Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Treasury Software Banking topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Treasurer’s office pauses Simpro rollout; county weighs bank options and an RFP for deposits
Summary
County staff said Simpro implementation has been canceled for now because data conversion proved impractical; the treasurer's office described recent investment moves, bank competitiveness, Veribank ratings and plans to issue an electronic RFP for banking services with a target selection by June.
The Clallam County treasurer’s office told the Finance Committee it has halted the planned rollout of Simpro after the vendor could not deliver a reliable conversion process from the county’s existing system.
Treasurer-staff member Brian said Simpro would have required multiple workaround spreadsheets to convert data from the county’s current system (Eden), so the county has canceled the implementation for now and will revisit vendors in the future.
Brian summarized recent investment activity: one certificate of deposit matured and was reinvested into a three-year agency security yielding about 3.86 percent, and another three-year CD rolled at 4.2 percent. He reported $160,000 in interest from a three-month Treasury bill and said staff is watching market signals as Federal Reserve policy changes affect short-term rates and the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP).
The committee discussed the tradeoffs among local-bank CDs, Treasury bills and federal-agency securities. One member emphasized fiduciary duty and the county’s investment policy limits on concentration and liquidity; Brian and other staff noted constraints such as the county’s 25 percent due-in-12-months guideline and callable features on some agency securities.
Mike Evans, representing CashFest (consulting partner), reported that an independent service, Veribank, now provides bank ratings to the county portal; Veribank rated U.S. Bank, Sound Community and East West Bank with a top 'green 3' rating and First Federal with 'yellow 2' for one quarter. Mike said those ratings can help detect deteriorating banks earlier and complement the county’s RFP process.
Staff said the county will draft an electronic RFP over the next month or two and expects to start reviewing responses and make a selection by June; the timing is planned to follow tax-statement work and other start-of-year tasks. Staff also said it is exploring short-term options with U.S. Bank, including interest-bearing sweep arrangements that could be about 1 percentage point better than current arrangements, and that the county has been testing appetite among local banks for public deposits and CDs.
Committee members asked about process details such as whether to seek every investment rate via a telephone or in-person process (TISC/TISS convenience) and about the county's investment policy, which may need revision to clarify federal securities and time-horizon limits. Staff said they will revisit the investment policy and return recommended updates.
No formal vote occurred on software procurement or the RFP timeline; staff will draft the RFP and return with results and recommendations to the committee.
