FC060821FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
June 8, 2021
Elected Officials Participating Virtually Staff Participating Virtually
Councilmember Vivian Olson Dave Turley, Finance Director
Councilmember Diane Buckshnis Phil Williams, Public Works Director
CALL TO ORDER
The Edmonds City Council virtual online Finance Committee meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
by Councilmember Buckshnis. A discussion of regarding Bond Refinancing was added as Agenda
Item 2.3.
2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
1. April 2021 Monthly Financial Report
Mr. Turley reviewed:
• What's happening in the Finance Department:
o Things going well so far with annual SAO Audit. Financial audit should be finished before
next month's finance report.
o Received several good resumes for the Systems Support Technician and Deputy
Administrative Services Director. Both positions have their "first priority" review this week
and interviews will be scheduled soon.
o First four months have gone according to budget, nothing negative to report. Sales tax and
REET continue to come in ahead of budget.
• Noteworthy things in the April report:
o REET is up $659,343 from this point in time last year.
o Sales Tax is up $350,180 from this point in time last year.
o General Fund expenses are $1 million (6.6%) under budget for this time of year. Just part
of normal cyclical spending.
o Telephone Utility tax is $(63,412) less than at this point in time last year.
o Liquor Excise Tax is up $25,216 from this point in time last year.
o Development Services revenues are down a total of $(69,739) from this point in time last
year.
o Plan Checking Fees are up $107,781 from this point in time last year.
o January -April of 2020 Engineering Overhead was not recorded until May of 2020 which is
the main reason for the large difference between years. January -April 2020 Engineering
Overhead totaled $680,271.
Questions and discussion followed regarding the Investment portfolio summary and investments that
are maturing, moving funds to the Snohomish County Pool, and the Edmonds real estate market.
Action: Consent Agenda
2. Job Order Contracting — Proposal and Agreement
Mr. Williams reported staff has been working of this for a couple years. An RFP was issued for an
administrator of a JOC process; one proposal was submitted by Gordian who is providing that service
06/08/21 Finance Committee Minutes, Page 2
in several municipalities in the area including Everett, Port of Everett, Bellevue, Shoreline, and others.
The packet includes the draft agreement and Gordian's response to the RFP. The City hires an
administrator to set up and implement the program on the City's behalf and they enter into contractual
relationships with up to three separate JOCs. Spending limits on the program are $500,000 per
project and $3M per contractor/year. The plan is to start slow, do some small projects and see how it
works. When the City has a project that is suitable for a JOC, the City presents the scope to Gordian,
Gordian works with the appropriate JOC to develop a price, returns to the City where the scope and
price are agreed to and then they will deliver the project. It is similar to ESCO contracts where
Gordian is responsible to deliver the work for the quoted price. Gordian owns and maintain the
RSMeans construction database that includes material, labor and equipment costs. Gordian receives
a fee (approximately 15%) to manage entire project. The same financial policies are in place; anything
over $100,000 requires Council approval. This process will reduce the timeframe for projects which
also saves money.
Questions and discussion followed regarding the scope of work, Gordian's fee, individual project and
JOC limitations, the PPW Committee's requests (include the scope of work and detailed
implementation schedule in the packet as well as how Gordian would incentivize/demonstrate equity
and inclusion in awarding of contracts to MWB and DBE subcontractors).
Action: Full Council
3. Bond Refinancing
Councilmember Buckshnis provided her recollection from the previous presentation regarding bond
refinancing including the threshold of $10M for taxable and non-taxable bonds, bonds that are callable
at the end of the year, historically low rates, and the possibility of adding projects to the bond
refinancing. She suggested including Civic Park in a bond and scheduling a special meeting to review
refinancing. She recalled Mr. Williams had utility projects he was interested in bonding for. Mr.
Williams agreed the need exists such as building maintenance as well as paving. Another factor is
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that the City will receive ($9.278M on a per capita basis) for
water, sewer and stormwater, climate resiliency, energy efficiency projects and other expenses such
as assisting citizens and business recover from the pandemic.
Mr. Turley relayed the City definitely wants to refund the sewer bonds to lower the payment. The ECA
has also requested the City refinance $2.6M on their behalf to guarantee their sales tax revenue
stream. Ms. Feser relayed she communicated with Councilmembers last week regarding the need for
additional funding for Civic Park project and plans to talk with Councilmembers further next week
about options for funding the difference. Councilmember Buckshnis expressed support for bonding to
complete Civic Park.
Questions and discussion followed regarding the financial gap for the Civic Park project, favorable
interest rates, having discussions with the Finance Committee before going to full Council, ad
deciding whether or not to bond and the repayment source.
Action: Discussion only
Councilmember Olson asked if any of the candidates for Finance Director had applied for the
Assistant Administrative Services position. Mr. Turley advised he did not have access to that
information.
3. ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 6:34 p.m.