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September 7, 2011 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting September 7, 2011 Time and Location: Legion Room, Cary Hall, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Joe Pato, Vice Chair; Robert Cohen; Alan Levine; Eric Michelson; Rob Addelson (non- voting, ex officio) Not in Attendance: Richard Neumeier; Mollie Garberg; Jonina Schonfeld Others in Attendance: David Kanter, CEC; Bob Cunha, Fire Dept.; Patrick Mehr, TMM The meeting was called to order at 7:3 8 p.m. Minutes. The Committee discussed draft minutes from August 18, 2011, including substantive edits to the sections on credit ratings by Moody, the budget report, and planning for the anticipated special town meeting. The April 20, 2011 and August 18, 2011 minutes will be edited and voted on at the next meeting. Police and fire radio system failure during Hurricane Irene. The police and fire radio system properly shut down as a result of a power surge during the recent hurricane Irene. The police system function was restored using a backup generator, but the fire radio system is not connected to a backup generator and only had limited battery support at the Jean Road tower. The system is currently operable, but redundancies were not properly engineered in the 2 -year- old system. Research is currently being done on how best to provide backup power in a future emergency. The goal is to have both the police and fire radio systems on a full backup generator at the same location. A natural gas generator is being investigated as this type of generator would not need refueling. The CEC will address this issue at its meeting on 9/27. Mr. Addelson hopes to be able to provide a more detailed report at that time. Other budget impacts from Hurricane Irene. Mr. Addelson reported that Lexington may qualify for aid as a result of hurricane Irene for extra yard waste cleanup, but no detailed information was yet available. Population change and school enrollments. Mr. Pato discussed the January 2011 town census information published in August. According to that census, there was a 3.83% increase in population (1200 people) from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011. The town's total population is now 32,525. Mr. Pato has researched how town