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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 21 2014 Regular Minutes New Hanover County ABC Board Meeting Minutes January 21, 2014 I. Call to order Chairman Cedric Dickerson called to order the regular meeting of the New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 2:00pm on January 21,2014 at the General Office at 523 S. 17th Street, Wilmington, NC. IL Roll call Carol Martin, Board Secretary, conducted a roll call. The following Members of the Board were present: Cedric Dickerson, Chairman Robert W. Martenis, Vice Chairman Thomas Wolfe, Member Augustus C. Everett, Jr., Member David Matthews, Member Others in attendance were: Dan Sykes, Chief Executive Officer Gary Cain, Acting Assistant Chief Executive Officer Carol Martin, Board Secretary Wanda Copley, Legal Counsel Colonel Arch Jones, NHC Sheriffs Department Ashley Withers, Star News Reporter Mary Richardson, ABC Store#106 Manager Jonathan Spiers, Port City Daily News Reporter Bill Jayne, Carolina Place/Ardmore Neighborhood Association Representative Absent with Notice: Avril Pinder, Ex-Officio Member III. Conflict of Interest Reminder Mr. Dickerson verbally confirmed that the Board members had read the following ethics reminder: "In accordance with General Statute JBB-201, it is the duty of every Board member to avoid both conflicts of interest and appearances of conflicts. Does any member have any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any matters corning before the Board today? If so,please identify the conflict or appearance of conflict and refrainfrom any undue participation in the particular matter involved. " Let it be recorded that no conflicts were identified by any Board member regarding this Board meeting. IV. Approval of minutes from last meeting Mr. Dickerson presented the minutes from the last Regular Meeting of December 17,2013. Mr. Everett made the motion to approve the minutes as written, Mr. Martenis seconded, all approved. V. Approval of proposed agenda No changes were made to the prepared agenda as written. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the proposed meeting agenda, Mr. Wolfe seconded, and all approved. 1 VI. Service Awards & Other Recognitions Mr. Sykes introduced Mrs. Richardson to the Board. Mrs. Richardson has served the Board for five years, and has been in store management since 2010. Mr. Sykes noted that Mrs. Richardson manages very successfully, and presented her with an engraved five-year service plaque. VII. Administrative Reports a) ABC Law Enforcement Officer's Unit Monthly (ALE) Report for December was presented by Col. Jones. Officers performed the following activities for the month of December, 2013: *598 Store Visits *318 Bank Deposits *11 Change Deposits *5 Video Investigations *7 Charges *5 Arrests *2 Searches *Cited 1 "Underage Possession" ABC Law Violations *Cited 2 "Other Alcohol" ABC Law Violations *Cited 1 'Traffic" Other Offense *Cited 3 "Criminal" Other Offenses *Assisted 6 ABC Law Agencies *Assisted 2 Controlled Substance Agencies *Performed 10 Business Inspections *Performed 47 Business Compliance Checks *Completed 64Training Hours Col. Jones apprised the Board that Charles Hill, ABC Acting Retail &LBD Operations Manager and ABC Officer Joe Jewell had recently performed security assessments on all of the stores, in a proactive maintenance effort. b) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with Financial Statements for December, 2013. Mr. Sykes reported that for the month, the Actual-to-Budget comparison showed Gross Sales were better than projected by $97k (2.81%); and Income from Operations was better than budget by $110k (23.93%). For the year, Income from Operations exceeded budget by $389k (15.44%), and Change in Net Position before Distributions exceeded budget by $392k (15.55%). Mr. Sykes reported that the Year-to-Date Actual-to-Actual financial statements show Gross Revenues are up $900k(5.03%) over FY2012-13, Operating expenses are up $128k(or 6.94%), and Local Distributions (Taxes &Law Enforcement) are up$65k. Mrs. Martin presented the Board with a "Restricted Net Position Analysis". The report details the New ABC Complex's contractually committed dollars set aside in the approved$4.5m Restricted Net Position, the amounts paid to date, and the balance due on each contract as of the Net Position date. This new report will be available to the Board on a monthly basis until the Restricted Net Position has been expended. The rounded balance of Restricted Net Position at December 31, 2013 was $3.8m. 2 c) The Board was apprised of four(4) updates: 1) Mr. Cain made a brief summary of the New ABC Complex progress for the past 30 days: • Bordeaux Construction reports that the project is 25% complete • A Change Order(one that does not seek unintended overhead and can add 14 Calendar Days) was proposed for both the removal of additional asbestos discovered, and an unforeseen hold up in permitting with the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority • A piping issue will need to be addressed in the near future at a cost estimated to be $35k • Soil conditions on the 12-acre property have proven favorable by experts in the construction industry, and thus position the Board to expect a greater resale return for its remaining lots • Progress continues regarding Owner Supplied Items: o Toilet Accessories o Low Voltage Cabling and Security, Surveillance o Office Furniture o Shelving and Carton Flow Racking o Telephone System–Both Instruments and Applicable Software Mr. Cain made available a photo slide show demonstrating the current progress, and suggested that April appears to be an ideal time for the Board to visit the site together. 2) Regarding the Board's Employee Classification and Compensation Study, Evergreen, LLC has requested pay and benefit information from the top 10 ABC Boards, and the results are expected to be provided with the recommendations to the Board at a later date. The due date for the study report remains 2/28/14. 3) Ms. Martin and Ms. Lena Butler, County Purchasing Manager have prepared and posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Board's Banking Services. Proposals were last requested in 2011. Ms. Martin's recommendations are expected to be presented at the February 18, 2014 Board Meeting. 