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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE-2019 ATM Act"14 (STMA) to state that the Town Moderator shall appoint the members of the CEC", a duty that is also covered in the Town's bylaws in the Code of Lexington, § 29-12(C). Back rg ound State law provides, in G.L. C. 39 §16, that every town having in excess of one million dollars in assessed valuation "shall... provide for the election or the appointment and duties of appropriation, advisory, or finance committees, who shall consider any and all municipal questions for the purpose of making reports or recommendations to the town." Different towns have implemented this requirement in different ways. At least since the adoption of the STMA, the Town of Lexington has fulfilled the statutory mandate with two separate, coordinate commit- tees, an Appropriation Committee with a broad mandate in the Town bylaws to consider"any and all mu- nicipal questions—but customarily focused on matters with a discernible financial impact on the Town— and a Capital Expenditures Committee with a more particularized mandate to consider and make recom- mendations on capital questions. Several years ago, in recognition of the growing demands on the CEC, its enabling bylaw was modified to increase its size from five to as many as seven members,the exact number to be determined by the Moder- ator. Last year, the bylaw was further amended to reflect more accurately the CEC's existing practice and to clarify that the CEC would have the same basic resources at its disposal as the Appropriation Committee to accomplish its mission, including the prerogatives: (1) to invite Town employees or other persons to attend its meetings; (2)to have access to Town records; and(3)to weigh in on broader financial questions, such as those which come up at periodic"budget summits"with the Board of Selectmen,School Committee and Appropriation Committee,when invited to do so. Requested Statutory Amendments The RTMA currently provides,in Section 3,that the following persons shall be designated as town meeting members at large: "any member of the general court of the commonwealth from the town, the moderator, the town clerk, the members of the boards of selectmen and public works, the town treasurer, the town counsel,the chairman of the school committee, and the chairman of the appropriation committee." The first proposed amendment would add the chairman of the CEC to the list of members at large. The STMA currently provides, in Section 2(c), that "The moderator shall appoint the appropriation com- mittee and such boards and committees and officers as he[sic]may now or hereafter be directed to appoint by any applicable law, by-law, or vote of the town." Pursuant to that statutory authority, the town bylaw governing the CEC provides, in Section 29-12(C), that the Moderator shall appoint the members of the CEC and fill any vacancy in that committee. The second proposed amendment would codify the Moderator's obligation under the STMA to appoint the members of the CEC, in the same way that appointments to the AC are governed under the STMA. Recommendation This Committee believes that the first requested amendment, designating the CEC chair as an additional town meeting member at large, is useful and appropriate given the enhanced responsibilities of the CEC, as it will allow a chair who has not been elected to Town Meeting to participate in a more meaningful way. 14 Chapter 753 of the Acts of 1968,titled"An Act Establishing the Selectmen-Town Manager Form of Government in the Town of Lexington."—http://ecode360.com/documents/LE1818/LE1818-A201.pdf `5 Section 29-12 of the Code of Lexington, as most recently amended,provides that the Moderator shall appoint the members of the CEC and fill any vacancy on that committee.The responsibilities of the Appropriation Committee are spelled out in Sections 29-7 through 29-11 of the Code of Lexington, and the responsibilities of the CEC are spelled out in Sections 29-12 through 29-14. —http://ecode360.com/10534906 46