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2014-02-20 Minutes member. The amended agreement would allow a member to withdraw, upon 60-days’ notice, unless a majority of member communities, at a town meeting convened within that time period, vote to disapprove; and the withdrawing member would not be responsible for any debt approved by a region-wide referendum vote thatprompted its withdrawal. A ¾ vote of school committee members, rather than a majority, would be required to initiate amendments to the regional agreement. Ten percent of the registered voters in any member community could also petition for a change. Unanimous approval by all member communities at a town meeting would still be required to make any change. Efforts are underway to implement a facility fee for non-member communities, by inter- governmental agreement, whichwouldhelp cover capital costs;currently, non-member Towns only pay a state-set tuitionrate for their students, which can only be used for educating the students. The facility fee arrangementmust be approved by the State and would be ground-breaking. Mr. Mahoney further commented as follows: Currently, a town wanting to withdraw as a member can do so without incurring any debt, but the withdrawal must be approved by the other member towns. Thirty-five towns send students to MTI, and only 16 of those towns are members. Non-membertowns send 45% of the students; this includes Watertown, which sends 75- 80 students. The State sets the tuition for out-of-district students based on a formula. In most cases, it is financially advantageous for non-member Towns to pay tuition for its MTI students,rather than join as a member. Other technological high schools havewaiting lists; they do not have the same problems faced by MTI. The current MTI building is 40 years old and needs to becompletely renovated or replaced. The facilitywas designed to handle 800 students; there are questions about what size facility should be built to replace it. A facility study, including enrollment analysis,should be completed in June.If the 16 member towns are exclusively responsible for the costs of a replacement facility(net of MSBA funding that should cover at least 40% of the cost), it is unlikely they will support a new building. MTI currently has 716 students; 30-40 additional students are expected in the 2014-2015 freshman class. Enrollment has been increasingbecause of a demand for MTI programs. Although the implementation of facility fees would address some of the problems associated with capital costs, the regional agreement needs to be amended with or without this component; changes to incentivize communities to join as members are important. There was discussion about this Committee’s support of Article 23, which is asking for support of the recommended agreement. It was generally agreed that the recommended agreement is beneficial to Lexington. Announcements and Liaison Reports: 2.Mr. Levine reported that he, Mr. Parker, Mr. Addelson and the Town Manager met with the Town’s actuary regarding “other post- employment benefit”(OPEB) obligations; i.e. the health insurance obligationsfor retirees. A new actuarial studywas recently prepared, but is not yet publicly available because it is still in 2