2021-04-14-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

04/14/2021 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) April 14, 2021 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with the Governor's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law; communication took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:00 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s)Absent: Vineeta Kumar; Meg Muckenhoupt; Lily Manhua Yan Other Attendees: Dawn McKenna, Town Meeting Member; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Mr. Parker confirmed attendance, reviewed the authorization for meeting remotely, noted that the meeting was being called to order at 7:03 p.m. on April 14, 2021, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. He also noted that materials for the meeting were available on-line. Ms. McKenna reported that she was attending in the event that there were questions regarding Article 16 (g): Appropriate for Public Facilities Capital Projects: Center Recreation Complex Bathrooms &Maintenance Building Renovation. Mr. Parker reported that this Committee had discussed this project at its previous meeting and voted to support the Select Board's plan to bring this project forward for reconsideration at the 2021 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) and then indefinitely postpone it. ATM 2021 Committee Process Feedback Mr. Parker asked for comments and suggestions regarding the production of the AC report to the ATM. Comments included the following: • More precise communication regarding the status of assignments during the reviewer process and regular updates of the status column in the spreadsheet that is used to track assignments would be helpful. • Getting drafts written early helps facilitate the process. • Mr. Parker assumes a lot of editing responsibilities that require a lot of his time. Although using multiple people to review the material is valuable, it is necessary to have one person as the final editor who pulls the end product together. • It takes time at the end to eliminate repetitious material and conflicts. Ms. Kosnoff suggested trying W-Desk, software that links tables and text and helps when multiple people are working on different sections. She said that staff could provide a demonstration and help in the transition. It was agreed to explore this by perhaps creating a"dummy"report using W-desk. Next Meetings Ms. Kosnoff reported that she expects year-end budget adjustments to be ready for approval in late June. She also noted that the Town expects to receive approximately $9.0 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that would likely affect the magnitude of any surplus as well as the needs for adjustments. The Act identifies four areas where the funds can be used but otherwise provides little 1