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11/30/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) November 30, 2023 Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Man- ager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Lily Manhua Yan Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Deepika Sawhney, School Com- mittee At 7:33 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine reported on the meeting of the School Building Committee (SBC). The Superintendent’s Office has circulated the first draft of an Educational Plan for Lexington High School, which will inform the design process. Comments on the draft are solicited. The SBC will be holding a series of four “visioning” meetings starting on December 5 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. They are recruiting a group of 60 people to participate at all four meetings, which will consist of 40 people connected with the school system and 20 more community repre- sentatives. Mr. Levine encouraged AC members to apply if their schedules can accommodate the meeting times. Mr. Levine suggested that the Appropriation Committee (AC) should consider having a second AC member to participate as a liaison to the SBC, and that the SBC could have its design team present to the AC sometime in March of 2024. Mr. Padaki asked whether cost estimates would be provided with the initial design concepts from the SBC. Mr. Levine confirmed that rough estimates would be done using basic metrics like gross floor space and the gross characteristics of other special features such as solar power requirements. Mr. Padaki asked if the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) is engaged with the SBC. Mr. Lev- ine stated that Sandy Beebee, CEC member, and Charles Lamb, Chair of the CEC, have been serv- ing as liaisons from the CEC. Mr. Michelson asked about the SBC process for Article 97 land and whether the Recreation Depart- ment is involved. Mr. Levine stated that the Recreation Department and Recreation Committee have been participating in the discussions. The land that is affected will depend on the design option that is chosen and on the details of the design. The process to make use of Article 97 land cannot start until there is some understanding of which land will be involved. It will then require approval of the plan by town meeting. The plan will then be submitted to the Executive Office for Environmental Affairs (EOEA) for review prior to submittal to the state legislature. The expectation is that the Town could receive approval of its Article 97 request about one year after it is submitted to EOEA and the legislature. Mr. Levine also noted that all necessary Article 97 approvals from the