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January 9, 2008 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee January 9, 2008 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room G-15, 8:00 PM Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Deborah Brown, Richard Eurich, Pam Hoffman, Michael Kennealy, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Also present: Tom Griffiths, member Lexington School Committee 1. The Chair noted that the resignation of Rod Cole has left the position of Vice- Chair open. The Committee resolved to discuss this and, hopefully, elect one of the present members at a future meeting. Eric Michelson volunteered to work with Deborah Brown on the financial projections that Rod was signed up to do. Rob Addelson’s Report. 2. At the next meeting of the Appropriation Committee, scheduled for January 16, 2008 after the Summit III meeting, Rob will present a Reserve Fund transfer request of $18,375 for the AC to consider. This request is for an October invoice covering labor counsel costs that was mistakenly overlooked when the last transfer request was presented to the AC. Labor counsel was necessary for a grievance case that is now in arbitration. Another labor case is pending appeal and will also be expensive. There is a third labor case that could end up in arbitration in the future th as well. At the Summit III meeting scheduled for January 16, the Town will recommend that a special SPED reserve fund for out-of-district tuition and transportation be added as a new line item separate from the school budget. SPED Reserve Fund 3. . At a previous meeting the AC voted in support of creating a reserve fund for SPED out-of-district tuition and transportation costs as a separate line item from the school budget. Tom Griffiths reported that the School Committee voted unanimously for this as well. The specific details of how to handle the reserves still need to be determined. Moderator-Sponsored Meetings in Preparation for Town Meeting. 3. The meeting for warrant article sponsors will be held Wednesday, March 12, 7:30 PM in the BOS meeting room. The workshop for new town meeting members will be held th Saturday, March 15, 10:00 AM in the BOS meeting room. The AC Chair is invited to attend these meetings. He will send a replacement if he is unable to attend. TheSchool Financial Review Committee. 4. Tom Griffiths reported that this committee, which has not been meeting frequently during the past several months due to conflicting commitments of the town and school financial officers in preparing the FY09 budgets, will be gearing up again soon. The issues on its agenda will include assessing recent progress made in the financial management of the schools and how best to respond to the recent Town Meeting resolution seeking financial reports. Al Levine would like - 1 -