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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-12-14-CEC-min Capital Expenditures Committee Proposed Minutes December 14, 1999 Meeting 1. Meeting was called to order by the Chairman in Rm 105 at 7:40pm. All members were present: Narain Bhatia, George Burnell, Tom Griffiths, Charles Hornig, and Shirley Stolz. 2. The DPW was represented by George Woodbury and three other DPW personnel, who presented capital spending requests for the next five years. These were documented by means of a handout: "Town of Lexington Capital Improvement Program F01 to 05, Departmental Summary of Capital Improvement Programs" for the DPW. The DPW representatives also handed out "Department of Public Works FY2001 Capital Equipment Replacement Program Explanation of Condition of Vehicle to be Replaced." These Minutes will not reproduce all of the information contained in these documents. 3. DPW Building Site: ?? George Woodbury believes the $5.2M in revenue to be derived from selling the current site at 201 Bedford St. would be offset by the increased cost of moving to Hartwell Ave. ?? 201 is 9.6 acres of which 7.5 are useable. ?? 201 has cleared environmental monitoring, so far. ?? George believes 201 would make an excellent site for combining DPW with Fire and Police, leaving the current Fire Station as an excellent site for School Administration. 4. DPW Building: ?? Bldg would cost $9M-to-$10M at current site, not the $12M in the budget. It would be 57,000 sq ft---20,000, unheated, replacing the portion they're worried about falling down, 37,000 heated. Current size is 35,750 sq ft, total. ?? The current bldg has some exhaust equipment, but personnel just hold their breaths at times. ?? Replacement in FY2003 is a goal, not a necessity. 5. Landfill closure: ?? Best estimate is $800K, worst is $3M. ?? Using a Licensed Site Professional to certify the closing would require some risk of finding some unexpected hazardous materials, but this is unlikely. ?? The Hartwell Ave. area has 67 acres, of which 19 are usable. ?? Composting at the site nets the Town $396K a year in savings and charges. The site is also used for handling household hazardous waste. 6. The East Lexington Library: ?? A structural beam is bowing that supports the roof. $200K is needed to fix that and do chimney work. ?? After any ADA and electrical improvements, the East Lexington Library would still be the same old building. 7. At the Central Fire Station, air conditioning and bathrooms are high priority. DPW proposals are geared to building staying pretty much as it is, no extensive renovations. 8. Streets: ?? Total cost for reconstruction is $17.5M. ?? Maintenance catchup is about $5M, which would have to be expended in addition to the $650K-to-$700K per year steady-state general maintenance. ?? The maximum work the DPW can handle in a year is $2.3M of maintenance and $3.5M of reconstruction. Although the reconstruction pieces are shorter in feet, they require much more oversight than maintenance catchup work. ?? The cost of our repairs will rise dramatically if we don't do the required maintenance catchup quickly, because roads will moved into needing-reconstruction category. ?? Chapter 90 aid is $476K for FY2001 and $238K for FY200. ?? The DPW representatives said the roadway study confirmed what they already knew. ?? Crack sealing on 46 miles of streets has been completed. ?? Streets needing reconstruction are not mostly neighborhood streets. DPW will get back to us on the breakdowns of maintenance backup on arteries vs neighborhood streets. 9. DPW Equipment: ?? Some of the Yr 2001 replacements slide into 2002. ?? The DPW is getting more years out of machines/vehicles than before because of more intensive maintenance and the fact that the machines and vehicles are better built. ?? Operating cuts have not affected the DPW’s ability to perform maintenance on its equipment. ?? Vehicle frames are riveted, not welded, to get strength up. But, you get more rotting with rivets. 10. Storm Drains: ?? Brook cleaning is the main issue. Lexington uses its brooks and streams as the final components of its drainage system. These are badly silted up (making new wetlands) because of the laws that protect them from dredging. ?? The estimate is $7M-$8M to properly clean and dredge all the Town’s brooks and streams. ?? DPW is investigating the use of a specially designed “Pit Hog” for dredging operations. Cost of one of these is $85,000. ?? Need about $300K/yr for annual storm drain maintenance and replacement. ?? A 1977-1980 study recommended a $5.7M outlay for storm drain work. 11. Center Traffic Signal Controller: ?? Current one is electro-mechanical; the ones in the rest of town are solid state. ?? Current system is failure prone and hard to maintain. ?? The estimated cost is so high, because esthetic considerations push up the price for a system in the Center. ?? Some Town signal systems have been purchased with money from the Selectmens’ gift accounts. Stop & Shop paid for the upgrade at their corner. ?? Currently, the DPW expects to meet traffic goals in South Lexington without signals. 