2023-11-30-CPC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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about the same Lower Level of reserves in the previous year. Ms. Kosnoff added that the CPC could consider lowering the reserves beyond $1.4 million, but strongly discouraged the CPC from dropping below $1 million. Ms. Kosnoff also shared that there was not enough funding in the Community Housing bucket to fund this year’s applications, and so she split the AHT’s request between the Community Housing and Unbudgeted Reserves buckets. Mr. Pinsonneault left the meeting at 5:34 PM. Ms. Fenollosa asked if there was room in the Unbudgeted and Undesignated buckets to fund the land acquisition with more than just the Open Space bucket. Ms. Kosnoff replied that there was a little room in those buckets. Mr. Pressman asked if the first funding option would have the CPA fund $2.3 million for the library and if the second option would have the CPA fund the entire $4 million. Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that this was the difference between the two options, but noted that if the Committee preferred the second option, the Committee would have to cut one or more projects from the Unbudgeted Reserves. Mr. Pressman asked if the first option would allow the CPC to fund all the applications without making any cuts. Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that is correct and shared that the $1.7 million from the Town would likely be debt financed from the General Fund. Mr. Sandeen asked Ms. Kosnoff how confident she was that the library project could be financed under the shared funding plan. Ms. Kosnoff said that both the CPA portion and General Fund portion would require approval by Town Meeting, and so she could not make a prediction, but added that she was confident in presenting Town Meeting with this funding plan as a legitimate option. Ms. Krieger commented that the library project is her highest priority and expressed a desire to have a greater assurance from the Town that the project will be funded before deciding to only partially fund the projected from CPA. Ms. Krieger lauded the project’s importance and the fact that the project is ready to go, incorporates funding from the Trust, and includes improved safety to the children’s space. Mr. Creech asked Ms. Krieger about the safety issue in the children’s center. Ms. Krieger explained that the current children’s center design prevents the staff from being able to see and cover the entire space from the front desks. Ms. Krieger added that the Children’s Room project was identified 4 years prior, but was delayed due to the pandemic, and then the HVAC needs caught up in that time. Mr. Creech expressed concern for the necessity of renovating the bathrooms, kitchen, and large meeting room as part of the library project, and questioned whether the entire project needs to be done at the same time. Ms. Stembridge explained that in FY25 the library will have been open for 20 years with no renovations to the Lower Level spaces, and added that it makes sense to perform all the renovations at the same time while the space will be offline. Ms. Stembridge shared that some of the stalls are not of adequate size or properly attached to the walls, and noted that the renovation would relocate the bathrooms to improve the sightline for safety and redesigned to accommodate improved accessibility. Ms. Stembridge added that the 4