Perry Township Board Meeting Minutes: June 23, 2016

The meeting is called to order at 4:15 pm

Members Present: Barb Sturbaum, Susie Hamilton, Jack Davis, Dan Combs

Non-Members Present: Pat Combs, Novella Shuck, Sharon Yoder, Laura Blaker, Kevin Robling, Jeff Fanyo

Agenda

1. Review Construction Plans for Parking and Set Bidding Date
2. Re-adopt Policy on materiality & Process for Reporting Material Item Losses
3. Adopt Policy on Internal Financial Control and Plicy on Flow Charts
4. Review Assistance Report
5. Other

Review Construction Plans for Parking and Set Bidding Date

The Board should have copies that Kevin sent of the memorandum. Jeff contacted FEMA about reinforcing the walls and roof of the shed that will be designed not only as a climate-controlled records room, but as a shelter/safehouse for tornados. The design should withstand 250 mph winds. An EF5 tornado has winds of 200 mph and above. Barb states the Township should also make sure to have emergency supplies available in the building too.

The final plans for the parking lot have also been worked out. The proceeds from the bond sale were deposited in the bank yesterday. Now it is time to solicit bids for the project, and Jeff states the Township must advertise for bids two times in local publications, seven days apart. The board must then open the bids in a public session at least seven days after the second publication. The next board meeting would suffice for opening bids publicly. Jeff suggests the next board meeting be held one month from now, at which time every bid gets logged. The board settles on July 26th at 4:15pm for the next board meeting. After we receive the bids, the Township will go with the lowest bid that is “responsive” to the needs of the project. The final plans for the project are available to look at in our office and will also be advised on the website.

Re-adopt Policy on Materiality & Process for Reporting Material Item Losses

As mandated by the State Board of Accounts, the Trustee’s office has to adopt their directive for the policy on materiality and process for reporting material item losses. The board has already adopted this, but since then, the State Board amended the third “Whereas” in the document and so now the Township has to readopt the policy. Directive 5.9.16 will be revised to Directive 6.23.16.

Barb moves that the board approve Directive 6.23.16, Susie seconds the motion and all vote “Aye”. Barb also motions to approve a resolution recognizing that the Trustee has signed the new directive. Jack seconds the motion and all vote “Aye.”

Adopt Policy on Internal Financial Control and Policy on Flow Charts

Discussion is held on the Township’s new policy for internal financial control and policy (as illustrated in the flow charts). The new flow of checks and balances do not have problems go before the board until there are big discrepancies. The Township does need volunteers to look at the excel sheets if needed and Susie moves that Barb becomes the oversight committee for that.

Document 4 sets up the internal procedures for financial control, and the case investigators will have to watch a webinar on the procedure. The Township will also implement a disaster recovery system for disaster recovery. IT today told the office how to do this. Document 4 that Dan will now sign and submit to you details the procedures to achieve internal control and plans for failure. Document 4 includes the flowchart on how to handle checks received in the mail. The board is dissatisfied with the safeguards over receiving checks in the mail, as it seems to make it easier for an employee to steal a check, rather than harder (as was the goal). The parts in gray on the chart are what the Township must hire someone to do. This flow sheet must be approved by the board. It originated as a default chart composed by the State Board of Accounts and had a couple of changes made to it that best work for our office. As a side note, our office rarely gets checks in the mail as they are almost always direct deposited, so this process is only relevant for those infrequent occasions. Dan submits this document to the board for approval. Also submitted are Document 6, which will log employee training completion for this procedure, and Document 7, which details who has to complete the training.

The Township needs a resolution from the Board stating that Dan submitted documents 4-7 to the Board. Barb makes a motion that the Trustee did submit Documents 4-7 to the Board, but that the Board has concerns over the new handling of checks, which does not fix the problem and instead muddles it even more. Jack seconds this motion and all vote “Aye.”

Review Assistance Report

The Township has seen a decrease in assistance recently, as illustrated in the chart handouts. Dan has also told the board at the last two meetings that payouts have been down. The Township aims to give out $1.00 in assistance for every dollar of administration costs. The caseworkers went through the assistance numbers for the last few years to graph the activity of the Emergency Assistance side of the office. These graphs illustrate the walk-ins, appointments taken, assistance paid out, and Food Pantry traffic. The Township food pantry is the only subject that has seen an increase over time. All other markers have shown a decrease, due mainly to less traffic to the office, not because the Trustee is approving a smaller percentage of cases. Medical payouts have gone down because the Healthy Indiana Plan now covers dental, which was the main expense in that category. There is also nothing the township can do about the level of burials we do each year.

The office has checked in with some of the other townships in Monroe County, and has gotten a few responses. Bloomington Township states their assistance levels are the same but they are down in food assistance, but Richland and Van Buren Townships both state their assistance levels are down too. There are many different factors that could be influencing this decline (unemployment rate, etc.) but no one really knows for sure the cause.

Other

Bug Room

The Bug Room at the Friend’s Place shelter has now been completed, and there is training scheduled for the room tomorrow. The Trustee’s office will not hand over the keys for it until that training is done.

Barb adjourned the meeting at 6:08pm.