2011-02-23-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 23, 2011 • School Committee (Alan Levine). Ms. Garberg and Mr. Levine had a meeting with Mary Ellen Dunn last week to discuss school capital projects. There have been changes to food service operations to eliminate cash transactions, which makes accounting smoother. Mr. Cohen commented that there may be too much flexibility for the children as there is no cap on purchases. There was discussion regarding capital purchase of new equipment with $30k of the $50k that would be paid from the food service fund. • CPC (Glenn Parker and Susan McLeish). Mr. Parker and Ms. McLeish attended the most recent CPC meeting where there was discussion of two items that may be taken up under Article 8: o Article 8(d), LexHAB Set - Aside. The CPC voted in favor of the LexHAB proposal for a set -aside fund from which potential future purchases of housing units could be made, subject to a set of non - binding guidelines. The request was for $450k to be allocated in advance in order to avoid a double closure process when a desirable property is found. CPC, CEC and BOS would have to approve a purchase prior to finalization. o Article 8(h), Muzzey Window Replacement. The Muzzey Condo window replacement project was also discussed. The Muzzey High Condo Association is seeking financial assistance for up to approximately 35 unit owners who have not yet performed required window replacements because conditions imposed by the Historic District Commission (HDC) significantly increase the cost of the replacements. An earlier proposal for interest -free loans from the Community Preservation Fund was supported by the CPC but may be withdrawn. Several unit owners present at the meeting suggested that they would be willing to forego any financial assistance if they were allowed to add the cost of the replacement windows to the cap on the sale price of their units. Ms. McLeish noted that such an arrangement would not assist those in financial need in funding the current costs. She also commented that the criteria for purchase of condo units at Muzzey allows for a fairly high income level but the original proposal did not include any needs test. Mr. Addelson said he believed the funding had been sought as an historic preservation, not an affordable housing, project. • Miscellaneous. Mr. Addelson alerted the Committee that the recent trend of rising energy costs could result in the need to draw on the Reserve Fund in FY2012. He reminded the Committee of the recommendation a few years ago to raise the AC Reserve Fund by $100k for rising energy costs as there was concern with the short -term direction of the market. This is in regards to gasoline, diesel and heating oil, not natural gas and electricity where there are separate contracts for the next few years. Mr. Addelson advised that the amount to be requested for the senior service program has not yet been finalized, although $45,000 is still being carried in the budget. Charlotte Rogers is looking -3-