HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-02-21-CEC-min
Meeting Date 2/21/02
Meeting called to order 7.40 PM
Present: NarainB, CharlesH, Shirley and TMM IngridH
1. Charles gave 1st draft of the CEC report for comments from everyone.
The meeting then was joined by Appropriations Committee members and the
joint meeting was conveyed at 7.50 PM
The meeting was then joined by members of Lincoln Field Restoration
Committee (LFRC)-- Bob Atchinson, Rick DeAngelis, Paul Leblanc, Dick
Neumeier, Larry Kohler and their consultant Pat Maguire of Geller.
2. Bob Atchinson made the presentation and pretty much highlighted the
salient points of why a restoration was needed as spelled out in their
report -- the field is dangerous, cannot do patch work due to too many
subsoil problems and dwindling field capacity in the town because
Harrington
school field will be unavailable and Clarke field will under
renovation
next year. During questions and answers following key points were
brought
out:
a) Parks department not able to maintain -- spending about $4K Vs $34K
needed. While there were no law suits for injuries they had come close
in
few cases. Lexington fields rated among bottom 20% of neighboring town
fields. On Wednesdays and Fridays 200 players show up and some have to
be
turned away to lower Hayden smaller field.
b) Information on the number of kids actually using and projected to
use the
Lincoln fields was not available but will be provided by LFRC.
Suggestions
were also made that this proposal should be part of a "Master Plan"
covering
all the playfields in the town.
c) Life of the turf is 12 years, 8 years warranted by manufacturer.
Cost to
replace each field is $600,000 (future dollars). UV rating is 10
years.
Flammability rating is not known, they will get back to us although per
consultant the flame will not spread. Schedule wise it takes 16 weeks
from
start to finish and would be ready by next spring if override approved
this
spring.
d) They have the political energy to go all the way to voters and they
were
not presenting for a "dry run". Politics of town meeting approval and
then
the voter approval were pointed out and hence the need to educate the
voters. They acknowledged that recreation committee should have brought
out
the need in earlier years but thought it was too expensive to try.
e) They will consider user charges and possible funding from recreation
enterprise fund, in response to AC members but did not seem to think
that it
will make a big dent -- they want to keep fees reasonable and pointed
out
that fees are not tax deductible. Current charge is $8/season/kid. One
AC
member suggested that the recreation enterprise fund should contribute
40 to
45%. Suggestion for one field, as an experiment, was turned down by
LFRC as
too expensive.
In general, every one in joint committee, agreed with the problem,
complimented the LFRC for the work they have done but the costs and
political timing seemed to be the main issues.
3. AC and CEC then discussed position of capital articles and all
seemed to
be in agreement with CEC positions.
4. There was discussion on Paul Hamburger's Article 28 - Use of
Appropriated
Funds. It became clear that the main issue was that the Ch. 90 funds
were
not appropriated by AC and AC can only act in advisory role. They
would
like to see some control to avoid conflicts in consideration of capital
priorities. For example the purchase order costing $40,000 to design
the
center traffic lights has already been issued whereas the entire
project is
on the warrant Article 8(c). Another example cited was the expenditure
of
Depot Square landscaping that was never brought up to finance
committees.
5. AC would like to have CEC report by March 7 which is their last
meeting
before they will go to print.
Joint committee and CEC adjourned at 10.25 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Narain Bhatia
8 Nickerson Rd
Lexington, MA 02421
email: bhatia@cheerful.com
Tel: 781-863-0893 (USA)
Fax: 781-861-1143