E-Help 9/28/2006
INCLUDES:
FINANCIAL ADVISOR & BOND COUNSEL RECOMMENDATIONS
The City of Lockport is doing a bond issuance for road improvements. We are looking at a $10.0 million and a $20.0 million issuance. If you have completed a new bond issue in the past few years, I would like your comments about the Financial Advisor and Bond Counsel that you selected.
Financial Advisor name, city,
phone number:
Would you recommend them? Did they meet your expectations? Were the fees
reasonable? Other comments…
Bond Counsel name, city, phone number:
Would you recommend them? Did they meet your expectations? Were the fees
reasonable? Other comments…
I really appreciate your assistance. I sure hope to see you all soon.
Janice E. Colvin
Finance Director
City of Lockport
jcolvin@lockport.org
FINANCE DIRECTOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Our municipality is interested
in creating a new position to be called Finance Director. This would cover
bookkeeping, general ledger, budget, etc. We are trying to create a job
description for this position. I wonder if other municipalities would care to
share the job descriptions they have with us. They may be faxed to: Thiel
Accounting 217-463-1868. Thanks for your help.
Dennis Thiel
Paris, IL
dennis@thielaccounting.com
MUTUAL FUND COMPARISON
My broker said that we are only invested in “no load” funds and the firm does not collect 12b-1 Fees. How can I confirm this?
Suggestion:
Make it a requirement that the quarterly broker report include the “ticker
symbols”, this way you will always have them without asking. If you ask for the
symbols it raises a concern with the broker. After you have the symbols you can
go to the Charles Schwab website at
Click: “Research Mutual Funds”
Enter the name or symbol of the mutual fund and Click: GO
Example: ENCAX, VINEX
You will be prompted with tabname: “At a Glance”
Click tabname: “Fund Facts and Fees”
Review the section labeled “Fees and Expenses” for expenses such as;
“Maximum Sales Loads” or
“12-b-1 Fees”
DEPT OF LABOR SURPRISE INSPECTION
An Illinois Dept of Labor representative walked up to our counter, flashed a badge and reported he was here for a safety inspection. After 21 years of municipal service, that was a surprise to me. I have never seen one before. He asked to inspect our:
Compliance Posters
Evacuation Plans (written)- Apparently yelling “Everyone get out of the building” wasn’t sufficient. We failed.
Fire Extinguishers
Emergency Lights
OSHA forms
He said we would receive a
report detailing his visit. He didn’t indicate that there would be fines or
penalties and we didn’t ask.
The inspector stated that there are five inspectors in northern Illinois and
they try to get around to everyone once every five years.
Michael Peterson
Grayslake (Lake County)
FEEDBACK:
Tuscola
We have also had surprise inspections in 2 of the last 4 years. One
guy even said that our city hall was "unsafe" because 2 of about 50 fluourescent
lights were off! So they are out there, even in central Illinois. And they do
repeat inspections if you have violations.
Alta Long
along@tuscola.org
Lincolnshire
join the crowd! I experienced one of those too!! The guy was nice though. We
were cited for a few minor violations in the police area, PW area and village
hall. But the DHs got working on them. We might of had one of these about 10
years ago. Someone at Labor must have lit a fire or yelled District Attorney!
ha, ha.
Stan Roelker
sroelk@village.lincolnshire.il.us
Lake Villa
I had one of those surprise
inspections a couple of years ago...after he was here we never heard fromhim
again! (knock on wood) Our only issues were we had the path to our electrical
panel blocked with some boxes.
Sincerely,
Lori Heitman
lheitman@lake-villa.org