INCLUDES:
1. Cheryl Adams, Wauconda is retiring 2/10/2006
2. DOI Filing
3. Performance Measurement (Highland)
4. Utility Customer Late Notices (Creal Springs)
5. IMRF Employer Rate survey (East Dundee)
6. Police & Fire Pension Levy resonses (South Beloit)
7. Investment Consultant responses (Freeport)
8. IML Survey Navigator (Grayslake)
9. Repair/ Replace Water Tower  (Creal Springs)
10. Book:  Stop That Fraud (Public Treasury Institute)
11. Wauconda Asst Dir Finance position  

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1. CHERYL
Cheryl Adams, Wauconda's Director of Finance and a Past IMTA Board Member is retiring effective Feb 10th.
On behalf of IMTA, we wish you a happy retirement!!  Personally, I still think you will be involved in local government in some capacity.  :)
You can send your fairwell messages to cadams@villageofwauconda.com

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2. DOI FILING
In reference to Police Pensions I would like to know if any Treasurers use a contractor to prepare the IDOI annual filing rather than prepared within the city staff...

If so who do you use, what are the fees and who is the contact person...

Thanks, Bill Powell
wpnkp81@sbcglobal.net

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3. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS
As a follow up to the Performance Measurements presentation from the Institute. Thanks!

Sharon Rusteberg and I will be attending the 2006 City and County Performance Summit in Las Vegas from March 6th - 8th. The summit includes keynote speakers from around the country addressing the topic of measuring and improving the management of City and County Services. Group discounts are offered for 3 or more. If interested, please let me know and I'll get us a discount pass.  It's being held at The Excalibur hotel. The room rate (not covered by the registration cost) is $99 per night.

More information can be found at www.cityandcounty.org

Thanks,
Scott E. Borror, CIMT
Staff Accountant
City of Highland, IL.
618-654-9891 - Phone
sborror@ci.highland.il.us
www.ci.highland.il.us

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4. UTILITY CUSTOMER LATE NOTICES

I am looking for copies of the letters you send out to your utility customers once they have not paid their bill. Our process is to send bills on the 1st and they are due on the 10th, on the 11th a 10% penalty is added to their account, around the 15th a final notice prior to shut off is sent out, on the 25th a hearing is held for people to plead their case if you will, but no one ever shows up, but if they call or come in before the 26th and make some sort of payment arrangements they are not shut off, then on the 26th shut offs are done and there is a $25 per service (water and / or gas) reconnection fee added to their account. If the customer is on the shut off list for the day and the public works guys have not yet shut them off I still charge the customers the reconnection fee and that has caused much controversy. Any thoughts and sample letters would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kristien Hamilton
City of Creal Springs
507 E Walnut
PO Box 417
CityofCskhamilto@aol.com

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5. IMRF EMPLOYER RATE SURVEY
I am curious to see if other municipalities would share their IMRF employer rate - ours is now at 11.10
Also, does anyone pay over time to part time police officers if they work more than 40 hours in a work week?

Thanks,
Nikki Giles
Village of East Dundee
ngiles@eastdundee.net

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6.  POLICE & FIRE PENSION LEVY
Our mayor would like to separate the police and fire pension levy from the rest of our levy in order to help with our tax caps. Is there another tax-cap municipality that has put this to voter referendum? If so, do you have the procedures for that, or the legislative reference?

Our attorney can't find it. Thanks for your help.

Mary Ellen Doden
Finance Director
City of South Beloit
m.doden@cityofsouthbeloit.com

POLICE & FIRE PENSION LEVY RESPONSE
The only way that I am aware of pulling these completely from the tax cap is for a municipality to go Home Rule either by Board action if they meet the population requirement, or referendum otherwise. Remember that there is an exemption from caps for the portion of the fire pension levy attributed to the increased Fire benefits under HB599/PA 93-0689 (2004).

We are also interested in what others are doing in the way of paperless agendas.

Brad L. Bettenhausen
Treasurer/Finance Director
Village of Tinley Park 708-444-5000 -5099 fax
bbettenhausen@tinleypark.org

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7. SEEKING INVESTMENT CONSULTANT

The Freeport Police Pension Fund is currently looking for an investment consultant. Would the Treasurers out in email land who are happy with their investment consultants for their pension plans be willing to give us their name and telephone number?

We have already interviewed David Wall of Wall & Associates, Marquette Associates, RBC Dain Rauscher of Rockford and Dick Barrett of Wachovia. But the board would like to interview one or two more.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.
Linda Buss
Freeport
lbuss@cityoffreeport.org

Hi Mike - reply to Linda Buss: our Police Pension Fund has used Mary Tomanek, Senior VP with Smith Barney for about 7 years. She has worked with us and our actuary to ladder our investments, has kept us well-diversified to weather the ups and downs of the markets, and our fund's assets have doubled in the past eight years. Our Board is very satisfied - she handles many downstate pension funds. Her number is 847-480-3605, or, 800-543-3623. The address is 111 S. Pfingsten Road, Suite 200, Deerfield, IL 60015-4957. Good luck in your selection. Bonnie Owens, Village of Westmont

