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4 1 2010 Annual Report
<br />Town Government
<br />Board of Selectmen
<br />ELECTED by the voters at large to 3 -year terms: Chair
<br />Hank Manz, Peter Kelley, Norman Cohen, George Bur-
<br />nell, and Deborah Mauger. Jeanne Krieger, after serving as
<br />a guiding influence through sometimes tumultuous times,
<br />decided not to run for re- election and left the board after
<br />12 years of service.
<br />Fiscal
<br />Once again, Lexington avoided fiscal pneumonia even with
<br />further reductions in state aid and mounting healthcare
<br />costs. The year started with the Selectmen's stated goal that
<br />there would be no override. That promise was kept. Overall,
<br />Lexington has reasonable revenue growth, stable labor costs
<br />as a percentage of total operating costs, well- managed pen-
<br />sion funding, a good balance of revenues related to econom-
<br />ic growth, low debt service, and adequate growing reserves.
<br />A major factor in employee compensation remains the
<br />double -digit increases in healthcare benefits. The Town has
<br />been able to make modest inroads in this expense through
<br />negotiation with the various unions, but as a town that has
<br />accepted coalition bargaining, Lexington must bargain all
<br />aspects of healthcare benefits, including plan design and
<br />contribution level, independent of bargaining for wage in-
<br />creases. We have supported the Massachusetts Municipal
<br />Association's requests for legislative relief to, among other
<br />things, make changes in plan design, but so far the relief
<br />has not arrived. Our representatives at the state level have
<br />promised us that this year they will concentrate on strate-
<br />gies to reduce the cost of healthcare for cities and towns.
<br />Advances in testing for hazardous materials and long -term
<br />underfunding of routine maintenance that pre -dated the
<br />hiring of our current Facilities Director, combined to give
<br />us health and fiscal headaches when PCBs were discovered
<br />in the caulk that was used in windows and wall panels when
<br />Estabrook School was built more than 50 years ago. Mit-
<br />igation could not be finished before school began which
<br />compounded the problem. Emergency mitigation measures
<br />combined with catch -up on some of the deferred main-
<br />tenance brought the problem under control at least tem-
<br />porarily, albeit with an unexpected price tag of close to a
<br />million dollars, and there is now a new urgency to the dis-
<br />cussion about the priority and size of the various schools -
<br />related capital projects.
<br />Shire - related development appears to be well ahead of
<br />schedule, which will bring in new growth revenue well
<br />above that originally forecast. Additional payments by com-
<br />mercial developments such as Shire and Cubist, bolstered
<br />by a $1,920,500 MORE infrastructure grant from the state
<br />as part of the Shire agreement, along with other grants, in-
<br />cluding $500,000 from the Massachusetts Department of
<br />Energy and Environmental Affairs to help with the pur-
<br />chase of the Cotton Farm property, helped ease the prob-
<br />lems caused by reduced revenues in other areas.
<br />Getting Things Done
<br />At the first meeting of 2010, the Board was urged by a mem-
<br />ber to make Lexington a Green Community. Besides being
<br />the right thing to do, we hoped this would make us eligible
<br />for significant grant money. That hope was fulfilled when
<br />late in the year the Town received a 2010 Green Commu-
<br />nities Grant for $158,083, which helped finance the ongo-
<br />ing replacement of all street lights which will produce more
<br />effective light at a greatly reduced cost with much lower
<br />maintenance costs. The replacement of all streetlights is ex-
<br />pected to be completed early in 2011.
<br />After the purchase last year of the Busa and Leary proper-
<br />ties using Community Preservation Act funds, committees
<br />were appointed to develop recommendations for use of the
<br />parcels. The Leary Land Task Force is working on design
<br />of a community housing development on the lot designat-
<br />ed for that purpose, while a seven - member committee was
<br />formed to invite and analyze proposals for use of the Busa
<br />property. They expect to present a final report to the Se-
<br />lectmen in February or March of 2011. The later purchase,
<br />of the Cotton Farm parcel along Marrett Road, also us-
<br />ing CPA funds, included the gift of a separate parcel off of
<br />Hartwell Avenue.
<br />The Town began to come to grips with the projected increase
<br />in traffic and commercial density along Route 95, which may
<br />eventually cause a doubling of vehicle trips per day.
<br />Two water - related emergencies arose to test the resourc-
<br />es of the Town. In March, several days of rain from two
<br />closely- spaced storms caused streams to overflow and flood
<br />normally dry areas. The Old Res and Butterfield Pond
<br />both overflowed, as did all creeks in the area. Water lev-
<br />els as much as five feet higher than normal were seen in
<br />many places. Then in early May, a major water main break
<br />in Weston caused the MWRA to issue a boil water order.
<br />Unlike most other towns, Lexington reacted quickly and, as
<br />a result, restaurants and other establishments serving food
<br />were temporarily shut down. To assist those who were left
<br />without drinking water known to be safe, Town staff, with
<br />assistance from Boy Scouts from Troops 119 and 160, dis-
<br />tributed 5,000 gallons of water to residents who needed it,
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