

302 N. CHICAGO ST. JOLIET, IL 60432

OCTOBER 18, 2016

County Board Committee Room Special Meeting 10:00 AM

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE MEETING, BUT NO SOONER THAN 10:00 A.M.

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I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL

Chair Mike Fricilone called the meeting to order at 11:05 AM

Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Mike Fricilone Chair Present Darren Bennefield Vice Chair Absent Kenneth E. Harris Member Present Cory Singer Member Absent Jacqueline Traynere Member Present Ray Tuminello Member Present Stephen M. Wilhelmi Member Absent

Also Present: J. Moustis, B. Friefeld and M. Johannsen.

Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

Mr. Moustis led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

IV. OLD BUSINESS

1. Discussion Re: FY2017 Budget - Expenses

(Discussion)

Budget Director Howard reviewed the attached spreadsheet of corporate expenses.

Committee Members were given the opportunity to ask questions for clarification throughout the review.

A discussion took place regarding the number of part time employees working less than 600 hours; the number working between 600 and 1,000 and those changed by the IRS audit from contractual to employees. Ms. Howard will provide County Board Staff with the number.

Mr. Moustis asked that Mr. Tidwell provide a list of all employee classifications and the number of employees in each classification.

Mr. Fricilone asked that the FY2018 budget include an employee count by department.

A discussion of the increased training costs took place. The increase is due to new Correctional Officers being hired.

Mr. Moustis asked what is our policy regarding health insurance for less than full time employees? Do we follow the federal guidelines that includes insurance after 30 hours?

Ms. Hennessy stated we are moving our policy to follow federal guidelines. For budget purposes we estimate based on FT rates.

Mr. Moustis stated we need to adopt a policy regarding health insurance. Discussion of health insurance for part time employees will be placed on the Executive Committee agenda for November.

Mr. Moustis asked Mrs. Tatroe whether this should be something we do going forward or if we allow people who are on insurance to stay on.

Mrs. Tatroe replied if these are union employees it would be part of the negotiations.

Mr. Moustis stated we need to look at the contract and clarify that at a certain number of hours part time employees will get insurance. I believe we should follow the federal guidelines. I want to start these discussions as it does have an impact on the budget and our long term liabilities.

Mr. Fricilone stated Ms. Johannsen and I have been reviewing the budget line by line. Based on the discussion at Capital we will find a way to budget in for the stationary engineer. Since we are looking to add the position in the spring; we will probably only need to budget for three quarters of a year.

Discussion of a multi-year budget took place.

Mr. Fricilone stated the roll up is great; but look at the individual departments. When you see the overtime number; look at the breakdowns of where the overtime is coming from.

Mrs. Traynere noted the overtime went down quite a bit this year; is that because of the new officers?

Ms. Howard replied part of this is attributed to the Sheriff's Department and the ADF; due to the new correctional officers. They have also been trying to keep the overtime down. The overtime at Sunny Hill is down because of the decrease in census.

Mr. Fricilone stated you need to look at each department. It is possible for a line item to go down in one department; but up in another.

Committee Members were encouraged to send questions to the County Board staff.

Mr. Fricilone stated we don't have the full savings of adding five CO's last year. By the time we hired and trained them and started working; we don't have a real full years’ worth of savings. We will know that next year. If we see a substantial savings; we may need to look at adding additional officers to eliminate OT.

Discussion of the turnover rate at the ADF took place.

BRING BUDGET BOOK WITH YOU, EXTRA COPIES WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE

V. NEW BUSINESS

VI. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT / ANNOUNCEMENTS

VII. PUBLIC COMMENT

VIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION

IX. ADJOURNMENT

1. Motion to Adjourn at 11:30 AM

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Ray Tuminello, Member SECONDER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member AYES: Fricilone, Harris, Traynere, Tuminello ABSENT: Bennefield, Singer, Wilhelmi

NEXT MEETING - TO BE DETERMINED