12. Geographic Information System (GIS), a computerized system that shows where things are located in the Town: ?? The startup effort would involve developing parcel information with the Assessor’s office. ?? Eventually, other Town infrastructure would be added, such as the locations of streets, pipe, utilities, etc. ?? Eventually, maintaining data via the GIS system might require two people. ?? George Burnell said he’d expect an overall net savings in personnel from the use of the system. ?? Charles emphasized that any GIS system should provide service across Town departments. ?? (Woburn already has a GIS system. It’s four years old there.) 13. Visitor’s Center Repairs: ?? Like other items, described in referenced DPW handouts. ?? The Chamber of Commerce is the only tenant. ?? Relative to a Committee question about the electrical system upgrade: The Town has no Master Electricians on its staff. 14. Sewer Rehabilitation: ?? Relative to current rehabilitation projects: Bids have come in lower than expected, so more will be accomplished with current funding. We are getting quality work, but slow. Have spent $2M so far. ?? Before the DPW comes back to the Town for more money for further work, it wants to have information that justifies the work. Currently they have no data, but will conduct flow metering studies. ?? MWRA fees account for 65% of the sewer fee. 15. Water Main Cleaning and Lining: The DPW wants to extend the current 20-year program by three years to work on larger pipes, those with diameters of 10”, 12”, and 16”. 16. Morgan Rd. Water Tanks: ?? Rehab larger tank FY2001 for $280K ?? Rehab smaller tank FY2002 for $400K ?? Smaller tank has foundation issues. That’s why it costs more to rehabilitate. ?? No replacement of the tanks is warranted; a rehab suffices. 17. Water Distribution: ?? The DPW has the permits to relocate and replace the defective section of the water main on Bedford Street. ?? For water, capital costs are not a significant part of water rates. 18. Charles reported on Selectmen’s meeting ?? The Selectmen went through increase requests and threw out or tabled most of them. ?? Ideas for cash capital spending still floating around include bldg maintenance study and drainage study update. 19. The meeting adjourned at 10:43pm. Minutes by Tom Griffiths Capital Expenditures Committee Proposed Minutes December 14, 1999 Meeting 1. Meeting was called to order by the Chairman in Rm 105 at 7:40pm. All members were present: Narain Bhatia, George Burnell, Tom Griffiths, Charles Hornig, and Shirley Stolz. 2. The DPW was represented by George Woodbury and three other DPW personnel, who presented capital spending requests for the next five years. These were documented by means of a handout: "Town of Lexington Capital Improvement Program F01 to 05, Departmental Summary of Capital Improvement Programs" for the DPW. The DPW representatives also handed out "Department of Public Works FY2001 Capital Equipment Replacement Program Explanation of Condition of Vehicle to be Replaced." These Minutes will not reproduce all of the information contained in these documents. 3. DPW Building Site: ?? George Woodbury believes the $5.2M in revenue to be derived from selling the current site at 201 Bedford St. would be offset by the increased cost of moving to Hartwell Ave. ?? 201 is 9.6 acres of which 7.5 are useable. ?? 201 has cleared environmental monitoring, so far. ?? George believes 201 would make an excellent site for combining DPW with Fire and Police, leaving the current Fire Station as an excellent site for School Administration. 4. DPW Building: ?? Bldg would cost $9M-to-$10M at current site, not the $12M in the budget. It would be 57,000 sq ft---20,000, unheated, replacing the portion they're worried about falling down, 37,000 heated. Current size is 35,750 sq ft, total. ?? The current bldg has some exhaust equipment, but personnel just hold their breaths at times. ?? Replacement in FY2003 is a goal, not a necessity. 5. Landfill closure: ?? Best estimate is $800K, worst is $3M. ?? Using a Licensed Site Professional to certify the closing would require some risk of finding some unexpected hazardous materials, but this is unlikely. ?? The Hartwell Ave. area has 67 acres, of which 19 are usable. ?? Composting at the site nets the Town $396K a year in savings and charges. The site is also used for handling household hazardous waste. 6. The East Lexington Library: ?? A structural beam is bowing that supports the roof. $200K is needed to fix that and do chimney work. ?? After any ADA and electrical improvements, the East Lexington Library would still be the same old building. 