Hi Linda,
In response to your IMTA E-Help posting for investment consultants, the Village of East Dundee has utilized OakBrook Bank for our police pension investment needs for the last 5 years or so. They are a big improvement over  Old Kent, which we had prior. I would highly recommend their knowledgeable and courteous staff. Contact John Falduto Vice President, Investment Management and Trust Department at 630-990-2265 ext 355 or jfalduto@obb.com

Good luck!
Nikki Giles
Village of East Dundee
ngiles@eastdundee.net

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8. SURVEY NAVIGATOR

The Illinois Municipal Legue has advertised the "SurveyNavigator" in the Illinois Muncipal Review. It is a state of the art system that allows salary and benefits comparisons based on a variety of demographics including population and region. Cost $125 one full year of access. If you have used this tool, send me your comments to share with the  membership.
Thanks.
Michael Peterson

RESPONSE TO IML's Survey Navigator -

1. Our Personnel Director has participated in the IML Survey Navigator for two years and found it to be quite useful in obtaining wage and benefit comparisons. It saves the time we would usually spend calling different municipalities and asking for the information for comparisons.
Sharon Rusteberg
Director of Finance
City of Highland

2. Mike, we used the navigator and I thought it was great except there were not enough municipalities I could use. The cost is substantially less then when we were in it. I would recommend getting back in to our village.

Cheryl Adams
Village of Wauconda
Director of Finance/Treasurer
cadams@village of wauconda,com

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9. REPAIR/REPLACE WATER TOWER
I would like to know if anyone has within the last three years had to deal with replacing and / or serious repairs to their water tower and what company they used. We have to replace our water tower and we are looking at about a million dollar project. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kristien Hamilton
City of Creal Springs
CityofCskhamilto@aol.com

RESPONSE TO Repair/Replace Water Tower (Creal Springs) - We haven't had to deal with a major repair; however, we are adding a new 1.5 mil gallon standpipe to our system. The standpipe offered us the ability to store water and act as an elevated tank or ground storage tank. We opted to go with a section 14 design to save on steel costs.

The Farnsworth Group in Effingham, IL is our engineer and our Public Works Director highly recommends them for water system design.
Sharon Rusteberg
Director of Finance
City of Highland

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10 STOP THAT FRAUD

Here is the link for Stop That Fraud book and training course if you want to share it with your group. There is a discount for members of Assn of Public Treasurers, all they need to do is check off APT member when they are in the shopping cart. If you select check or money order, an invoice is produced for you to mail with your check. If you select credit card, a receipt is produced on the spot. This is loaded with case studies! Stacey Crane http://www.publictreasuryinstitute.com/bookshop/newsletter/index.html

Stacey Crane 
301)229-6566
stacey@publictreasuryinstitute.com

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Assistant Director of Finance and Assistant Treasurer
Village of Wauconda

The Village of Wauconda is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Assistant Director of Finance and Assistant Treasurer.  The position is responsible for ensuring proper financial accounting and disclosure of all Village Transactions by maintaining the general ledger and subsidiary account records in accordance with established legal requirements and generally accepted accounting principles.  Prepares month end and fiscal year end reports through timely completion of all journal entries for all funds and closing of the general ledger.  The position ensures accuracy and timeliness of bi-weekly payroll, accounts receivables and accounts payable.  Maintains the fixed assets record for all Village property, analyzes general ledger accounts, and assists in preparing the annual Finance Department budget.  Coordinates and prepares schedules for the annual financial audit and works closely with the Village's independent auditors.

The Assistant Director of Finance and Assistant Treasurer provides direction and supervision to the Finance Assistant, Collector and other clerks as necessary.  The Assistant Director of Finance and Assistant Treasurer must demonstrate a willingness to effectively participate in hands on department functions.  The position demands strong supervisory and strong accounting skills.  This position requires an individual who is detailed oriented and capable of handling multiple projects and meeting deadlines.  This position is under the direct supervision by the Director of Finance and Treasurer.

At a minimum of Bachelors level degree in Accounting, Finance or Public Administration, or closely related fields of study from an accredited four-year college or university is required.  Master's Degree and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation is desirable, but not required if a combination of education and experience shows demonstrated success.  Or a combinations of skills and education that is equivalent to the noted education and stated experience.  The position requires the person to possess a minimum of four to ten years of experience in public financial administration, with a minimum of three years of documented leadership experience in municipal or government accounting.  Hold applicable professional certifications and evidence of continue growth and development in the field of public financial administration.  Must be able to pass a detailed background investigation with the Illinois State Police, a medical physical to meet the stated demands of the position, have an acceptable driving record and no evidence of misuse or use of illegal substances or drugs.  Must submit and be able to successfully show acceptable results as evidenced by a credit check of personal finance history.

The starting salary range for this position is between $47,000 - 52,000 per year, plus a full range of benefits.  Applications will be accepted until the position is filed.  Send resume with recent salary history to:  Human Resources, Village of Wauconda, 101 N. Main Street, Wauconda, Illinois 60084.  Position open till filled.  EOE/M/F/V/D