2019-01-09-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 9, 2019 • #1048: Community Center Campus Expansion: There are many projects in Lexington that need to be addressed, so it is understandable to postpone this one. The BoS has not taken a position on this project. • #893: Shared Expense with Minuteman Regional Vocational High School (MRVHS) for Construction of New Recreation Athletic Complex: It has been determined that an Inter-Municipal Agreement cannot be for more than 25 years; MRVHS would prefer 10 to 15 years, consistent with the projected lifetime of the athletic complex, but will accept 25 years, as preferred by Lexington. MRVHS is requesting Lexington to provide $8.0 million for the project because that is the amount MSBA will not subsidize; Lexington has not determined whether this allocation is appropriate. Most of the cost would not be CPA eligible. The Recreation Department has created a grid illustrating the current use of facilities in Lexington and the unmet needs. The grid needs some tweaking, but should provide a good basis for analyzing the value of having access to the new MRVHS athletic complex. Mr. Kanter emphasized the difference between "want" versus "need" when making such evaluations. • #327: Automatic Meter Reading System: A Return on Investment (ROI) is needed. Information received to-date indicates that the Town would only benefit financially if it is less liberal with abatements to residents who have experienced undetected leaks. The system would allow residents to closely monitor their water usage to determine whether there are leaks. Savings from other sources would be minor. • #940: Westview Cemetery Building: An Ad hoc Crematory Study Committee is looking into having a crematory at that Town cemetery. There may be a Citizen Petition on the Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Warrant to include a crematory at that cemetery. It would be for a new building and is expected to be broadly written so that it could include funding for a building that includes a crematory. This Committee held that construction of the Westview Cemetery building—which is currently designed to address long-time-needed significant improvements for the operation and maintenance of that cemetery—should not be delayed by efforts to include a crematory, which could be built separately if deemed an important addition. • #967: Police Outdoor/Indoor Firing Range—Hartwell Avenue: The conceptual design needs "fine-tuning". Mr. Kanter expressed strong support for having this project move forward, stressing the need for this project to have a schematic design as, while the Feasibility Study did conclude that such a Range was feasible at the Town's Hartwell Avenue site, it did not include sufficient detail on such a Range. He believes a schematic design is needed now in order to begin the outreach for participatory funding (e.g., area towns whose police departments require the training the Range would allow, State and Federal grants, etc.) • #1013: Outdoor Pickleball Court Construction: Current tennis courts can be striped to also function as pickleball courts. Pickleball has become popular with those over age 65. Mr. Kanter expressed concern that the availability of tennis courts, for example, would be sacrificed for the new sport and justification for that has not been provided. And, as with #1014: Cricket Field Construction, he said the CIP does not address the larger funding that would be required to construct a field if a new site were to be needed. Page 2 of 4