2010-10-13-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 13, 2010 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee October 13, 2010 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room 207, 7:30 p.m. Members present: Glenn Parker (Chair), John Bartenstein (Vice Chair and Secretary), Joe Pato (Vice Chair), Alan Levine, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Dick Neumeier, Rob Addelson (ex- officio) Also present: Selectmen Deborah Mauger and George Burnell The meeting was called to order at 7:33 p.m. 1. Finance Committee Administrative Support. A job listing for someone to assist this committee and the Capital Expenditures Committee with agendas, scheduling and minutes has been posted. In view of increased record - keeping requirements imposed by amendments to the state's Open Meeting Law that became effective on July 1, 2010, the FY2011 budget approved at the Annual Town Meeting contained funding for such a position. 2. CPA Budget Reallocation. Glenn Parker reported that he attended a meeting of the Community Preservation Committee this afternoon where a possible budget reallocation was discussed due to a reduction in matching funds ($80,000) from what had been anticipated as well as a shortfall in interest ($30,000) below what was initially expected for this year. There may be an article to address these items if a Special Town Meeting (STM) is held this fall. 3. Lease for Munroe School. Selectman George Burnell provided a summary of a proposal that the Board of Selectmen has been discussing to lease, instead of sell, the former Munroe School. By way of background, he explained that the building had been used for a long time without contracts. Last year, the Board of Selectmen decided to sell the building but Town Meeting did not agree that a sale was appropriate, so the Board decided to revisit the situation. The Selectmen are still committed to the use of the building for arts programs. The concept would be to lease the building to a non - profit for a thirty -year period consisting of a ten -year term with two renewal periods (similar to the arrangement between the Town and LexMedia). The non - profit would charge rent to the programs utilizing the space and use those revenues to pay for the operating costs of the building. Based on rents currently being charged to the resident programs by Lexington Friends of the Arts (LFA), there should be approximately $100,000 per year available for maintenance of the building. (In the past, much of the rent revenue has been used to subsidize arts programs rather than to maintain the building.) A non - profit would be able to contract for capital improvements at a more favorable rate than the Town and could also accept work on a pro bono basis. Mr. Burnell is still in the process of refining the broad concept and will be consulting with Town Counsel. The objective is to formulate something that would work for both the non- profit and the Town. There will be more discussion by the Board of Selectmen during the weeks ahead with a goal of eventually putting out an RFP to lease the building.