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Informal Meeting Minutes Monday, April 22, 2019 Board Members 9:30 AM Bill Gates, Chairman, District 3 Clint Hickman, Vice Chairman, District 4 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Jack Sellers, District 1 Maricopa County, Arizona Steve Chucri, District 2 (and the Boards of Directors of the Flood Control District, Steve Gallardo, District 5 Library District, Stadium District, Improvement Districts, and/or Board of Deposit) County Manager Joy Rich "The mission of Maricopa County is to Clerk of the Board provide regional leadership and fiscally Fran McCarroll responsible, necessary public services to its residents so they can enjoy living in healthy and safe communities.” Meeting Location Supervisors' Conference Room 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor Phoenix, AZ 85003 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS The Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Arizona convened in Informal Session at 9:30 a.m., April 22, 2019, in the Supervisors’ Conference Room, 301 W. Jefferson, Phoenix, Arizona, with the following members present Bill Gates, Chairman, District 3; Jack Sellers, District 1; Steve Chucri, District 2; Steve Gallardo, District 5 (entered late). Absent: Clint Hickman, Vice Chairman, District 4. Also present: Fran McCarroll, Clerk of the Board; Reid Spaulding, Deputy County Manager, and Emily Craiger, Legal Counsel. Minutes compiled by Lori Medaris, Minutes Coordinator. Votes of the Members will be recorded as follows: aye-nay-absent-abstain. PRESENTATION Treasurer 1. MARICOPA COUNTY TREASURER'S OFFICE PROJECT ULTIS PHASE II CHANGE REQUEST Presentation regarding the Maricopa County Treasurer's Office Project ULTIS Phase II Change Request. Debbie Lukens, IT Director Royce Flora, Treasurer Mark Thompson, Portfolio and Budget Director This Change Request is for additional funding that will provide for a successful implementation by the inclusion of required functionality, resourcing and an extended timeline to October 31, 2022. (C-43-19-044-P-00) Debbie Lukens began the presentation with a brief history of the project. In September, 2014 there were three core items to be met with the ULTIS Project: 1. The need to address Accounting and IT Audit findings. 2. Many of the core computer software applications have been in operation for over 29 years and are based on outdated technology. 3. The Treasurer’s system replacement initiative is based on business value, service and a focus on improvement with extendable technology and aligning more closely with County- established technology best practices and industry standards. Informal Meeting Minutes Monday, April 22, 2019 Page 2 of 4 ~ Supervisor Gallardo entered the meeting ~ Supervisor Chucri commented that accounting was one of the biggest issues and essential to the Treasurer’s system to move forward. Ms. Lukens stated in May, 2016 the Board of Supervisors (BOS) gave approval to begin the project and approved the budget. She explained that previously, all components in the project were to be done at one time in a 30 month time period and several support options were not included in the original Request For Proposal (RFP). A change was made to a phased approach because of the many challenges in the original plan of going live with all systems at one time. Phase I successfully addressed the Accounting and Investment and Debt system. Implementation of this phase went live on March 1, 2018 and was completed successfully. Challenges that were a part of the original plan were addressed and were added. These were functions needed to support the Accounting and Investment system. These were funded out of the Management Reserve and included: Interfaces Reports Functionality Phased Go-Live One of the lessons learned and incorporated into Phase II was to include the functionality required to support the implementation. The change request (CR018) is to fold in required functionality, resourcing and an extended timeline to October 31, 2022. The change request also includes the ability to run a parallel tax roll in Legacy and the new system in 2022. This is to ensure the services provided to the taxpayers are accurate. The Treasurer is requesting additional funds for the project amounting to $10,519,930 to be included in the Treasurer’s budget recommendation. Supervisor Sellers commented on the IT improvements in different departments and asked if there is an IT group that oversees all of these projects. ~ Supervisor Gallardo left the meeting ~ Ms. Lukens and Royce Flora responded that they incorporate OET in every step they take on this project and they have incorporated OET’s goals. ~ Supervisor Gallardo returned to the meeting ~ Supervisors asked if part of the increase is to bring in contract IT personnel. Ms. Lukens explained why the contract personnel