Minutes - September 19, 2024 - Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting 

Thursday, September 19, 2024, 6 p.m.
MLHU Board Room – Citi Plaza
355 Wellington Street, London ON

Members Present:

Michael Steele (Chair) (exited at 6:41 p.m.)
Matthew Newton-Reid
Selomon Menghsha (attended virtually)
Dr. Joanne Kearon, Acting Medical Officer of Health (ex-officio)
Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer (ex-officio)

Regrets:

Dr. Alexander Summers, Medical Officer of Health (ex-officio)
Howard Shears
Michael McGuire

Others Present:

Stephanie Egelton, Executive Assistant to the Board of Health (recorder)
Mary Lou Albanese, Director, Environmental Health, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Services
Jennifer Proulx, Director, Family and Community Health
Warren Dallin, Manager, Procurement and Operations
Cynthia Bos, Associate Director, Human Resources and Labour Relations
Michelle Smibert, Board Member

At 6 p.m., Chair Michael (Mike) Steele called the meeting to order.

Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

Chair Steele inquired if there were any disclosures of conflict of interest.

At 6:02 p.m., it was noted that Chair Steele declared a conflict of interest related to Report No. 12-24FFC. Within this report, the Committee will be receiving information related to the Health Unit’s new benefits provider (Manulife) effective January 1, 2025. This declaration was made due to Chair Steele’s employment and active shareholding with Manulife but noted that he does not work within the Manulife Group Benefits department.

Approval of Agenda

Chair Steele noted that the Committee will be requiring a closed session at the start of this meeting and that the agenda would be required to be amended.

It was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the AGENDA for the September 19, 2024 Finance and Facilities Committee meeting be approved as amended.
Carried

Approval of Minutes 

It was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the MINUTES of the May 16, 2024 Finance and Facilities Committee meeting be approved.
Carried

Closed Session

At 6:02 p.m., it was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Middlesex-London Board of Health (Finance and Facilities Committee) will move into a closed session to consider matters 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, personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees and labour relations or employee negotiations.
Carried

At 6:23 p.m., it was moved by S. Menghsha, seconded by M. Newton-Reid, that the Finance and Facilities Committee return to public session from closed session.
Carried

New Business

2024 Q2 Financial Update, Borrowing Update and Factual Certificate (Report No. 10-24FFC)

Emily Williams, Chief Executive Officer presented the 2024 Q2 Financial Update, Borrowing Update and Factual Certificate to the Committee.

E. Williams summarized the financial status of Q2. Q2 is currently $431,071 unfavourable to the budget. Vacancies (of positions) were offset with approximately $628,000 non-budgeted expenditures including approximately:
• $292,000 in Early Retirement Incentives (from 2023)
• $120,000 in severances greater than forecast
• $191,000 in casual workforce
• $67,000 in increased on-call premiums (identified as risk in the 2024 budget)
• $45,000 in increased supplemental top-ups for parental leaves
• $44,000 in increased retiree benefits
• $34,000 in labour/salary related to measles cases

E. Williams noted that the Ministry of Health would not be supporting the Health Unit’s application to apply the early retirement incentives as a one-time cost for reimbursement. Additionally, there were several disease outbreaks causing more labour costs associated with them, which potentially may be covered by the Ministry of Health. Salaries are set to the budget and currently, actual on-call costs are twice as high compared to budgeted. E. Williams advised that if the Health Unit did not make any changes to the next quarter, there would be a deficit of $796,591 at the end of the year. E. Williams noted that general expenses and position gapping is favourable and will assist with making up the gap, however with increased hours of staff work, it is not making up the gap currently.

E. Williams reviewed financial updates for the Health Unit 100% funded programs. For COVID-19 vaccine funding from the Ministry of Health, the Health Unit was approved for $100,000 from January-March, with no approval for funding from April to December at this time. The Health Unit spent approximately $34,000 of the $100,000 funding provided. E. Williams added that the Ministry has indicated they are considering further funding for COVID-19 vaccine for the remainder of the year.

E. Williams indicated that the Health Unit has not received a letter for further funding at this time for the Ontario Seniors Dental Care program – there is currently an estimated overspend of $112,450. There were recently two (2) additional operatories added at Citi Plaza which has decreased the client wait list.

E. Williams noted that the City of London Cannabis Legalization (CLIF) program was budgeted at $0.2 million. Funding for this program will stop at the end of 2024, but it is noted that the Health Unit has been approved to carry over any unspent funds to 2025. The actual spending for Q2 was approximately $64,000.

In the Shared Funding programs (MLHU2), the Best Beginnings/Healthy Babies, Healthy Children program through the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services received an additional $304,120 (an additional 12.5%) in funding. This additional funding will be used in 2024 to offset costs for this program charged to Shared Funding dollars. Staff will be added into this program in 2025. E. Williams concluded that the other three (3) programs in MLHU2 are flat to budget.

E. Williams noted that the Health Unit had to utilize its line of credit for slightly over two (2) weeks in Q2. E. Williams added that the variable loan outstanding amount has been reduced to due accelerated payments in previous years with $445,000 owing.

E. Williams noted the next steps and recovery strategies for the remainder of the year. Position control will continue, and existing gapped positions will remain gapped. The Health Unit will also be seeking cost recovery from the Ministry of Health for COVID-19 vaccine and disease outbreaks. Senior Leadership will also be continuing to review and restrict general expenses where possible. At this time, no new professional development, meals and accommodations can be purchased unless previously approved, with the addition of restricting materials and supplies, program resources, printing and meeting expenses.

