HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-30-CEC-minMinutes
Town of Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee
January 30, 2008
Place and Time: Town Office Building, Room 111, 9:00 AM
Members Present: Charles W. Lamb (Chair, Ted Edson (Vice - Chair), Shirley Stolz,
David G. Kanter
Visitors: Deborah Brown (Liaison from Lexington Appropriation Committee), George Burnell
(Lexington Board of Selectmen)
CWL called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM
The Committee reviewed the current requests expected at the 2008 Annual Town Meeting for
Capital Projects. Except as noted below, there were no further comments and the Committee
currently supports the requests.
Parker Manor Condo Purchases (3 units) (proposed for Community Preservation Act [CPA]
funding): Left vote at 3 -0 -2 until we see whether those units are eligible for being counted under
Chapter 40(b) of the Massachusetts General Laws.
Munroe Center for the Arts Fire - Prevention System (addresses both fire -alarm and fire-
suppression elements) (proposed for CPA funding):
DGK: Believes we must spend what's needed to satisfy what's been required by the Fire
Department, but does not support having the Town, thereby, subsidize any sale or occupant.
Before such a subsidy, the matter should be put to the voters as a Debt Exclusion. In the absence
of such a formal confirmation by the voters of the use of their taxes for such a subsidy, he does
not support constraining who can bid on the purchase of the building if selling it is the Board
of Selectmen's decision (subject to approval by Town Meeting) especially if it entails selling
the building without recouping the proposed Capital investment.
SS: If we own the building, we need to fix it, but doesn't want to spend the $'s for the system.
TE: Believes it's part of the "deal" (to sell the building) that we give them the fire -
suppression system.
GB: There's still the $200K option of replacing the sprinkler heads and some of the pipes.
DGK challenged that based on his conversation with the Fire Chief on 23 January. While the
Chief said the current estimate is conservative, he did not expect the estimated cost expected
from the in- process design effort would be anything close to only $200K. As this is a significant
disconnect, DGK suggested it is important to get the outline of such a less - expensive solution in
writing. GB said he'd do that.
Sentiment (4:0): We will have to support the fire- prevention system whether it is on the CPA
or the direct tax levy.
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee
January 30, 2008
Central- Business - District Sidewalks: $370K. Questioned appropriating Phase -3 money when the
Phase -1 work hasn't been accepted as satisfactory and the already- funded Phase -2 has, therefore
properly, not yet been started. Presently against, 0:4.
Traffic Mitigation ($50K). DGK: doesn't want piecemeal studies done. CWL to request more
information from Jeanne Krieger.
Discussion of Preparation of Committee's Report to the 2008 Annual Town Meeting:
It was agreed that our report would revert to an address -all style as opposed to the by-
exception style used last year. Having an address -all style makes the report far more useful for
corporate - memory and audit -trail purposes; therefore justifying the additional effort and expense.
DGK agreed to be the editor.
The following is the proposed schedule:
16 Feb: DGK to provide all members a template & CWL to provide the draft spreadsheet
1 Mar: First draft inputs for the report due to DGK
By 25 Mar: Complete the final draft
By 26 Mar: Approve for publication both printing & posting to the Web
Not later than 31 Mar: Copies on the table before the start of Town - Meeting Session
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles W. Lamb
Approved February 13, 2008
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