Finance Committee - 1/17/2018 Page 5
DISCUSSION — None
RECORD OF EXPENDITURES
MOTION BY ALDERMAN KELLY THAT THE FINANCE COMMITTEE HAS COMPLIED WITH THE CITY
CHARTER AND ORDINANCES PERTAINING TO THE RECORD OF EXPENDITURES FOR THE PERIODS
FROM DECEMBER 16, 2017 TO DECEMBER 28, 2017, AND DECEMBER 29, 2017 TO JANUARY 12, 2018
MOTION CARRIED
PUBLIC COMMENT - None
REMARKS BY THE ALDERMEN
Mayor Donchess
Mr. Griffin is the CFO for the City. | don’t know if you have met the various newer members or not, but maybe
you'd like to take a moment to tell them what the CFO does.
Mr. Griffin
Sure. I’ve been with the City since August of 2010. | have enjoyed, learned a lot. As far as my duties, they are
generally are budget related, both in terms of developing the budget, proposing the budget along with the
Mayor, and reviewing the budget as we go forward. Another key component of the CFO is working with the
treasurer and the accounting department and the rating calls that we have annually. As you know, we issue a
fair amounts of bonds annually. The rating calls, we’re talking to Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. Last
year, we're excited. We got a AAA rating from Standard and Poor’s. You're able to read those online, the
Fitch reports and the Standard & Poor’s. In addition to that as we finalize our comprehensive annual financial
report called the CAFR, that’s where you get a lot of information. That’s the information that the rating
agencies base their opinions on. The CAFR as well is really our annual audit. Melanson & Heath conducts
our annual audit which is done typically August through October, close the books, and we have been fortunate
for several years to have an unmodified opinion, which means there are no material concerns on the part of the
independent auditor with regard to the city’s operations.
Keeping track of the accounts of the city is not an easy task. What we will probably do is have some type of
review of those accounts for you folks as well as your other colleagues. We do participate in the City Academy
where we go into a little bit more depth in the CFO area. My responsibilities are overseeing the assessor, the
treasurer/collector, motor vehicles, accounting, purchasing, GIS, and risk management, which is a very
important part of the city’s operations.
As the Mayor indicated, David Fredette and | tag team. | usually attend the second meeting of the month;
David attends the first meeting and we are here for any questions. | will send each one of you an email
tomorrow letting you Know how you can find the Record of Expenditures before you come here if you want to
look at it. The checks have already been sent so it is not a case where you can call me and say hold that
check.
The front part of the Record of Expenditures is the checks or ACH or wire transfers. The back half is the
payroll. Each Record of Expenditures is about 80 pages, 90 pages. If you have any questions through your
learning process, feel free to reach out via email or phone call. We'll try to get you the right answer. Basically
what happens is the question comes in, if there’s more than one, | determine which group should get that
question and get right back to you hopefully in advance of this meeting. We usually publish that Record of
Expenditure on the Friday before your meeting. I'll explain that, | think it’s important. The Mayor did a nice job
explaining it, but | think getting to and from the web page financial reports you can just click on it. There’s a lot
great information there, especially if any of you will be attending the budget review committee meetings.
