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08/31/2017 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) August 31, 2017 Place and Time: Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: John Bartenstein, Chair; Alan Levine, Vice -Chair & Secretary; Ellen Basch; Richard Neumeier; Andrei Radulescu-Banu; Sanjay Padaki; Lily Manhua Yan; Jian Helen Yang; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members) Absent: Eric Michelson Other Attendees: Joe Pato, Selectman; Kate Colburn, School Committee The meeting was called to order at 7:37 p.m 1. Announcements Mr. Neumeier reported the following: • In July, the Supreme Judicial Court of MA agreed to hear an appeal of a Superior Court ruling against the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Wayland for violation of the Open Meeting Law premised on the advance circulation of board members' employee evaluations by email (Docket No. 12353). A decision is likely in the winter that may be relevant to the Town of Lexington. An amicus brief may be filed up to two weeks before the matter is scheduled to be heard, but would require legal counsel. Mr. Bartenstein will review the docket to determine whether there are matters of interest to this Committee. • A lawyer's publication recently listed an open position for an assistant solicitor in Worcester, salary $61,591 + excellent benefits. Mr. Neumeier is working on a report, as discussed at a prior meeting of this Committee, that discusses the advantages of hiring in-house counsel versus outsourcing work. Mr. Bartenstein reported the following: The Board of Selectmen (BoS) meeting on Monday, Aug 28, 2017 included a presentation by Mr. Himmel of the Permanent Building Committee (PBC) on value -engineering options for the new Hastings Elementary School. Mr. Himmel stated that value engineering is a continuous process, but the potential options that are still under discussion total approximately $1.15M beyond what has already been incorporated in the current design. At a joint BoS and School Committee meeting on Aug 15, 2017, there were presentations by the PBC, as well as by the Sustainable Lexington Committee, with additional information beyond that in the Green Engineering report regarding the geothermal heating system for Hastings Elementary. These presentations contain useful information for the write-up of the warrant article. Michael Cronin, who has an extensive background as a facilities administrator with the Newton Public Schools, has been appointed as the new Facilities Director to replace outgoing Director, Pat Goddard. He will start in mid- September.