The Finance Committee met 07/25/2022. It was a brief and relatively uneventful meeting. All of the items were approved, most with minimal discussion.
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14), who was not a member of the committee but was present, did ask how the budget amendment related to the use of ARPA funds as lost revenue for the Parking Utility affected the financial position of the Parking Utility.
Finance Director Jeri Ohman answered that the original intention of the lost revenue being recorded in the parking utility was to replace the fund balance that had been used during 2020. The final rules which came out this year regarding how ARPA funds could be used changed the requirements around tracking allowable expenses. Therefore, the city had to defer that until this year. The intention was still to put that into the fund balance applied, but this was just the way the federal treasury was requiring them to do it. The regular revenues that the Parky Utility had in their budget would be put into fund balance applied and this would be used first for expenses during the year.
When the 2022 budget amendment which moved money from the Einstein Park land improvement project over to the Telulah Park pickleball complex project came up, Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13), who was not a committee member but was in attendance, asked how this affected the Einstein Park land improvement project.
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza answered that they had saved money on the Einstein Park project by having city staff demolish the existing restroom pavilion instead of hiring a contractor to do it.
The final item that resulted in discussion and the only item to have a non-unanimous vote was the approval of the CEA (Central Equipment Agency) Review Committee Report.
Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15), who was not a member of the Finance Committee but did serve of the CEA Review Committee, commented on the purchase of police department mobile command center. He supported the purchase, but wanted to let the committee know about something he had learned after the CEA Review Committee met.
In addition to being an Appleton alderperson, he also serves on the Calumet County Board of Supervisors. Calumet county was also purchasing a new mobile command center, but, unlike Appleton, they were using ARPA funds for that purchase. His understanding was that using ARPA funds for the APD purchase was not something that had been explored in Appleton, but he thought that, given it was an eligible expense, it would be a good use of the city’s ARPA dollars. Using ARPA funds for this purchase would allow them to keep the accrued balance the CEA had and use it toward future purchases [presumably ones that don’t qualify for ARPA funds]. He noted that inflation was going up and the cost of other equipment and vehicles continues to rise, so he thought it would only benefit the city in the future. He suggested looking at using ARPA dollars to fund the city’s portion of the mobile command center purchase.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) asked the Finance Director to comment on that.
Director Ohman answered that when this question was brought up, they referred back to the 2021 budget as well as portions of the 2022 budget. The ARPA funds were already approved through the budget process and the mobile command center was not one of the approved uses for ARPA funds.
Alderperson Hartzheim said that using ARPA funds for this purchase would only result in a change of $250,000. She thought this would be an appropriate and not excessive way to use some of those ARPA dollars and would not necessarily draw too much away from the uses for ARPA funds that had already been approved.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) said she was unaware of any partnership the city had with Calumet County.
Director Ohman answered that the mobile command center they were purchasing was a joint purchase with Outagamie County.
Alderperson Doran clarified that Calumet County was purchasing its own mobile command center, and he was not suggesting partnering with Calumet County. He was just explaining how he came to be aware that purchasing a mobile command center was one of the eligible uses for ARPA funds.
There were no further comments or questions and the committee voted 3-1 to approve the CEA Review Committee report with Alderperson Siebers voting against.
[So, it sounds like there is a possibility that this item may get separated out at the upcoming Common Council meeting for further discussion.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=959313&GUID=AAEBF048-D8A2-43F3-B7BC-61EDD5F99FC8
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