Committee Member Matthew Newton-Reid inquired if the Health Unit has calculated the amount of Health Unit funds that will be applied for cost recovery to the Ministry of Health for outbreaks of diseases. E. Williams noted that at this time, it is uncertain of the dollar amount. E. Williams added that senior leadership is working on calculating time spent on outbreaks of diseases and will submit to the Ministry of Health by the deadline of October 31.

It was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance and Facilities Committee recommend to the Board of Health to:
1) Receive Report No. 10-24FFC re: “2024 Q2 Financial Update, Borrowing Update and Factual Certificate” for information; and
2) Approve the use of reserve funding from the Employment Costs Reserve and the Funding Stabilization Reserve to a maximum of $276,077 for in year pressures.
Carried

Legal Services Roster – Request for Proposal Results (Report No. 11-24FFC)

E. Williams noted that the Health Unit has never conducted a request for proposal for legal services and thanked Warren Dallin, Manager, Procurement and Operations and Cynthia Bos, Associate Director, Human Resources and Labour Relations for their work on this request for proposal. W. Dallin presented the results for the legal services roster and explained the process to the Committee.

W. Dallin explained that a request for proposal was posted on the Health Unit’s procurement website (Biddingo) on June 3 and closed on June 28. The purpose was to establish a roster of legal services providers in six (6) areas for three (3) years:
• Labour & Employment Law
• Contracts/Corporate/Commercial Law
• Information Technology Law
• Privacy Law
• General Civil/Insurance Defence Law
• General Municipal Law

W. Dallin noted that the evaluation team for the request for proposal was made up of the Board of Health Chair, Chief Executive Officer, Manager, Procurement and Operations, Associate Director, Human Resources and Labour Relations, Manager, Privacy, Risk and Client Relations and the Executive Assistant to the Board of Health.

Bidders (legal firms) were evaluated in the following categories, noting that those who passed 75% in the categories would proceed to evaluation of the financial proposal:
• Corporate Profile and Experience
• Counsel Team
• Approach and Work Plan
• Communication Plan
• Value-Added Services
• Financial Proposal

The following legal firms have been awarded a position on the roster of legal services:
• Rae Christen Jeffries - Labour & Employment Law
• Clyde and Co - Labour & Employment Law
• Clyde and Co - Contracts/Corporate/Commercial Law
• Harrison Pensa - Contracts/Corporate/Commercial Law
• Clyde and Co - Information Technology Law
• Harrison Pensa - Information Technology Law
• Clyde and Co - Privacy Law
• Harrison Pensa - Privacy Law
• Stieber Berlach - General Civil/Insurance Defence Law
• Clyde and Co - General Civil/Insurance Defence Law
• Clyde and Co - General Municipal Law
• Boghosian and Allen – General Municipal Law

All aspects of this process were in alignment with the Health Unit’s Policy G-230 on Procurement and the Province of Ontario’s Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive.

It was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance and Facilities Committee recommend to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 11-24FFC re: “Legal Services Roster – Request for Proposal Awards” for information.
Carried

Employee Benefits Provider - Request for Proposal Results (Report No. 12-24FFC)

It was noted that Chair Steele declared a conflict of interest related to Report No. 12-24FFC. Within this report, the Committee will be receiving information related to the Health Unit’s new benefits provider (Manulife) effective January 1, 2025. This declaration was made due to Chair Steele’s employment and active shareholding with Manulife but noted that he does not work within the Manulife Group Benefits department.

At 6:41 p.m., Chair Steele exited for the remainder of the meeting. Secretary Emily Williams presided for the remainder of the meeting.

W. Dallin presented the results for the employee benefits request for proposal and explained the process to the Committee.

W. Dallin explained that the Health Unit has been with Canada Life (formerly Great West Life) for employee benefits since 2013 and with Homewood Health for the Employee and Family Assistance program (EFAP) since 2016. The current term with these providers ends on December 31, 2024. A request for proposal was posted on the Health Unit’s procurement website (Biddingo) on April 26 and closed on May 24.

W. Dallin noted that the evaluation team for the request for proposal was made up of the Manager, Procurement and Operations, Associate Director, Human Resources and Labour Relations, Health and Safety Advisor, Payroll and Benefits Administrator and representatives from both union groups. The Health Unit was also supported by AON, who is the Health Unit’s broker providing benefit plan administration support, which includes market research and competitive pricing analysis.

Bidders were evaluated in the following categories:
• Competitiveness of costs
• Service
• Disability management
• Value-Added innovative products and wellness solutions

W. Dallin noted there were four (4) proposals submitted for benefits and three (3) proposals submitted for employee and family assistance programs. The bidder with the top score for benefits and employee and family assistance was requested to present in person to the evaluation team. All aspects of this process were in alignment with the Health Unit’s Policy G-230 on Procurement and the Province of Ontario’s Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive.

The successful award for benefits and employee and family assistance was made to Manulife with Telus Health as a partner. The annual cost for benefits and employee and family assistance is $445,855 for the Health Unit, which is a cost savings of $234,360 annually. Manulife and Telus Health will begin serving the Health Unit on January 1, 2025.

W. Dallin noted that the Health Unit formally notified Canada Life on September 18 that their benefits service to the organization would be terminated on December 31, 2024.

It was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the Finance and Facilities Committee recommend to the Board of Health to receive Report No. 12-24FFC re: “Employee Benefits – Request for Proposal Awards” for information.
Carried

Other Business

The next meeting of the Middlesex-London Board of Health (Finance and Facilities Committee) is on Thursday, December 12, 2024 at 6 p.m.

Adjournment 

At 6:46 p.m., it was moved by M. Newton-Reid, seconded by S. Menghsha, that the meeting be adjourned.
Carried

Michael Steele
Committee Chair

Emily Williams
Secretary