Photo by Rebecca Copley Monte Vista Police Department Chief George Dingfelder was recognized at the Monte Vista City Council meeting on June 17 with a certificate, recognizing one year of service working for the City of Monte Vista. Jessica Pino, right, was welcomed at the Monte Vista City Council meeting on June 17. She was recently hired to work in the city’s Finance Department. Lorena Sanchez-Duran, right, was welcomed at the Monte Vista City Council meeting on June 17 and will be working in the Clerk’s Office.

City recognizes anniversary of Police Chief Dingfelder

MONTE VISTA — City of Monte Vista Finance Director Jennifer Signs, gave her final report to the City Council on June 17.

“This is my last City Council meeting with the City of Monte Vista so before I dive into my report this evening, I just want to thank everyone in this room for the opportunity that was afforded me to work here. Over the last three years, it has been an amazing experience and I will greatly miss everyone,” said Signs.

As part of her report, Signs recapped her last three years with the city.

“The general fund balance has increased 300% since 2017," she said. "When I came on board, the audit report showed a fund balance of $555,000 and like I said earlier right now it’s at $2.2 million."

Signs said when she started at the city, they had $278,000 that was allocated to their general fund and today they have nearly $2 million that is allocated to the general fund. The city has increased its investments significantly since she started three years ago.

“For the first time in quite some time, all funds are operating within best practices for cash on hand and fund balances. I can’t take all the credit for that. It was a team effort. It took department heads doing their job of keeping expenditures in check. We really tried hard to use the city’s funds that would be in the best interest of the community, and I think we’ve done a good job as a whole,” Signs said.

During the city’s audit report at the beginning of the meeting, Kyle Logan, owner of Logan and Associates, shared some similar good news. During his presentation, he said that the city’s total assets on Dec. 31, 2020, was about $22.7 million which is about a $3.5 million increase over where they were last year. He also said that the city has about 18-19 months of operations in its unreserved fund balance.

“What that tells you is that if for whatever reason no revenues were coming into the city, you’d be able to operate for about a year and a half or a little more before you went into dire straits. That’s always a good thing to have for unforeseen circumstances,” Logan said. 

Logan ended his presentation by saying, “If we had any issues during the audit or disagreements with management if we would of, you would have heard from me before tonight. So that’s a good thing. In our early years of performing the city’s audit, we had several things and over the years those have been taken care of and so what that tells you as City Council, that tells you that policies and procedures that have been put in place by the current council and previous councils are being followed by city management. That also tells you that you have good sound accounting, systems and procedures to provide good sound financial reporting.”

The city is actively looking for a new finance director.

Also, during the Council Meeting, the City introduced Jessica Pino, who will be working in the Finance Department, and Lorena Sanchez-Duran, who will be working in the Clerk’s Office. The City also marked the one-year anniversary of George Dingfelder as Monte Vista Police Department Chief of Police.

To see both the full report of the finance department and Logan and Associates full presentation about the City’s results from the Dec. 31, 2020, financial statement audit, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRmvA3XBdbY&t=1807s.