Minutes - September 2, 2021 - Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting

Members Present:

Mr. Matt Reid (Chair)
Ms. Aina DeViet
Ms. Maureen Cassidy
Ms. Tino Kasi
Mr. Aaron O'Donnell 

Others Present:

Dr. Christopher Mackie, Secretary-Treasurer/Medical Officer of Health
Ms. Carolynne Gabriel, Communications Coordinator and Executive Assistant to the Board of Health (Recorder)
Ms. Stephanie Egelton, Senior Executive Assistant to the Medical Officer of Health/Associate Medical Officer of Health 
Dr. Alexander Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health
Mr. Brian Glasspoole, Manager, Finance

Chair Matt Reid called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.

Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

Chair Reid inquired if there were any disclosures of conflicts of interest. None were declared.

Approval of Agenda

It was moved by Mr. Aaron O'Donnell, seconded by Ms. Tino Kasi that the AGENDA for the September 2, 2021 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Approval of Minutes 

It was moved by Ms. Aina DeViet, seconded by Ms. Kasi, that the MINUTES of the July 15, 2021 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

New Business

Financial Borrowing Update (Report No. 20-21FFC)

Mr. Brian Glasspoole, Manager, Finance introduced this report.

Discussion regarding this report included:

• The Middlesex-London Board of Health had previously approved a line of credit for $8 million; however, by July, 2021, a significant portion of the line of credit had been used largely dur to salaries for additional COVID-19-related hires and the delay in receipt of provincial funds.
• Proactively requested a temporary increase in the line of credit to $10 million in early August, 2021 based on the knowledge that provincial funds were being delivered and the gap was a timing issue.
• At the end of July, 2021, the Ministry of Health announced they were going to provide interim funding of approximately 50% of the estimated eligible COVID-19 extraordinary costs submitted by the Middlesex-London Health Unit in March. This amount, $13,781,600 was received by the Middlesex-London Health Unit in early August, bring the Health Unit into a cash surplus.
• The increase of $2 million to the line of credit has expired and the Health Unit’s overdraft protection has returned to $8 million.
• The provincial government has requested an interim report due September 17, 2021 to provide a detailed analysis of all spending this year to the end of June 30, 2021 for vaccine clinics and case and contact management activities.
• The detailed analysis interim reports will differentiate between what are truly extraordinary costs due to COVID-19 and what are costs typically covered by the Health Unit’s non-COVID-19 budget, including staff seconded to support COVID-19 programming away from their regular programs. This analysis will be done at the individual staff level.

It was moved by Ms. DeViet, seconded by Ms. Kasi, that the Finance and Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to receive report No. 20-21FFC re: “Financial Borrowing Update” for information
Carried

MLHU Draft Financial Statements – March 31, 2021 (Report No. 21-21FFC)

This report was introduced by Mr. Glasspoole.

Discussion regarding this report included:

• This is an annual report from Middlesex-London Health Unit to provide audited financial reports to funders whose fiscal cycles occur from April 1 to March 31. This is a special-purpose audited financial report that shows that funds were spent appropriately.
• The programs included in these audited financial statements have changed from previous years due to many programs now being supported by the Thames Valley Children Services and the Healthy Babies / Healthy Children program now being delivered by the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
• These program reflect $2.8 million of the Health Unit’s total operating budget for the year.
• The large differences between the amounts budgeted for 2021 and the actual amounts spent in certain categories in 2021 are due in part to COVID-19 affecting how programs are delivered.
• The large differences between the actual amounts for 2020 and 2021 may be attributed to the different mix of programs between years included in the financial reports as different programs require different types of expenditures.

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. Kasi, that the Finance and Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to approve the audited Consolidated Financial Statements of Middlesex-London Health Unit March 31st Programs, for the year ended March 31, 2021 as appended to Report No. 21-21FFC.
Carried

Other Business

The next meeting of the Board of Health Finance and Facilities Committee will be held Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.

Adjournment 

At 9:19 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Mr. O'Donnell, that the meeting be adjourned.
Carried

Matthew Reid
Chair

Christopher Mackie
Secretary-Treasurer