Minutes - June 2, 2022 - Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting 

Members Present:

Mr. Mike Steele (Chair)
Mr. Matt Reid
Ms. Kelly Elliott
Ms. Maureen Cassidy
Mr. Selomon Menghsha

Others Present:

Ms. Stephanie Egelton, Senior Executive Assistant to the Medical Officer of Health (Recorder)
Dr. Alexander Summers, Medical Officer of Health
Ms. Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. David Jansseune, Assistant Director, Finance
Mr. Pat Harford, Manager, Information Technology
Ms. Carolynne Gabriel, Communications Coordinator and Executive Assistant to the Board of Health
Ms. Mary Lou Albanese, Director, Environmental Health and Infectious Diseases
Ms. Mariam Hamou, Board Member

At 9:01 a.m., Chair Mike Steele called the meeting to order.

Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

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

Approval of Agenda

It was moved by Ms. Maureen Cassidy, seconded by Mr. Matt Reid, that the AGENDA for the June 2, 2022 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Approval of Minutes 

It was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. Cassidy, that the MINUTES of the April 7, 2022 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Confidential

At 9:01 a.m., it was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. Cassidy, that the Finance & Facilities Committee move into a confidential session to consider matters regarding litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board and to receive advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.
Carried

At 9:11 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Mr. Reid, that the Finance & Facilities Committee rise and return to public session from closed session.
Carried

New Business

Information Technology Services - Asset Management Update (Report No. 11-22FFC)

Ms. Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer, introduced Mr. Pat Harford, Manager, Information Technology for the report on MLHU’s Asset Management Update.

In March 2020, staff were asked to work remotely, and removed various pieces of equipment from their desks to support their work at home. During the pandemic, MLHU implemented a new Asset Management System to track all Information Technology Services (ITS) Assets including, but not limited to, monitors, laptops, cellular devices and tablets. This also included an acknowledgement form that staff sign and provide back to MLHU’s ITS team, which is also kept in the individual’s employee file.

It was further noted that:

• MLHU staff are 96% in compliance with the acknowledgement of property forms, with all new hires and existing staff being aware and part of this acknowledgment.
• There are 20 staff currently not in compliance, and IT is working with them to coordinate assets which they have in their possession.
• No equipment has been disposed of, per the current work with Greentech Recycling (Report No. 23-21FFC).
• MLHU is tracking pieces of equipment that are valued at over $100.
• IT is continuing to track and identify equipment that employees are using.

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. Kelly Elliott, that the Finance & Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 11-22FFC, re: Information Technology Services - Asset Management for information.
Carried

Q1 Financial Update and Factual Certificate (Report No. 12-22FFC)

Ms. Williams introduced Mr. David Jansseune, Assistant Director, Finance for the report on MLHU’s Q1 Financial Update and Factual Certificate.

Mr. Jansseune noted before the Committee reviewed this report that it uses a new reporting style that the Board will be seeing going forward with quarterly financial updates.

Highlights from the Q1 Financial Update included:

• The four (4) elements of financial reporting are: revenue, Q1 variances, forecasting, and cashflow.
• To date, MLHU has not received any COVID‐19 funding for the current year which has caused a large unfavorable variance on revenue, but this will correct itself upon receipt of Ministry funding.
• Expenses overall are favorable by $2.1 million, which can be used to offset the current $1.6 million gapping budget.
• General ledger accounts can be forecasted now.
• Currently, the Ministry of Health owes MLHU $2,011,414 and MLHU owes the Ministry $220,853.
• There is confidence that MLHU will not need to utilize the increase the limit on the existing line of credit to manage expenses in 2022.
• Per Schedule A, all funds from the Ministry are finalized, with the exception of COVID-19 extraordinary funds, which are in draft ($5,313,000 for COVID-19 program and $8,266,900 for COVID-19 vaccine).
• Schedule B does not include MLHU Company 2 because of the type of work completed in Q1. It will be included in Q2’s update.
• MLHU is seeing financial favourability in salary and wages, typical to 2021 levels.
• There are many staff vacancies and overtime is elevated, but currently expenses are favourable at $2.1 million.
• It is predicted that on June 15, MLHU will receive approximately $13 million in COVID-19 extraordinary funding from the Province.
• Health units are now able to use surplus mandatory program funds for COVID-19 recovery projects, which was not the case previously.
• Recruitment and health human resources continue to be a challenge, specifically for the nursing profession and public health inspectors.

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Mr. Reid, that the Finance & Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 12-22FFC, re: Q1 Financial Update and Factual Certificate for information.
Carried

Other Business

The next meeting of the Finance and Facilities Committee will be held on Thursday, July 7 2022 at 9 a.m.

Adjournment 

At 9:40 a.m., it was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. Cassidy, that the meeting be adjourned.

Carried

Michael Steele
Chair

Emily Williams
Secretary