MARCO ISLAND — Marco City Council voted to table several items on Monday’s agenda including what was to be the top issue of the evening, City Manager Steve Thompson’s six month performance review.

The decision to lighten the agenda allowed council more time to discuss financial concerns including the scope of a forensic audit, funding options for the septic tank replacement program and the creation of a committee to assist in addressing a financial crisis.

Councilman Jerry Gibson suffered a loss in his family Oct. 29 when his girlfriend of 14 years, Staci Kelley, died suddenly.

Anticipating Gibson’s absence at the meeting, Chairman Bill Trotter suggested tabling the city manager’s performance review, the ordinance requiring landscape contractor education and registration and selection of the consultant for the committee’s study of taking over the electric company. The proposed schedule changes left many unprepared to discuss the full agenda although Gibson did choose to participate Monday evening.

Councilman Rob Popoff suggested the status report he requested on the Marco Walk shopping center’s code compliance also be tabled along with the other items.

Kiester suggested that given the financial climate including home foreclosures and difficulty obtaining loans for projects, that Council should discuss the possibility of delaying the STRP. The idea did not gain any steam.

Councilmen Ted Forcht and Popoff agreed to discuss it but others opposed the discussion.

"(Kiester) is a councilor and he deserves to have that discussion. I’m sure if there is something I would like to discuss, or other councilors, he would honor that," Popoff said.

Shortly after Council voted 4-3 against discussing delaying the sewer project given the economy, Popoff said he wished Kiester would listen to the people including the 61 percent who voted for the STRP and stop voting against STRP related agenda items.

Despite Popoff’s firm suggestion that left Kiester asking for him to "back off," neither Kiester nor Forcht changed Council’s voting pattern of 5-2 in nearly all STRP related issues.

Financing for the STRP seemed to cause the most concern for council as they discussed $11 million in short term financing through the city’s depositor, Fifth Third Bank. The utility revenue bonds council considered allow the bank to require a full repayment within 90 days notice as soon as June 2009.

Forcht said the bank is not taking any risk with the loan and there is little confidence that the economy will turn around fast enough for the city to secure a long term loan within the next year.

He compared the bonds to "using a credit card to finance a house."

Council approved the issuance of $11 million in utility revenue bonds 4-3 with Forcht, Kiester and Popoff voting against the motion.

Resident Amadeo Petricca questioned why the 8 percent charge on utility bills wasn’t being used rather than the bonds.

Thompson answered that it would be inefficient to operate a construction project as large as the central sewer system project in a "pay as you go" manner. Instead, the 8 percent water/sewer customers pay will be used to pay back the bonds.

Public Works Director Rony Joel said he has been successful in finding some alternative funding for the STRP including looking at investors who were involved in Cape Coral’s central sewer project, which that city recently cancelled. He also said that by December, the city will be issued more than $2 million in grants he has helped secure.

Given financial constraints, council also decided against jumping into a forensic audit of all city procedures and financial transactions during the past five years.

Jennifer Murtha and Carmina Clark of RSM McGladrey clarified misunderstandings in their firm’s audit estimates.

Murtha said going back five years into the city’s history and performing a forensic audit of all procedures and transactions would take auditors five years to complete. This may cost $1 million and may "paralyze the city" as a forensic audit is intrusive with auditors needing access to all files slowing daily operations down, she said.

Purchasing Manager Bob Creighton, appointed by Thompson as the interim City Finance Director, wrote a memo to council that the five year full city forensic audit would take 35 to 40 weeks.

However, Murtha clarified that this 35 to 40 week time estimate is inaccurate.

Clark clarified that according the Collier Boulevard proposal, it would take up to 90 days to perform the forensic audit of just the Collier Boulevard project, which began in 2002 and was completed in 2008. The final project cost about $40 million according to an Oct. 13 report completed by former Finance Director Bill Harrison and Joel.

The Collier Boulevard forensic audit is estimated to cost about $35,000, which appeared to be an easier number for council to swallow than $1 million full-city audit. The Collier Boulevard audit will look into finance transactions as well as procedures.

While council said there may not be any fraud, they hoped to find procedures that could be improved so as to save at least $35,000 in the long term by operating more efficiently.

While the city will begin its annual audit this month this external audit does not look at processes and procedures, Murtha said.

Concerns council raised in previous meetings were often procedural in nature including not seeking council approval at the appropriate time in a project.

Vice Chairman Frank Recker likened the Collier Boulevard project audit to "looking at a branch of a tree to determine the health of the trunk."

Problems or errors found in the operation or financing of this project may indicate citywide practices that need correction.

Council unanimously voted to approve the estimated $35,000 forensic audit of the Collier Boulevard project.

Council also unanimously approved the creation of the Ad Hoc Financial Planning Committee, which will include seven community members with accounting or finance backgrounds, Trotter as the chairman and Harrison, who retired suddenly Oct. 28, as the staff liaison for the committee.

Members of council said only three councilors would be able to appoint residents Petricca, Ken Honecker and Linda McCune, who often share financial insight at council meetings, to the committee. Given that four other community members with expertise didn’t come quickly to mind, Council voted to advertise for residents interested in participating in the city’s budget process December through April.

If interested in assisting the city in planning for the 2010 budget process contact City Hall at 389-5000. The committee will be estimating the potential income of the city based on proposed changes in the state legislature and decreased taxable property values. Committee members will also assist in creating proposals of how to balance the budget given the potential decreases in the city’s coffers and how to minimize the decrease.

While Creighton and interim parks and recreation director Bryan Milk attended their first council meetings in directors’ chairs, Souza attended his last. Souza will return to the Community Room however with a Veterans’ Park Master Plan meeting scheduled 6 p.m. Thursday.

The public is urged to attend and share their hopes for the design of the new park.

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