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04/08/15 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee(AC) April8, 2015 : Lexington High School,Room221, 7:00 p.m. : Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary;Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine;Beth Masterman;Susan McLeish;Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier;Andrei Radulescu-Banu; Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex officio) Members absent:None Other attendees: None The meeting was called to order at 7:03p.m. Announcements: 1.Mr. Parker reported thathe wouldbe attending a meeting of the Ad Hoc Community Center Advisory Committeeon Monday.Current plans are for a June opening of the new Lexington Community Center. 2015Annual Town Meeting(ATM)Articles: 2. Article 25:Rescind Prior Borrowing Authorizations: Mr. Addelson reported that there will be a request to rescind two prior borrowing authorizations under Article 25. First, $1,002,600 from the 2010Cotton Farm land acquisition appropriation is available for rescission, as a “bookkeeping” matter, because Town Meeting subsequently voted a cash appropriation from the Community Preservation Fund to pre-pay a seller-granted note.Second, approximately $2.2 million of the amount authorized for construction of the Public Services Building can be rescinded because that project has now been completed and came in under budget. A motion was made and seconded to Support Article 25, as described by Mr. Addelson. The motion passed. VOTE: 8-0(Mr. Neumeier arrived after the vote was taken) Article 44: Resolution on Fossil Fuel Divestment (Citizen Article): Ms. McLeish asked to change herpreviousabstention to a vote in support of Article44, making the Committee’s vote 3-6. Ms. Masterman explained that the current motion for this Article seeks a non-bindingresolution. It asks the Town to identify its investments in fossil fuelcompaniesandtoreduce those investments over five yearsif it is feasible to do soin a reasonable and responsible manner. She noted that twelveother Massachusetts communities have passed comparable resolutions,and thatthe proposal ispart of a process where some action can lead to more actionand thecumulative impactcan make a difference. Mr. Levine agreed that this Articleincreases awareness of the issue. Ms. Garberg commentedthatincentives may bemore effective than disincentives, and that she would prefer to see subsidies for clean fuel sources. She also noted that 12 out of a total of 350 communities in Massachusetts is not a large percentage. There were no furthervote changes after the discussion. 1