7. At the Central Fire Station, air conditioning and bathrooms are high priority. DPW proposals are geared to building staying pretty much as it is, no extensive renovations. 8. Streets: ?? Total cost for reconstruction is $17.5M. ?? Maintenance catchup is about $5M, which would have to be expended in addition to the $650K-to-$700K per year steady-state general maintenance. ?? The maximum work the DPW can handle in a year is $2.3M of maintenance and $3.5M of reconstruction. Although the reconstruction pieces are shorter in feet, they require much more oversight than maintenance catchup work. ?? The cost of our repairs will rise dramatically if we don't do the required maintenance catchup quickly, because roads will moved into needing-reconstruction category. ?? Chapter 90 aid is $476K for FY2001 and $238K for FY200. ?? The DPW representatives said the roadway study confirmed what they already knew. ?? Crack sealing on 46 miles of streets has been completed. ?? Streets needing reconstruction are not mostly neighborhood streets. DPW will get back to us on the breakdowns of maintenance backup on arteries vs neighborhood streets. 9. DPW Equipment: ?? Some of the Yr 2001 replacements slide into 2002. ?? The DPW is getting more years out of machines/vehicles than before because of more intensive maintenance and the fact that the machines and vehicles are better built. ?? Operating cuts have not affected the DPW’s ability to perform maintenance on its equipment. ?? Vehicle frames are riveted, not welded, to get strength up. But, you get more rotting with rivets. 10. Storm Drains: ?? Brook cleaning is the main issue. Lexington uses its brooks and streams as the final components of its drainage system. These are badly silted up (making new wetlands) because of the laws that protect them from dredging. ?? The estimate is $7M-$8M to properly clean and dredge all the Town’s brooks and streams. ?? DPW is investigating the use of a specially designed “Pit Hog” for dredging operations. Cost of one of these is $85,000. ?? Need about $300K/yr for annual storm drain maintenance and replacement. ?? A 1977-1980 study recommended a $5.7M outlay for storm drain work. 11. Center Traffic Signal Controller: ?? Current one is electro-mechanical; the ones in the rest of town are solid state. ?? Current system is failure prone and hard to maintain. ?? The estimated cost is so high, because esthetic considerations push up the price for a system in the Center. ?? Some Town signal systems have been purchased with money from the Selectmens’ gift accounts. Stop & Shop paid for the upgrade at their corner. ?? Currently, the DPW expects to meet traffic goals in South Lexington without signals. 12. Geographic Information System (GIS), a computerized system that shows where things are located in the Town: ?? The startup effort would involve developing parcel information with the Assessor’s office. ?? Eventually, other Town infrastructure would be added, such as the locations of streets, pipe, utilities, etc. ?? Eventually, maintaining data via the GIS system might require two people. ?? George Burnell said he’d expect an overall net savings in personnel from the use of the system. ?? Charles emphasized that any GIS system should provide service across Town departments. ?? (Woburn already has a GIS system. It’s four years old there.) 13. Visitor’s Center Repairs: ?? Like other items, described in referenced DPW handouts. ?? The Chamber of Commerce is the only tenant. ?? Relative to a Committee question about the electrical system upgrade: The Town has no Master Electricians on its staff. 14. Sewer Rehabilitation: ?? Relative to current rehabilitation projects: Bids have come in lower than expected, so more will be accomplished with current funding. We are getting quality work, but slow. Have spent $2M so far. ?? Before the DPW comes back to the Town for more money for further work, it wants to have information that justifies the work. Currently they have no data, but will conduct flow metering studies. ?? MWRA fees account for 65% of the sewer fee. 15. Water Main Cleaning and Lining: The DPW wants to extend the current 20-year program by three years to work on larger pipes, those with diameters of 10”, 12”, and 16”. 16. Morgan Rd. Water Tanks: ?? Rehab larger tank FY2001 for $280K ?? Rehab smaller tank FY2002 for $400K ?? Smaller tank has foundation issues. That’s why it costs more to rehabilitate. ?? No replacement of the tanks is warranted; a rehab suffices. 17. Water Distribution: ?? The DPW has the permits to relocate and replace the defective section of the water main on Bedford Street. ?? For water, capital costs are not a significant part of water rates. 18. Charles reported on Selectmen’s meeting ?? The Selectmen went through increase requests and threw out or tabled most of them. ?? Ideas for cash capital spending still floating around include bldg maintenance study and drainage study update. 19. The meeting adjourned at 10:43pm. Minutes by Tom Griffiths