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December 6, 2006
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
December 6, 2006
Place and time: National Heritage Museum, Farr Conference Room, 6:30 p.m.
Members present: Al Levine (Chair), Deborah Brown (Vice-Chair), John Bartenstein
(Secretary), Rod Cole, Rick Eurich, Pam Hoffman, David Kanter, Mike Kennealy, Rob
Addelson (ex officio, non-voting)
This meeting was held prior to the commencement of Special Town Meeting No.
2 to address any last-minute issues relating to the requested appropriation for the DPW
facility replacement project, and to prepare for the special town meeting.
1. Committee Report on Article 2.
After discussion of the latest developments
on the DPW project, a vote was taken on the Selectmen’s proposed motion under Article
2 to appropriate $1,600,000 for the cost of engineering and architectural services
necessary to complete the construction documents. The Committee voted 7-0 to support
the motion. John Bartenstein abstained from voting immediately because he wanted to
consider any further information that might be provided at the special town meeting on
the reasonableness of the amount, and the anticipated use, of the funds to be appropriated.
(John Bartenstein and Eric Michelson subsequently voted during the special town
meeting to support the requested appropriation, bringing the Committee’s vote to a
unanimous 9-0.) The Committee voted 8-0 to endorse, with minor modifications, the
remarks that Al Levine had prepared on Article 2, with input from several other
members. Rob Addelson advised that the debt service on the proposed borrowing of
$1,600,000 that would have to be borne within the tax levy, should a debt exclusion
referendum ultimately not pass, would be (assuming a five-year amortization period,
4.5% interest rate, and level principal payments) a little less than $400,000 the first year
and declining thereafter.
2. Future Plans.
There was a brief discussion of future plans. The Community
Preservation Committee has scheduled a hearing on requests for FY2008 CPA funding
for Thursday, December 14, the same date as this Committee’s next scheduled meeting.
Because a number of members of this Committee are interested in attending the CPC
hearing, and because the CPC approval process raises important new issues relating to the
appropriate use of CPA funds, it was agreed to hold our next meeting in conjunction with
the CPC hearing. Thereafter, the critical priorities will be participation in the final review
process for the DPW facility replacement project, which is likely to be intense during the
next two months, and development of the FY2008 budget. Further discussion of the
recommendations of the Financial Policy Committee will probably have to await the
completion of the Annual Town Meeting.
3. Miscellaneous.
Al Levine will schedule weekly meetings on Thursday
evenings from the beginning of January through the spring Town Meeting, and post the
location of those meetings sometime after December 14. It is likely that the Committee
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December 6, 2006
will also be requested to participate in additional meetings from time to time with the
Board of Selectmen and other committees to develop final plans for the DPW project.
Minutes of the meetings held on November 27, 2006 and November 29, 2006 were
unanimously approved. Discussion of the draft minutes for the November 16, 2006
meeting was deferred until the next meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John Bartenstein
Approved January 11, 2007
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