The Marshall County Council conducted their first meeting of 2016 and began with a re-organization of the board. Judy Stone was elected to serve as president and Don Morrison was re-elected as vice-president. The council also made annual appointments to several boards. The MACOG appointment will remain Judy Stone while the Fair Board will keep Don Morrison and Jon VanVactor will continue as the EMA representative. Rex Gilliland was appointed to the Unsafe Building Committee and Steve Harper and Bill Githens will on the Personnel Committee. Judy Stone and Bill Githens will be the council representatives on the resurrected 911 committee. Liaison assignments will remain the same.
Paige Sansone, a partner with Umbaugh presented the proposal to create a comprehensive financial plan for the county. 13 of the major operating funds for the county will be reviewed through a historical prospective, looking at actual date for 2014 and 2015 as well as project out three additional years for a 5 year plan.
Sansone said, “Many counties and municipalities have been impacted by the circuit breaker loses and we are seeing counties who have had strong cash balances, they are starting to dwindle.”
Umbaugh will carefully analyze each of the 13 major funds, identifying funding gaps the county might have and in addition identify some solutions to bridge those funding gaps which may include using some non-major type of funds the county isn’t utilizing currently. A layer of capital planning will also be included for planning projects in the future.
The county commissions support moving forward with the plan but needed the County Councils financial support due to the fact that it was not budgeted for 2016. The cost is not to exceed $25,000 and the council pledged their support to complete a 5-year financial plan and approve an additional appropriation at a later date to cover the necessary funds for the project.
