Minutes - June 3, 2021 - Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting 

Members Present:

Mr. Matt Reid (Chair)
Ms. Aina DeViet
Ms. Maureen Cassidy
Mr. Aaron O’Donnell

Regrets: 

Ms. Tino Kasi

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 
Ms. Emily Williams, Director, Healthy Organization/Interim CEO
Mr. Joe Belancic, Manager, Procurement and Operations
Mr. Mirek Pawelec, Manager, Finance
Ms. Katie denBok, Partner, KPMG LLP
Ms. Emily Van Daele, Manager, KPMG LLP

Chair Matt Reid called the meeting to order at 9:02 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 Ms. Maureen Cassidy, seconded by Ms. Aina DeViet that the AGENDA for the June 3, 2021 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Approval of Minutes 

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Mr. Aaron O’Donnell, that the MINUTES of the April 1, 2021 Finance & Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

New Business

Vaccination Site Emergency Purchase Award (Report No. 14-21FFC)

Ms. Emily Williams, Director, Healthy Organization/Interim CEO introduced the report and Mr. Joe Belancic, Manager, Procurement and Operations. Discussion regarding this report included the following:

• Learnings from the first three mass vaccination clinics indicated that additional registration booths would be required at the Earl Nichols arena.
• Due to the layout of the Earl Nichols site, a second ice pad would need to be occupied to accommodate additional registration booths, which would result in significant costs.
• After a site visit at Southwestern Public Health’s St. Thomas mass vaccination clinic, which uses a centralized client hub model using only one ice pad, it was decided to adapt this model to the Earl Nichols site.
• The typical procurement process of a public bid process was not followed due to the extremely tight timelines.
• Five different suppliers were invited to bid during a one-week quote process which resulted in six bids from five different suppliers.
• The winning bid was the lowest acceptable bid and was awarded to POI Interiors in the amount of $57,813.
• The purchase order was approved by the Board Chair and the CEO (Interim).
• This model will not be applied at this time to the previous three mass vaccination sites in order to avoid downtime and because they were able to accommodate the additional registration stations.
• Converting the previous three mass vaccination sites may be considered should the region receive a significant increase in vaccine supply.

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Finance & Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 14-21FFC re: “Vaccination Site Emergency Purchase Award” for information.
Carried

2020 Draft Financial Statements (Report No. 15-21FFC)

Ms. Williams introduced Mr. Mirek Pawelec, Manager, Finance. Mr. Pawelec introduced Ms. Katie denBok, Partner, KPMG LLP and Ms. Emily Van Daele, Manager, KPMG LLP.

Discussion regarding the Draft Financial Statements (Appendix A: Report No. 15-21FFC) included:

• Among the financial liabilities due to the Province of Ontario is that some funding, which was received for the senior’s dental clinic, was not used due to a delay in opening the clinic, and needs to be repaid.
• Other income is significantly lower than in 2019 and what was budgeted in 2020 due in part to the loss of user fees for clinics which did not operate in 2020.
• The largest expenditure is staffing cost, in part due to additional staff required for the COVID-19 program, as well as some salaries which received inflationary adjustments.
• The cost of benefits is lower than in 2019 and what was budgeted for in 2020, in part because many of the new staff are on contract and not receiving benefits as well as an accumulated surplus with Canada Life which was refunded.
• Grant revenue from the Ministry of Health and extraordinary COVID-19 funding is expected but has not yet been received.
• A senior’s dental bus had been budgeted for in 2020 but is not being pursued at this time. The Health Unit has received permission from the Province to use the funds to open another senior’s dental clinic at the Health Unit’s Strathroy office.
• Any interest costs incurred due to the timing of funds being received from the Province are eligible for extraordinary funding.

Ms. denBok and Ms. Van Daele presented the Audit Findings Report for the year ended December 31, 2020 (Appendix B: Report No. 15-21FFC) and noted:

• The COVID-19 pandemic impacted how the audit was conducted, including being mostly conducted remotely, performing a more thorough risk assessment, and considering the impacts of the pandemic on financial reporting.
• One auditing standard was new this year. There is now a different threshold for documentation and rigor for estimations, which most significantly impacted the audit of employee future benefits.
• No significant issues were detected through the audit and one re-classification was identified.

At 9:38 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Finance & Facilities Committee go in camera to consider matters regarding a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial or financial information that belongs to the municipality or local board and has monetary value or potential monetary value.
Carried

At 9:49 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Finance & Facilities Committee rise and return to public session.
Carried

It was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Mr. O’Donnell, that the Finance & Facilities Committee make a recommendation to the Board of Health to review and approve the audited Financial Statements of the Middlesex-London Health Unit, Year Ended December 31, 2020, as appended to Report No. 15-21FFC re: “2020 Draft Financial Statements”.
Carried

Other Business

The next meeting was determined to be Thursday, July 15, 2021 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Confidential

At 9:53 a.m., it was moved by Ms. DeViet, seconded by Mr. O’Donnell, that the Finance and Facilities Committee will move in camera to consider matters regarding labour relations or employee negotiations, personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees, and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board.
Carried

At 10:02 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Finance and Facilities Committee rise and return to public session.
Carried

Adjournment 

At 10:03 a.m., it was moved by Ms. Cassidy, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the meeting be adjourned.
Carried

Matthew Reid
Chair

Christopher Mackie
Secretary-Treasurer