are needed. Chairman Gates shared information about how the contract personnel have already been extremely helpful. In response to several questions from the Board, Supervisor Chucri asked for a full overview of the project to include original plan timelines and costs compared to revised plan timelines and costs. Mr. Flora gave an overview of the project explaining the changes in technology since the RFP was issued. He said they expect to get 20-30 years use from this system. He explained changes to the Finance system, ADP and other systems were added so changes had to be made to the Treasurer’s system in order to interact with ADP and CGI, the new accounting system. He stated that the Treasurer’s Office does not have enough staff to do this project the way it was initially anticipated. Informal Meeting Minutes Monday, April 22, 2019 Page 3 of 4 Ms. Lukens explained the original project: 30 month completion estimate June 2016 through December 2018 Without functionality to be able to go live Had all three components: o Property Tax o Accounting o Investment and debt management She explained why the decision was made to move to a phase approach. This meant work stopped on the property tax system and the focus moved to the Accounting and Investment systems. This required building the interfaces. The original budget for this project was $35 million and within this $35 million was a management reserve of $3.5 million. The additional functionality referred to earlier was funded from the Management Reserve. Phase II, the property tax component, started in September 2018. Currently the data conversion aspect of this system is on schedule. The first property tax roll will be in August and September 2022. Thomson Reuters, the vendor providing the property tax system, recommends billing in the Legacy system and collecting in the new system. Supervisor Chucri noted there was a $31.5 million budget with a $3.5 million contingency that equals $35 million. He asked what the total cost might be now. Ms. Lukens responded that the net final cost is expected to be $46 million. Ms. Lukens stated the budget request being made today is for $10.5 million that includes the resources and functionality for a document management system that was not included in the original project but is needed, and reports have to be developed. Supervisor Chucri asked if the original project included the cost for use of in-house personnel. Mr. Flora responded he did not think this was considered in the original project and stated the scope of the project has greatly changed from the original project. Supervisor Chucri asked if the original project was not property identified in the beginning and the response was he was correct. Supervisor Gallardo asked when staff realized that the original project was not properly analyzed. Mr. Flora responded that the environment changes rapidly and it was realized a different approach was needed when Ms. Lukens was hired. Supervisor Gallardo asked if more funds will be necessary in the future. Mr. Flora responded that Thomson Reuters said they would do their best to keep everything within budget without change orders, but he cannot guarantee requests for additional funds will not be needed. Supervisor Sellers asked why the project is taking so long and Mr. Flora responded that it is because there is a shortage of staff. Ms. Lukens explained further that it took two years for development and they are currently mapping the data to their formats. In the latter part of 2019 Thomson Reuters would be present on site when the data would be loaded into the system. She explained other tasks that would be done at that time and when that process is complete “that is when we will lock it down.” Then there will be eight months of user testing. Chairman Gates asked what the expected life span of the new system would be and Mr. Flora responded it should last 20 years or more. Supervisor Chucri asked about the maintenance agreement and Ms. Lukens explained the first year is completely covered in the original contract with the cost for the next year at $1 million. This will increase each year for seven years. At that time there will be an annual negotiation. Informal Meeting Minutes Monday, April 22, 2019 Page 4 of 4 2. EXECUTIVE SESSION Vote to convene in Executive Session to consider items on the Executive Agenda dated April 22, 2019, for Board of Supervisors and relevant Special Districts pursuant to statutory authority listed for each item. Motion made by Supervisor Chucri and seconded by Supervisor Gallardo Ayes: Sellers, Chucri, Gates, Gallardo Absent: Hickman MEETING ADJOURNED After discussion on the executive items, and there being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned. ___________________________ Bill Gates, Chairman of the Board ATTEST: ____________________________ Fran McCarroll, Clerk of the Board