4) The General Managers' Meeting will be held in Greensboro, NC March 25-26, 2014. The cost of the trip was included in the FY2013-14 budget, and Mr. Sykes would like for himself, Gary Cain, and Charles Hill to attend. Mr. Wolfe, as a Director of the Association, is also expected to attend. VIII. New Business a) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with a Financial Projections thru Year-End spreadsheet. It contains the first two fiscal quarters' actual Income Statement figures,and depicts the remaining six months using the original approved FY2013-14 budgeted figures. Mr. Sykes did not recommend any budget adjustments at this point. b) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with anticipated Computer Software Upgrade and Hardware Replacements to implement in the near future, in lieu of waiting until the move to the new building—to lessen the inevitable learning curve. The office computers and server were last replaced in the Fall of 2009, and the accounting package, "Traverse" needs the current upgrade, to be supported by the seller. Mr. Sykes recommended replacing the seven (7) current office personal computers with Micro Solid State models; these have fewer moving parts subject to failure. Mr. Martenis made the motion to authorize the Chair/Vice Chair to contract with Carolina Data Systems to purchase software and hardware—with the Micro Computers as quoted 01/10/2014 for an amount not to exceed$36k, inclusive of related expenses and sales taxes. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion, and all approved. 3 c) Mr. Sykes presented the Board with the results of the recent Request for Proposals (RFP) for Grounds Maintenance Services. Ms. Lena Butler posted the RFP in December, and sealed bids were opened on January 6th with several bidders in attendance. Five of six bids were qualified, and the bids ranged from monthly fees of$1,437 to $2,614. Mr. Sykes recommended awarding the contract to the lowest qualified bidder, "Lawn Sharks", and stated that the proprietor confirmed the bid terms and a draft contract had been-requested from the County Legal Office. Mr. Martenis made the motion to authorize the Chair/Vice Chair to execute a Grounds Services Contract with Lawn Sharks for an amount not to exceed$17,244 for the 12-month period March 1, 2014-February 28, 2015, as drafted by legal counsel. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion, and all approved. d) Mr. Sykes presented a New Hanover County ABC Board Employee Diversity Report for 2013. The report provides July, 2012 (most recent) raw numbers and breakdown by percentage the races and genders of New Hanover County's entire population. The report also provides the Board's race and gender breakdown, as well as its 2010-2013 related progress toward a more diversified workplace. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the Diversity Report for Calendar Year 2013 as prepared. Mr. Everett seconded the motion, and all approved. e) Mr. Sykes presented a 2013 Employee Turn-Over Percentage Report. For the Calendar Year 2013 the Employee Turn-over Percentage is 11.07% compared to Calendar Year 2012's 5.15%. Mr. Sykes noted that the percentage is a metric which indicates how the human resources side of the system is functioning from year-to-year. Excess turnover can be problematic if it has an adverse impact on the performance of the organization. The authorized full-time headcount was 43 for the entire calendar year. The last authorized increase in full-time personnel was October, 2012. Mr. Martenis made the motion to accept the History of Employee Turnover Report as of 1/1/2014. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion, and all approved. f) Mr. Sykes, in an effort to deter privatization and to improve customer service, suggested that the Board may want to consider opening at least some of the stores on non-mandatory holidays. The NC Administrative Code [04 NCAC 02R.1705(a)(4)] provides for five mandatory store closings: New Year's Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day,Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Our Board provides additional paid holidays. Mr. Sykes stated that if employees volunteer to work on Board holidays where he has authorized a store(s) to open for business, they are paid for the holiday plus the actual time worked. Following Board discussion, Mr. Wolfe made the motion to authorize the senior staff to make these holiday store opening decisions at their discretion, except for those days exempted by statute. Mr. Martenis seconded the motion, and all approved. g) Mr. Sykes apprised the Board that the Point-of-Sales cash drawers at the Castle Hayne store are positioned too low for the comfort of staff. The Board's IT provider, Carolina Data Systems (CDS) presented a method to resolve the position of the registers in a written estimate for$1,550 inclusive of material, labor and applicable sales taxes. Mr. Martenis made the motion to authorize the Chair/Vice Chair to expend an amount not to exceed$1,600 to reposition the cash drawers and related point-of- sales platforms at the Castle Hayne store. Mr. Everett seconded the motion, and all approved. h) Mr. Sykes apprised the Board that in working on the FY2014-15 budget, he is in need of guidance from the Board as to how to proceed with budgeting-if-needed for the 17th Street& Castle Street Renovations Project. He anticipates that the project will significantly affect cash flow and may require financing. After Board discussion and a consensus to concentrate all immediate efforts on the New ABC Complex, Mr. Martenis made the motion to suggest Mr. Sykes use rough estimates for the budget, and for the Board to readdress the topic at the May 20, 2014 regular Board Meeting. Mr. Everett seconded the motion, and all approved. 4 i) Mr. Sykes apprised the Board that inquiries regarding available property at the New ABC Complex are beginning to be made, and asked the Board how they would prefer the inquiries to be handled. Although there was no formal motion,the Board agreed referring such calls to the New ABC Complex purchase realtor was preferred. IX. Adjournment Mr. Martenis made the motion to adjourn the meeting, Mr. Matthews seconded, and all approved. Minutes submitted by: Carol E. Martin, Secretary Minutes approved by: Cedric Dickerson, Chairman 5