FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Financial Advisory Committee announced Monday that it will review the city’s first quarter financial reports at its February meeting, which occurs on the fourth Monday of each month prior to the City Council meeting that day.

FAC chairman Chuck Zunk said the committee would have a “full-blown discussion” of the first quarter financial statements at that Feb. 22 meeting.

Such a review of the city’s quarterly financial statements will be the first conducted by the committee .

The FAC was established by the council on July 13 at the same meeting when the council passed a resolution requesting Mayor Tim Kant to submit a budget by Sept. 1.

“This is one of the most important committees that the council has formed this year,” Council President Lonnie Mixon said at the time. “Our efforts will dovetail with what the mayor did (earlier in the year) to open the books on city finances. This will make our system totally transparent.”

In August, the committee convened two days of budget hearings, during which a proposed budget submitted by the mayor and ones submitted by department heads was reviewed. The committee developed its own proposed budget that was presented to the council, which adopted it without changes. The committee’s budget did not include an employee pay raise as requested by the mayor.

The budget process leading to the new fiscal year (that started Oct. 1) was the first to include systematic preparation of budgets by department heads and an in-depth review of a proposed budget by the council prior to its submission by the mayor, according to city staff.

The committee consists of the council, Kant and several local business persons, accountants and lawyers. It is chaired by Chuck Zunk, who is also chairman of the Fairhope Airport Authority. He also led the work of a government structure committee in 2007, which resulted in the establishment of a strategic planning steering committee during the past year.

“The mission of the Financial Advisory Committee is to investigate and analyze all aspects of city finances including assets and liabilities, income and expenditures and cash flow,” committee records state. “Special emphasis shall be placed on current and future potential debt, and upon future potential investments in large assets. After investigation and analysis, the committee shall make appropriate recommendations to the council, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee.”

The committee initially adopted the following nine areas for the committee to focus its work on: (1) ongoing budget process; (2) improved financial reports; (3) city debt; (4) vehicle policy and replacement process; (5) Fairhope’s cash flow model; (6) cost reduction program; (7) consultants versus in-house expertise; (8) heath care benefits for city employees; and (9) building public confidence in the system.

During the fall, the council passed a resolution requiring that certain non-budgeted appropriations must first be reviewed by the FAC before presentation and consideration by the council.

After that resolution, the committee revised its priorities and decided to focus the committee’s work on these three areas: (1) health care/retiree benefits; (2) vehicle management and replacement plan; and (3) a cash flow model for city finances.

“We’ve taken on a whole new burden,” said committee member Stan Grubin at the time, referring to the committee’s new job of reviewing non-budgeted appropriations and the decision to focus on those three items.

During Monday’s meeting, five requests for funding or for bid solicitation were presented to the committee, which heard a brief report on the request from City Administrator Gregg Mims and some department heads. After each request, Zunk made a statement noting its neutral impact on the budget or cash position of city finances, which was followed by the approval of each of the requests.

Those funding and bid requests included the following: purchase of an electronic fingerprinting machine for the police department; construction of a classroom at the fire department training facility; services to clean the ductwork system at police department; bid solicitation of one small service-type bucket truck for the electric department; and a lift station for the water and sewer department.

The Financial Advisory Committee’s next meeting will be held at 4:45 p.m., Jan. 25, in the Delchamps Room at City Hall.