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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-17-2026 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes CANTON CITY FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. Historic Depot-Donald E. Edwards Way th 50 North 4 Avenue, Canton, Il 61520 Finance Committee Members: Andra Chamberlin (Chair), Justin Nelson, John Lovell, Ralph Grimm  Finance Committee Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm on February 17, 2026. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin Let the record reflect there is a quorum. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORTS / ACTION ITEMS RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL TO APPROVE IMPLEMENTING A CASH MANAGEMENT PLAN. Bryan Baylor with Hometown Consulting provided the council with documents to review. These documents go over the objectives, cash management, maximizing returns on cash, reporting structure, and data to enhance decision-making. With cash management, generic recommendation were provided to consolidate banks and accounts. Baylor wants to separate operational and reserve cash, the model that was built shows 30% on the operational side, and 70% on the reserve side and is what they used to develop the return on the changes that are being recommended. The recommendation is an ongoing cash management process were they would reconcile and report cash balances monthly so the city can understand where they are at with finances. In the last week, Bryan and the Acting Treasurer met with each of the banks in which each of them stepped up in some way. MidAmerica has a fixed number of 2.5% for operating accounts and 3.9% variable for reserve accounts that would be tied to the Illinois Funds meaning it would move as the Illinois Funds move. Ipava State bank has 2.5% for operating accounts and 3.9% for reserve accounts, they pretty much said they could move it based upon if rates move or not. Bryan took that as meaning it would be static unless the city intervened and said we want to move cash from one place to another and/or if we wanted to change the rates. Bryan currently has them down as a manual variable as they are not really fixed rates. The Bank of Farmington took a unique approach and put a peg against the federal fund rates, so the operating account is 1.2% below the federal fund rate and then the reserve account matches the federal fund rate. What this does is give the city a higher floor and a little lower ceiling on the money. All TBK did was take their sweep account from 2.6% up to 3.5% and is fixed. Using those dollars and the recommendations Bryan would like to divide the cash out and involve the local banks a little bit more. The new recommendation is to have $13.7 million at MidAmerica plus $7.9 million. Bryan has been learning what the city’s process looks like with the guidance of Andy Fahrenbrauch who created a processing map on the accounts receivable and accounts payable side of things. One of the things they have learned is that the water/sewer process for payments is about as streamlined as the city’s gotten and Bryan wants to leave that with MidAmerica. The other fund that the city has the most activity is the general fund and Baylor thinks he can replicate some of those processes with additional efficiency. Theres a $220,000 net increase in the water/sewer general fund with MidAmerica. There were some concerns about fees, and they acknowledged in their current state that’s true and they talked about some treasury tools they are putting in place. The city will be able to earn credits based on the volume and they expect all of the city’s fees will be offset moving forward. Cash management for Ipava, Byran is suggesting 2.4%, which is up about a half million dollars. They put accounts there that had a lot less transactions such as MFT, Cemetery, Lake, and cannabis fund. There is a $73,000 net increase by putting these accounts into Ipava. There is lower activity in the account, so it is better suited for the rate structure and is not going to change daily. Bryan thinks we will be able to have more money in the reserves because of the less frequent activity on the operational accounts. There are several cemetery CD’s but as they expire we would enroll them into the cemetery account at Ipava. With the Bank of Farmington, we will be putting all of the economic development dollars there with that being $2.9 million in total, they’re up a little under $100,000. There is also the library account, two grant CBBGs, and housing grants in this account. There is a $62,000 net increase with this account. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL TO APPROVE THE PURCHASE OF A SPRINGBROOK BUDGETING/REPORTING MODULE. Bryan stated that this could wait until the next budget, but he thinks it would be beneficial to go ahead and get it within this budget and to start using it. What Bryan likes most about the module is that if we decide we don’t want to change the GL structure in order to get the reporting wanted, this tool will allow us to pick the pieces we want so we can report it out. Another pro is that the city can upload. Seasonality is not something we are currently doing budget wise, and Bryan likes to see what expenses and revenue is coming in and in what months – when you upload the data, the module will upload by month, so even if the seasonality is small you will still have it built in because it pulls the data in monthly automatically. This module will be able to make better real time decisions. This would also be user friendly for the department heads once the system is built so they can see their data and where they stand in the budget. The upfront cost is $18,000 which includes the original purchase of the software, training, and everything else associated with that. Moving forward it would be $8,700-$8,800 annually. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL TO APPROVE IMPLEMENTING A BUDGET/REPORTING PILOT. This would be for water sewer, economic development, MFT, cemetery, and lake. Bryan talked with Joe Carruthers about splitting water sewer but keeping it in one fund and also building it around operational and capital expenditures. The other thing would be taking the system maintenance group and actually putting it in water sewer where those costs are being accrued. The goal is to try and get the city to a place where we have a better understanding of what the true operational costs are and to provide that service so we can start looking at those rates. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Chamberlin/Lovell to recommend to the council the approval to implement a cash management plan. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Chamberlin/Grimm to recommend to the council to approve the purchase of a Springbrook budgeting/reporting module in the next fiscal year budget. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Chamberlin/Lovell to recommend to council to approve the implementation of a budgeting/reporting pilot. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. ADJOURNMENT Motion and second were made by Alderpersons Chamberlin/Lovell to adjourn the meeting at 6:27pm. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderperson Grimm x Alderperson Lovell x Alderperson Nelson x Alderperson x Chamberlin The motion carried. _________________________________________________________________ Andi Walters, City Clerk _________________________________________________________________ Kent McDowell, Mayor