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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-10-23-CEC-min Town of Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee Meeting Notes October 23, 2002 Town Hall, Room 111 Committee members present: Bhatia, Burnell, Hornig, Rosenberg, Stolz Minutes of the October 8 meeting were approved, as corrected, and will be forwarded to Appropriation Committee liaisons. Bhatia will attend the Association of Town Finance Committees annual meeting in Worcester, November 16. Committee members devoted the meeting to establishing the schedule for briefings with each department to review capital plans; and, briefly, to discussion of ways to educate the community at large about Lexington’s capital assets and the costs and schedule for maintaining and updating them. Department briefings Burnell began by updating the committeee on the status of current school building programs and Paul McGonigle’s transition into his new job overseeing the system’s physical assets during the same period when he has to help prepare the five-year capital plan. The high school is nearly complete but there is an extensive punch-list of finishing items. The plans for Harrington have been prepared, reviewed by the School Committee, and are now being revised (on schedule). Given all that, McGonigle is just beginning to address the five-year plan, on which the committee will want to be briefed. (All meetings in Town Hall Room 111 unless otherwise noted) (Schools not yet scheduled, but Burnell querying about December 10 or 12; or following Town Manager on November 14 with Town Manager beginning earlier; or November 20, beginning early with Recreation following; subject to Paul McGonigle schedule with School Committee and Superintendent) (Hornig to schedule Ad Hoc Electrical Advisory Committee, perhaps November 14 or 20, after Schools are scheduled) October 30: Library, 7:30 p.m., Fire Department 8:15 p.m. November 6: DPW, 7:30 p.m. [Note: Need to query on request for architectural fee funds for DPW facilities redesign, shown in the five-year projections as a 2004 item, in light of DPW/201 Bedford/Senior Center study committee; Rosenberg inquiring about that committee’s meeting schedule, and about when it would be ready to present to Capital Expenditures] [November 13: Town Meeting Members Association] November 14: Town Manager, 7:30 [subject to change for Schools, as noted above] November 19: Summit II, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Hastings School (before School Committee meeting) November 20: Recreation, 7:30 [subject to change for Schools, as noted above] [December 10 or 12, tentative: Schools, if needed; possibly DPW/201 Bedford/Senior Center if ready?] Public Education Bhatia introduced an outline for a plan to share with the community information on the scope of Lexington’s capital infrastructure (roads, water mains and sewers, schools, libraries, town administration and public works buildings and equipment, fire and police buildings and equipment, recreation facilities, conservation land, historical buildings, senior center, computers and office equipment, etc.); the need to maintain and adapt that infrastructure as an essential ingredient in the Town’s quality of life; the status of the present program to do so; and what remains to be done. That outline, attached, should be considered a part of these minutes. Committee members discussed newspaper articles and other forms of outreach to the community, including use of its own annual report; facilities tours when improvements are made or renovations are begun (post-renovation school and library open houses; ribbon-cuttings for renovation or groundbreaking construction starts); and Town-mailed bill stuffers (road repair map, for instance) as additional ways of explaining capital issues to the public. Committee members agreed to add to their list of suggested messages and means of communication during their meetings this year, and to try to evolve a few agreed-upon actions, in conjunction with other Town policymakers and officials, to be undertaken during the coming year. Other Business Stolz reported on the Selectmen’s meeting of October 21, where discussion continued on issues such as an early- retirement initiative and a Pay As You Throw fee refund, which may have fiscal/resource implications for capital spending in the next fiscal year. Meeting adjourned 9:00 p.m. John S. Rosenberg Outline of Ideas For Capital Projects Education Program (3/5/09) What is the desired outcome? In two to three years about one third of the population of the town of Lexington would be very familiar with issues of capital projects and infrastructure maintenance. What are key points to be communicated? 1. We have very large infrastructure: 125 miles of roads, 100+ miles of sewers, 100+ miles of water mains, 9 schools, 2 library buildings, town administration buildings, public works equipment and building, fire fighting equipment and building, police vehicles and building, recreation facilities and playgrounds, conservation land, historical buildings, senior center, computers, office equipment and so on. 2. This infrastructure needs to be maintained and renewed. 3. If we do not do the preventive maintenance and provide for orderly renewal we will pay dearly in emergency repairs, forgo some state aid and suffer from poor public service. How do we accomplish this? 1. We need creative communication solutions because the subjects are dry and boring. Who wants to give up a good evening to come to a discussion on the town dump or new parking at the golf course? Articles in the Mintueman will be very useful but they have to be provocative like: How to build a bad road or Can a new school building be obsolete soon? 2. The program has to be sustained for at least two years. An occasional article in the Minuteman will not have the desired outcome. The selectmen and town manager has to buy into it. 3. Among the program ideas are the following: ?? Provocative articles in Minuteman a. How to build a bad road -- An interview with road engineer b. Can a new school building be obsolete -- An interview with school building architect c. How is our water quality controlled -- An interview with water engineer d. Etc. In all these interviews the idea is to display some pictures, financial data and bring out the interactions of fiscal and policy issues so that the readers take away the dimensions of the problem and importance of doing the right thing. ?? Public exhibitions at town festivals. Having tables for DPW, Fire, Police, Library and distributing pamphlets about infrastructure and capital projects. ?? Cable shows of interviews done for articles ?? Competitive essays by high school students on selected infrastructure issues.-- $ 500 scholarship award for best essay. 4. Next Steps: ?? Flush out ideas ?? Meet with town manager and BOS ?? Enlist more resources i. Meet with Minuteman editor and start with articles. ii. More input from others for volunteers. iii. Prepare a program with timetable.