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AUGUST 12, 2004

ATTENDANCE: Kenneth Baker; Douglas Hempstead; Carvin Hilliard; Douglas Sutton

STAFF: Thomas Hamilton, Director of Finance; Frederic Gilden; Comptroller; Alanna Kabel, Redevelopment

Mr. Baker called the meeting to order at 8:25 pm. He requested that they take the agenda items out of order; there were no objections.

7. Authorize the Mayor to execute a contract for Community Video Program to e-LockLink/CGI/Communications for total amount of $50 (this is at no cost to the City).

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED APPROVAL OF THE ITEM.

Ms. Kabel stated that CGI Communication has offered to make a Welcome to Norwalk video at no cost to the city. In exchange for the free video the City will permit business sponsorships on the perimeter of the Welcome to Norwalk video that is linked to the city’s website. It will give visitors a chance to hear a quick message from the Mayor and then it will highlight ten aspects of the community. She said the contract is for two years and they are able to cancel at any time, as long as due notice is given. A similar site is that of Greenwich; she added that this is a great marketing tool and reiterated that it would be at no cost to the city.

Mr. Baker asked if this was contingent on finding advertisers for the site.

Ms. Kabel replied that CGI would find the advertisers and submit them to the city for review. She said that this is something that they don’t have and it will be a good way to find out how effective it is.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

6. Authorize the Mayor, Alex A. Knopp, to execute a contract with Advanced Corporate Networking, Inc. (d/b/a Digital Back Office) for the implementation of the Metropolitan Area Network Project for a ten-year lease term, for an amount not to exceed $4,780,480. Various Accounts.

** MR. SUTTON MOVED APPROVAL OF THE ITEM.

Mr. Hempstead requested a break down of the cost savings associated with the Board of Education because this is an additional recurring expenditure and everyone should be made aware of this. Regarding the assumptions, Mr. Hempstead noted that there were a lot of them.

Mr. Hamilton said that nothing can start to happen until they have a signed contract, which is why there is a critical need to get this approval through. He said the plan is to have Digital Back Office (DBO) start submitting requests from the utility companies to gain access to the space on the pole they will need; he added that that is one of the more time consuming parts of the project. Mr. Hamilton continued to say that the real driver of the project is the Brien McMahon project that will be the first building to be opened for the second semester of the upcoming school year and the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is key to the deployment of the phone system to that building as well as to the police station shortly after. At this point, he reiterated that they are up against a tight time frame to get the project going.

With regard to Mr. Hempstead’s question about the assumptions, Mr. Hamilton stated that DBO did not think there would be any problems at this point.

Mr. Hamilton said the MAN has been in the work now for two years, there has been a very lengthy planning process in order for this to go forward. There have been consultants to look at all the options on how to transport high-speed data to all the facilities including city buildings and schools. Ultimately, last February they came back with a proposal to enter into final contract negotiations with DBO to go about a private fiber optic network that the city and the Board of Education will lease over a ten year period and the reason for the lease is that the e-rate has provided very significant funding for certain types of technology programs. He said the Council (in February) authorized the filing of an e-rate application and they also authorized a $50,000 contract with DBO for preliminary engineering services. In terms of what the MAN represents, is a quantum leap with regard to the capabilities of the city to deploy and use technology. Many of the applications in use today, require a large amount of bandwidth that they have not been able to use in the past because they have not had the network in place to enable them to do so.

Mr. Hamilton said that they have completed the preliminary engineering and DBO have come back with near final pricing with one remaining issue, on the Board of Education’s and library’s portion of the contract, that they expect to be eligible for a 50% credit against costs – the vendor has proposed line costs in years one through five that are roughly double in the line costs six through ten. They will go back to DBO to request that they re-submit costs with level lines costs over the ten year period – he said they will have to see the final numbers from DBO, suggesting that the numbers will be slightly higher. As soon as they get the numbers they will be sent to the Council members and hope to have this on the Council agenda by August 24, 2004.

Mr. Hempstead said the motion is for the entire contract; he asked if that was what they would be voting upon tonight.

Mr. Hamilton replied that it is their intention to go forward with phase one as soon as they receive authorization. If the e-rating funding comes through and they have every indication that it will, then they would like to be in a position to tell DBO to go and build the whole network. He said if committee members wished to put a qualifier in the motion that says the city would only go to phase one until the e-rating funding is approved that would be agreeable.

Mr. Hamilton suggested they could add a sentence: that Council authorizes the City to proceed with the entire project with the understanding that the City will only proceed with phase two until e-rate funding has been approved.

Mr. Hamilton said that has been sent to Dr. Corda and Mr. Reichenbach who indicated that it would be put before the Board of Education for approval.

** MR. HILLIARD MOVED TO AMEND THE MOTION BY ADDING THE FOLLOWING: THAT THE COMMON COUNCIL AUTHORIZES THE CITY TO PROCEED WITH THE ENTIRE PROJECT WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CITY WILL ONLY PROCEED WITH PHASE TWO UNTIL E-RATE FUNDING HAS BEEN APPROVED.

** MOTION AS AMENDED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

5. Authorize the Mayor, Alex A. Knopp, to sign an amendment the Milliman, USA contract for Other Post Employment Benefits (medical and insurance costs for retirees) valuation for an amount not to exceed $30,000.00.

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED APPROVAL OF THE ITEM.

Mr. Hempstead asked if they why they would need to use an actuary for this item.

Mr. Gilden said this is for something other than pensions costs; it is for retirees to receive full medical benefits.

Mr. Hamilton said this is a new issue for the public sector and that is to treat medical benefits similar to the way that they treat pensions. The concept is that they are making a promise to those working today that when they retire they will be eligible for medical benefits and this has a financial consequence. He said currently, they are recognizing those costs as they are paid and the accounting profession has said they are making a promise for the future and that municipalities have to recognize that cost today. There is in essence a large, unfunded liability and what that actuary will do is to tell them how big the unfunded liability is.

Mr. Hempstead asked if this included the Board of Education.

Mr. Hamilton said the teachers are covered by the state but they would take a look at the situation. He said in a couple of years they are going to be required to do this and they should have an understanding of the magnitude of this.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Hilliard left the meeting.

1. Approve the Minutes of the following Finance Committee Meeting – July 8, 2004.

Mr. Hempstead requested that these be added to the agenda of the next meeting.

2. Claims Committee: receive the monthly Claims report; review and approve claims as required for Claims Report dated: August 12, 2004

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED APPROVAL OF THE ITEM.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

With regard to Items 3 and 4, Mr. Hamilton stated that Ms. Biagiarelli was not able to join them this evening.

3. Narrative on Tax Collections dated July 31, 2004 – Receive report and discuss

There was no report this evening.

4. Monthly Tax Collector’s Report dated July 31, 2004 – Receive report and discuss

There was no report this evening.

8. Receive Board of Estimate and Taxation Special Appropriations from August 2, 2004 meeting

Mr. Hamilton indicated that this was discussed during their last meeting. There was no additional discussion this evening

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Kate Kye
Telesco Secretarial