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10/22/15 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee October22,2015 : ParkerRoom,Town OfficeBuilding,7:30p.m. : John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Kate Colburn;Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine;Beth Masterman; Eric Michelson;Andrei Radulescu-Banu;Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent:GlennParker, Chair; Richard Neumeier Others Present: Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting member; Bob Pressman, Community Preservation Committee (CPC) The meetingwas calledto order at 7:35p.m. Announcements: 1.Mr. Bartenstein reported that the first meeting of the Town Manager’s th Working Group on financial modeling will beheld on October 29,and that Ms. Colburnhas agreed to serve as the Committee’s designated representative. The group willprovide advice and feedback to Town staff in modelingthe potential impacton the taxpayer of the myriad schooland town building projects currently being considered. Articles forNovember 2, 2015 Special Town Meeting(STM)#2: 2.In preparation for finalizing this Committee’s report to the STM, the articles were discussed as follows: STM #2; Article 2: Amend Minuteman Regional Agreement: Mr. Michelson reported on a meeting regarding Wayland’s request to withdraw from the Regional Minuteman School districtthat he attended with Carl Valente, Lexington Town Manager, Dave Horton, Lexington’s representative to the Minuteman board, and representatives from theTown of Wayland.The positions of both Towns werediscussed.The issue is complex because it is interconnected with a previous attempt to create a new regional agreement for the sixteen member communities and the ongoing effort to rebuildthe school facility. Approval on such items requiresa high degree of consensus that has beendifficult to attain. Mr. Valente is concerned about the financial impacts if Wayland leaves the district, which would resultinfewer participants covering certain financial obligations, including the district’sunfunded Other Post Employment Benefits(OPEB) liability.The Board of Selectmen (BoS) voted 3-2 to recommenddisapproval of this article. It was noted that if Lexington votes no on Article 2, this stops the process for addressing Wayland’s request because all sixteenmember communities must support a town’s withdrawal. It was also noted that Wayland does not support a replacement facility for the school, foreclosing the potential of getting unanimous approvalby all membertowns.The replacement project can still be approved by a two-thirds vote of the residents of the member communities in a district-wide referendum. Mr. Valente thinks the latter route for getting a new building is feasible. 1