04-26-2021 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,April 26,2021 6:00 o'clock p.m. 12.PARKS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN'S UPDATE—Continued Alan Greene, 1397 Orono Lane,noted a lot of excitement and among the other neighbors they have talked to,there are many younger people moving in that are excited about the golf course. He also thinks there is a tremendous opportunity with the food and beverage;it could be a little social hub. Seals is glad these neighbors are excited about improving the golf course and said for a long time,people wanted it to stay as-is.Her concern is also,if it continues to bleed and no one uses it,it will be the next Lakeview. Crosby agreed there is a huge opportunity for the food and beverage and he likes the idea of the fire pit, and eventually the shelter to get out of the sun. Johnson's takeaway is the tremendous amount of effort going into the volunteer Parks Commission,the passion they have,and he thanked the group for volunteering.He agrees that there is an opportunity to make the golf course more community-oriented and target something attainable. Seals agreed the Parks Commission should be really proud of the work they have done.When she was in Mound the past week, someone asked about Bederwood as they heard there was an amazing new soccer field. FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT 13. FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT Olson noted this report is his least favorite because expenditures are so low,revenues are always low,and that is just because of winter.There is not a lot of projecting to do other than to say they are at 16.48%of budget on revenues,which is pretty much where they were the previous year at this time and they ended up at 101%of revenues.He noted there is a lot of year left and based on historical averages they should hit about 100%.They will know much more in about six weeks when they receive the first bit of tax settlement.Permits are at 25%which is a very good sign at this time of year.Olson noted the first three months of the year are by far the lowest amount for expenditures,and they are at 21.89%for the year which is probably right where they would expect in any year.The only department that looks like it may be over budget is Mayor/Council at 45%and that will be at budget at the end of the year and is probably the memberships. He showed the top five vendors on screen,as well as the new investments during the quarter. 14. FINANCIAL DIRECTOR UPDATE Olson shared they have been working on making the City more efficient, especially now that they went to monthly utility billing. So far through March they have received over 2,100 checks;they come in,get put into the register,applied to the account,make a deposit and take them to the bank.He said they just ordered a scanner which will be connected to PSN(credit card processor)and will connect right to the utility account. He also noted they upgraded to a"real-time", or at least within an hour,processing for payments. Olson stated they worked with the credit card company,for example the point-of-sale system Page 8 of 10