City pursues options for financial software, but at a cost

   During the Reports portion of the Dec. 16 Monticello City Council meeting, it was brought to the council’s attention by City Clerk Sally Hinrichsen that the new statewide financial software system used by cities throughout the state is not as user-friendly as was advertised.

   By the end of calendar year 2025, the state’s goal was to have everyone switched to “the cloud,” as Hinrichsen described it. (“The cloud” is an online storage space or a network of servers accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.)

   Some cities have already started using the cloud and experiencing some major issues.

   “The City of Clarence switched three months ago,” noted Hinrichsen. “He (the clerk) has 88 tickets (for repairs, bugs, mistakes, etc.) in already for issues they’re having. It’s been a major headache for anybody who has switched over, including one town where they had to print labels for all of their utility bills because it (the cloud) wouldn’t print on their bills correctly. We have 1,400 (utility bills).”

   Hinrichsen said this is a mandated switch for software.

   “We have no choice in this,” she told the council. “They raised their software maintenance fees from about $7,000 last year to $1,800 this year.”

   “Upgrading isn’t necessarily bad,” offered City Administrator Russ Farnum, “but we doubt we’re going to stay with this same software because their cloud version has just been horribly buggy and it doesn’t offer any more options or enrichments than we have with the current program.”

   Hinrichsen said many cities are looking at going with a different company due to so many issues.

   This mandate states that cities have to switch by the end of 2025.

   “We have some elbow room but the sting right now is they’re charging us $10,000 extra for the privilege of using their software another year,” Farnum told the council.

   Hinrichsen said if the city doesn’t pay that bill before the end of 2024, “we will not have access to the program.” That software program she referenced handles the city’s payroll, water bills, and financials.

   “At some point next calendar year, sooner probably rather than later, we’ll be asking you to purchase new software,” Farnum warned the council. “We’re shopping around to see what is the best option right now.

   “We can’t just shut one off at the end of the day and switch to the next one the next morning,” he continued. “We have to run them (the software programs) parallel for a while to make sure there’s no mistakes of anything. We’ll need some overlap time.”

In other city business:

   • Water/Wastewater Superintendent Jim Tjaden shared a heartwarming story about a contractor the city utilizes for water main breaks.

   Just before Thanksgiving, a resident on N. Cedar Street had a water leak on their service line, not the city’s. Tjaden said he told the man it would his responsibility to fix it. The resident called a local plumber, who then contacted Tjaden with concerns about the service under Cedar Street. Tjaden contacted Pirc-Tobin Construction, who just happened to be in town. They came on site the next day to fix the leak.

   “They told that gentleman, ‘You have a happy Thanksgiving’ and didn’t charge him a dime,” shared Tjaden. “So that’s the kind of people we’re working with. They’re amazing. They all are. I thought that was really special and should be noted. That was awfully nice.”

   • The DOT is proposing an HMA (hot mix asphalt) crack sealing project on Highway 38 from Highway 151 to E. Ninth Street in Monticello during the 2025 construction season. Questions can be directed to the DOT.

   • The city is looking for someone to fill an open seat on the library board. The person must reside outside the Monticello city limits.

   The city is also looking for two people to serve on the cemetery board.

   • The council approved the hiring of Brett Herman as a full-time EMT at $20.42 an hour.

   They also approved the hiring of Megan Beaman as an on-call EMT at $22.40 an hour.

   • The council approved the purchase of a new ambulance at $290,170 from Legacy Emergency Vehicles, with delivery expected in 2027. This replaces a 2013 vehicle with 158,000 miles.

   This new ambulance comes equipped with an auto cot-loading system, a cost of $58,206.

   • The council approved a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the Monticello Firefighters Association for two grants the department was awarded for two-way radios.

   • The council approved the seventh pay request from Bill Bruce Builders, Inc. in the amount of $1,732,849.31 related to the Wastewater Treatment Facility Project.

   • The council approved the first pay request from Highland Corporation in the amount of $126,469 related to the Northridge Estates Fifth Addition Project.

   • The council approved the purchase of Trojan UV bulbs for the Wastewater Treatment Facility in the amount of $14,464.

   • The council approved an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Tough Entertainment related to the Winter Bouse program at the Berndes Center.

   The rate for facility rental is $100 a day. Tough Entertainment is donating $2 per attendee to the Friends of Parks and Recreation.

   • The council approved the 3^rd and final reading of the Code of Ordinances pertaining to “consumable help and marijuana product sales.”

   The final reading narrows the definitions by removing references to cannabidiol, cannabinoid, hemp, and consumable hemp products containing less than .3 percent THC.