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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-27-AC-min March 27, 2006 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 27, 2006 Members Present: A. Levine (Chair), D. Brown (Vice Chair), J. Bartenstein, R. Cole, R. Eurich, P. Hamburger, P. Hoffman, D. Kanter, E. Michelson, R. Addelson (Assistant Town Manager for Finance; non-voting) Additional attendees: Ephraim Weiss, Patrick Mehr, Alessandro Alessandrini (Energy Conservation Committee), Steve Kropper (Energy Conservation Committee), Keith Ohmart (Energy Conservation Committee) The meeting was called to order at 6:37 by Al Levine in Town Office Bldg. Rm. 111. PM 1. E. Michelson volunteered to take minutes. 2. Eph Weiss discussed the points of his proposed warrant article for the establishment of an Energy Committee. He distributed an outline of the committee’s duties which include: inventorying existing operations, personnel and their training; analyzing utility usage by building and system-wide; studying the current preventive maintenance and repair schedule for buildings and equipment by reviewing work records and interviewing personnel; reporting findings to Town Meeting; and making recommendations to Town Meeting on warrant articles. He made the point that creating a unified building department would help insulate school maintenance budgets from the educational programs. Steve Kropper stated the goals of the newly formed Selectmen’s Energy Conservation Committee (ECC): reporting the magnitude of the energy use problem to assure we are getting the best price for utilities; supporting the schools efforts to do low and no-cost energy saving fixes; initiating a program to immediately do minor capital investments that have short payback periods; creating a plan to undertake major capital investments with longer paybacks; and being involved in life cycle planning on new buildings to assure that life cycle cost are considered. AC committee members encouraged the ECC to report to Town Meeting annually and to consider policies related to energy issues. Eph Weiss was asked to further investigate whether the existing ECC was addressing his goals, and whether the ECC, as a Selectmen’s committee, would be as effective an advocate for those goals as would his proposed committee. 3. A. Levine queried the members as to their availability for a proposed budget summit on Thursday at 5:30. Five members were available for a 6:30 start time. 4. R. Addelson presented the following updated information: 1 March 27, 2006 a) Article 28c - the Selectmen are still asking for $150,000 of building envelope money to remain unallocated and contingent on an override. b) Article 28c – the $40,000 renovation to the Westview Cemetery building includes about $13,000 to connect to the gas main and the balance to completely replumb and replace the heating system and to repair the roof. c) Article 28c – no plan exists for the Fire Station floor because the engineering study still has to be completed. d) The Unreserved Fund Balance (Free Cash) will be appropriated as follows: Article 40 – Stabilization Fund $2 mil Article 34 – Harrington/Fiske $250K Article 17 – Operating Budget $2 mil Article 44 is unknown but should be $0 e) Article 39 – Post Employment benefits (retiree health insurance trust) will be indefinitely postponed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:28 . PM Eric Michelson Approved June 26, 2006 2