Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Hurley City Council receives audit report

By TOM LAVENTURE

[email protected]

HURLEY, Wis. — The Hurley City Council on Tuesday approved its 2018 audit report.

Rob Ganschow, a partner with Wipfli LLC, presented the audit results on behalf of the accounting firm. He said the $3.26 million revenue and expenditures for 2017 appear significantly higher than the $2.41 million in 2018 because of approximately $333,000 in capital projects.

Ganschow said the city’s expenditures did not exceed revenues overall for 2018. However, the public works department, conservation and development and debt service expenditures did exceed actual budgets.

Ganschow recommended observation of transfers between various funds. He said the city is maintaining a positive unassigned balance that should provide the credit needed for eventualities that require grants and loans for large projects.

The council approved a Finance committee recommendation to award the 2019 auditing services to Wipfli LLC. The fee for service is $18,000.

Alderman Jamey Francis asked Wipfli to provide audit reports well in advance of meetings in order to review and bring questions to the presentation to the council.

Max Samardich, the new officer with the Hurley Police Department, was introduced to the council at the meeting. He was raised in Bessemer and attended Gogebic Community College before graduating from the police academy at Nicolet Area Technical College in Rhinelander in October.

Samardich, who is now a patrolman, said after the meeting that he enjoys living in the Hurley community and that the police department is a great place to work. He prefers to work in a smaller community and one that is very familiar from growing up in the area, he said.

The board approved a list of election workers for 2020-21 elections to include poll workers Mary Blomberg, Margaret Bluse, Kathleen Byrns, Kathleen Calvetti, Maureen Foryan, Margaret Gingery, Zita Hannula, Joy Karasti, Clarice Koosman, Joyce Mullard, Kathryn Osterman, Elizabeth Traczyk and Mary Trcka. The board also approved Joanne Bruneau, Ardie Johnson and Mary Calgaro as alternates, and Lynne Pedri and Marcia Pozzani as tabulators.

In the finance committee report aldermen Joanne Bruneau said that a USDA Rural Development grant was recently approved for $100,000. The grant will be used to purchase a new city street sweeper vehicle, she said.

The council approved a resolution to borrow $375,963 from Associated Bank to be used to refinance the Utility Project and County D line of credit. The action is a refinancing loan and not a transition to a different form of credit, Bruneau said.

In other business, the council approved:

—crediting a water customer bill in the amount of $108.

—four bartender licenses.

 
 
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