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11/30/15 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee November 30, 2015 : Town OfficeBuilding, DawesRoom,7:30 p.m. : Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Kate Colburn; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine;Andrei Radulescu-Banu; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent:Beth Masterman Others Present: Elaine Ashton The meeting was called to order at 7:36p.m. Report on November 18 Chairs +1 Meeting: 1.Mr. Parker reported that the Chairsof the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and both finance committees plus one other person th from each committee met on November 18. The group sought feedback from the full committees on whether modular classroomsshould be leased or purchased. The purchase price was $450,000 and could be financed with debt. The lease price was $100,000 per year and would be paid from operating funds. Because it was expected that the classrooms would be needed for more than 4.5 years, the group thought purchasing would make more sense. This would require adding $450,000 totheappropriation requested under Article 2 of Special Town Meeting 1. Mr. Parker also reported that the “plus one” group discussed whether the school building plans could evolve further after the Special Town Meeting, as concerns had been raised as to whether the current plan created enough capacity. The group thought it would be helpful to understand the timeline of expected expendituresto determine whetherthere was flexibility in the plan. Mr. Radulescu-Banu expressed concern that modifying projects after the appropriation could cause an increase in soft costs associated with the projects. Discussion of Article 2 of Special Town Meeting 1: 2.Mr. Addelson said Town Meeting will be asked to appropriate approximately $5.4 million, comprised of approximately $3 million for modulars, $520,000 for Hastings design, and the remainder for middle school designs. The language will be flexibleand will not attribute specific amounts to the proposed projects. If the funds are not needed, theauthority to borrow will be rescinded. If the MSBA does not support the Hastings project, there may be another discussion of how to spend the $520,000. Mr. Parker and Ms. Colburnnoted their concern that the current set of school building projects do not create enough capacity at the elementary level to meet either current or projected enrollment. Mr. Levine responded that Mr. Goddard had presented tothe committee a chart showing enough classrooms being created under the current plan. Ms. Colburn said those classrooms did not all have appropriate core spaces, such as art rooms, music rooms, special education rooms, and other spaces that comprise the capacity of a school.