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05/13/2021 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) May 13, 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; 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s)Absent: None Other Attendees: Deepika Sawhney, School Committee; David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Mr. Parker confirmed attendance, reviewed the authorization for meeting remotely, noted that the meeting was being called to order at 7:35 p.m. on May 13, 2021, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. He noted that Ms. Yan was having some technical difficulties during the roll call vote. He also noted that materials for the meeting were available on-line. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine reported that the School Master Planning Advisory Committee (MPAC) had met twice in the past two weeks to review the draft compendium that was written to summarize its master planning report, which is scheduled to be accepted by the School Committee on May 25, 2021. Additionally, the MPAC noted that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) had not selected Lexington for inclusion in a process leading to a grant towards rebuilding the high school. Since delays in construction result in increased costs, it has been suggested that it might be less expensive to pursue the project without MSBA assistance. After discussions with MSBA, the MPAC decided to postpone further research on this alternative. The School administration will resubmit its Statement of Interest to the MSBA before the June deadline. Mr. Padaki noted that this Committee is now down to eight members. Mr. Parker urged members to submit suggestions to Deborah Brown, Town Moderator. Preliminary Discussion of Alternatives for Constructing and Managing Affordable Housing in Lexington Mr. Parker reported on material that had been discussed at the CEC meeting last week and had been subsequently distributed to this Committee. It describes the use of Housing Development Corporations and Affordable Housing Trusts, which may function best in tandem rather than individually. The material was prepared by staff in response to the Select Board's (SB's) interest in increasing Lexington's affordable housing more effectively. Ms. Kosnoff and other members of this Committee noted the following: • Town Meeting could replace the Affordable Housing Capital Stabilization Fund with a municipal Affordable Housing Trust that would be administered by the Finance Department performing an accounting/bookkeeping function only. This would improve liquidity of the funds, but projects would still be subject to the State procurement laws for all expenditures. 1