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2/15/2024 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) February 15, 2024 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; Lily Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Fi- nance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Sean Osborne Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee At 7:35 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. All votes recorded below were conducted or confirmed by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports Ms. Kosnoff reported that the Select Board voted to approve the FY2025 operating budget on Mon- day night, and the Brown Book will, most likely, be published on Tuesday. Town Meeting will be able to take up financial articles on its second evening. Proposed Consent Agenda for 2024 Annual Town Meeting Mr. Parker walked through the proposed Consent Agenda to ask if there were any objections to any item. In summary, no objections were raised but there was some discussion on particular articles. Mr. Michelson asked for an explanation of Article 12(a) Transportation Mitigation. Ms. Kosnoff replied that it represented a collection of small improvements recommended by the Transportation Safety Group, such as crosswalks and signs. The request is funded from transportation network company funding, e.g., Uber and Lyft, along with some General Fund support. Mr. Parker com- mented that the name for the item was confusing since transportation was not being mitigated. Regarding Article 12(b) Heavy Vehicle Extrication Equipment, which was not on the proposed con- sent agenda, it was noted that the consent agenda usually consists of annually recurring items that do not deviate greatly from their past history, and that other items should not be placed on the con- sent agenda if they do not meet these criteria, even if they are small dollar amounts. Ms. Kosnoff observed that Article 12(c) Ambulance Replacement would be partially funded from a stabilization fund, necessitating a two-thirds vote for the entire Consent Agenda. Mr. Padaki asked how 12(e) Sidewalk Improvements differs from Article 16(c) School Paving and Sidewalks. Mr. Levine answered that the DPW handles 12(e) while the DPF handles 16(c) because it is on school grounds. He noted that the DPW reports to the Town Manager, while the DPF reports jointly to the Town Manager and the School Superintendent. Ms. Kosnoff added that a separate con- tractor is used for 16(c) and the work is carefully scheduled around the school calendar. Regarding Article 17 Appropriate to Post Employment Insurance Liability Fund, Mr. Levine asked if the Town had a more recent OPEB report. Ms. Kosnoff replied that she would share the most re- cent report with the Committee and see that it is posted on the Finance Documents web page. She stated that the Town has been adding $50,000 to the requested General Fund part of the appropria- tion each year.