2024-09-17 Council FIN MinutesFINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
September 17, 2024
Elected Officials Present Staff Present
Councilmember Will Chen (Chair) Kim Dunscombe, Acting Finance Dir.
Councilmember Jenna Nand Sharon Cates, City Attorney's Office
Council President Vivian Olson (ex-officio) Scott Passey, City Clerk
Councilmember Susan Paine
CALL TO ORDER
The Edmonds City Council Finance Committee meeting was called to order virtually and in the City
Council Conference Room, 121 — 5th Avenue North, Edmonds, at 5:30 pm by Councilmember Chen.
The agenda was modified to discuss Item 2.2 until Ms. Cates arrived.
2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
2. August 2024 Monthly Financial Report
Ms. Dunscombe reported a lot of same themes for revenue and expenses continued in August. She
highlighted a new bulleted section, Utility Fund Highlights, related to the 2024 Revenue Bond.
Ms. Cates joined the meeting at this point; the committee will continue this discussion following the next
agenda item.
1. Comprehensive Update to Contracting and Purchasing Policies and Procedures
Ms. Cates explained this is based in part on what other jurisdictions have done; the intent is to provide
more context and guidance for City staff doing procurement. Directors and other staff members provided
input on this update. The update includes a proposal to increase the contracting limits for directors and
mayor which is a decision for council to make. In reference to Councilmember Nand's emailed
comments, she explained Washington State law authorizes cities to enter into public works contracts
according to certain limits which does not change the City's contracting authority level. She proposed
directly quoting state law for those sections to clearly reflect the limits authorized by city council.
Questions and discussion followed regarding appreciation for the comprehensive update, concern with
increasing the spending authority from $100,000 to $150,000 at a time the City is experiencing financial
difficulties, possibly reconsidering an increase in the spending authority when revenue sources have
stabilized, council's desire for notice when larger expenditures are occurring, new limits appropriate due
to inflation but the City is experiencing exceptional circumstances, increasing spending authority except
during times of financial crisis/emergency, ability to update limits when conditions improve, committee
members' support for retaining the current limits during 2025 and 2026, voucher approval process,
requiring notice to council when contracts over $150,000 or multi -year contracts are significantly
modified, adding language to require project numbers, and capabilities of the new ERP related to project
tracking.
Questions and discussion continued regarding tracking multiyear and multi -department projects,
guardrails for creating project numbers for tracking high profile projects, policy language versus
practice, including language to give council the option to request project numbers, concern tracking
expenditures creates burden on staff, whether to establish a dollar amount for which project tracking
would be done, difficulty tracking a project retroactively if a project becomes controversial, accounting
for staff time on high profile projects, Ms. Cates conferring with directors regarding appropriate
09/17/24 Finance Committee Minutes, Page 2
language, all capital projects currently have project numbers, operating projects that become significant,
ensuring projects such as Landmark are in the CIP/CFP, and whether to include a local newspaper for
publication of notice for bids.
Committee recommendation: Full council
2. August 2024 Monthly Financial Report (Continued)
Ms. Dunscombe continued her review of the report. She highlighted a change on packet page 72 in
fund reporting for the utilities and internal service funds from full accrual fund balance to working capital
fund balance. She relayed a suggestion from Councilmember Chen to include a column that showed
the total fund balance in some manner.
Councilmember Chen provided further details on the change in reporting. For enterprise funds and
internal service funds which were $112M in the 2024 budget, the reporting was changed in
May/June/July from full fund balance (fixed assets plus working capital) to only working capital which
significantly reduced the fund balance on the monthly reports. He suggested adding a line with the fixed
assets so the total agrees with the adopted budget. Ms. Dunscombe advised the adopted budget for
2025 will use working capital as the beginning fund balance. The only place the full accrual fund balance
would be reported is in the annual financial report.
Ms. Dunscombe reviewed the General Fund Department Expense Summary, highlighting % spent and
plans for a budget amendment in October. She reviewed the Investment Portfolio Summary, pointing
out the anticipated federal reduction in the interest rate which will impact investment revenue.
Questions and discussion followed regarding using footnotes and definitions to help readers understand
the utility fund is only reporting the working capital portion, bond funds increasing revenue in the utility
fund, bonds and CDs that mature at the end of the year, trigger point for bond refunding, and what is
not reported in the utilities fund balances.
Committee recommendation: Received for Filing
3. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 pm.
SCOTT PASS EY; CLERK