HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.a. Follow-up to expenditure questions from May 18, 2020 Finance Committee meeting Page 1 of 2
Item 4.a.
CENTRAL SAN
June 23, 2020
TO: FINANCE COMMITTEE
FROM: TODD SMITHEY, FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR
KEVIN MIZUNO, FINANCE MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: PHILIP LEI BER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND ADMI NSTRATI ON
ANN SASAKI, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER
ROGER S. BAILEY, GENERAL MANAGER
SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP TO QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE MAY 18, 2020 FINANCE
COMMITTEE MEETING REGARDING SPECIFIC EXPENDITURES
At the May 18, 2020 Finance Committee meeting, Committee Members asked for additional explanations
for certain expenditures. Following additional review of supporting documents and follow-up with
personnel from Divisions involved with the purchased services or goods in question, additional information
was obtained and is summarized below:
• Expenditures List Page 8, Environmental Services by Papineau. $5.154.27 for"Solar Panel
Environmtl Svc": Committee question: Will this be in the Capital Improvement Budget (CI B) and will
this expense be capitalized?
Staff Response:
This invoice is for labor and materials for biological assessment tasks of District-owned land in area
6, site for the District's solar farm project. The District is still in its research and development (R&D)
phase of a potential power purchase agreement (PPA) project with a solar developer. Pursuant to
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), these expenses are to be treated as operational
expenses due to the current R&D status, with alternatives still being explored and the possibility that
the solar development project not being pursued if sufficient O&M Fund savings are not expected to
be realized. Once an RFP is issued and terms of a PPA are agreed upon, due to the complexities
of the rules on capitalizing such agreements, a thorough review must performed to ascertain whether
this arrangement constitutes a "lease" under GAAP terms and, if deemed a lease, whether it is a
"capital" or"operating" lease. Only then can we determine if these current expenses should be
capitalized and be budgeted in future Cl Bs. Pending that future assessment, these costs are being
reported in the O&M fund, where they were budgeted.
• Expenditures List Page 17, Weco, $19,975.16 for"Camera Repairs": Committee question: Does
the data suggest a repair issue, and are these repairs sufficiently budgeted?
Staff Response:
The District owns a collection of 19 various cameras that perform inspections within our collection
system. These sealed cameras work in a very physical environment, and it is not unusual for multiple
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cameras to be out of service for repairs. While it is rare to have all cameras out for repair at the
same time, it has happened before in the past, as it did in this instance. Staff believes it is more a
case of unfortunate timing rather than it being indicative of a broader quality issue. These
reoccurring, intermittent repairs are expected and are budgeted sufficiently.
• Expenditures List Page 34, procurement card charges totaling $3,148 for"Cert Wrkshp & Exam/2
Staff'; Committee request: Please provide additional details.
Staff Response:
This expense was for registration fees for two Mechanical Maintenance Technicians to attend a
Certified Reliability Leader Workshop and Exam.
• Expenditures List Page 29, Resa Power solutions, $42,500 for"Transformer Repair": Committee
question: Was this related to the power outage by the recycled water facility?
Staff Response:
The District conducts routine oil testing and repairs on its transformers as part of its preventative
maintenance program. A test of a transformer at the Filter Plant revealed significant maintenance
needs that necessitated the repairs contained in this invoice. This necessitated a temporary planned
power outage to make planned repairs.
• General question: "Why so many p-card transactions labeled `procurement charges'?"
Staff Response:
During the final demanding stages of the Oracle Cloud Fusion enterprise resource planning (ERP)
implementation project, a significant commitment of time has been needed from Finance staff on
transaction and configuration testing as well as meetings, often resulting in them being pulled away
from their normal work duties. Some of those duties are time-sensitive (i.e. accounts payable
entries, p-card entries, etc.) so other staff members not as heavily involved in the ERP project have
been backfilling those tasks. The inputting of these procurement card transactions was one of these
backfilled duties, and the assisting staff member was not as familiar with the preferred labeling
conventions. While the description on the expense report is generic, these transactions were coded
to specific more descriptive expense accounts, which are not shown in the payments report from
which they were selected. Management has discussed the need to include more specific
transactions with the backfilling staff and going forward this issue should be addressed. Despite the
expectation that this will be resolved from the time communication was made, it appears likely similar
residual issues will appear in the next Finance Committee Expenses Approval packet as a result of
timing issues. However, it expected to be resolved by the July Finance Committee meeting.
Strategic Plan Tie-In
GOAL THREE:Be a Fiscally Sound and Effective Water Sector Utility
Strategy 2- Manage costs
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