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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-29-CEC-min •'p)c PAORM1kr,AO LL 'n Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 29, 2014 A9flIL V$' 4,4°,7,,,'Z,,,," Location and Time Town Office Building, Reed Room, 8.00 A M Members Present Jill Hai, Chair, David Kanter, Vice-Chair, Bill Hurley, Wendy Manz, Beth Masterman Members Absent None Others Present Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance, Glenn Parker, Chair, Appropriation Committee (AC) Documents Presented • Notice of Meeting/Agenda for CEC Meeting, April 29, 2014 (posted April 24, 2014) • Flow chart from "A Guide to Financial Management for Town Officials", Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) (found on the DOR Web site at http.//www mass gov/dor/docs/dls/publ/misc/town pdf), Page 10, Figure 1 • Ms Hai's e-mail to the Committee, April 20, 2014, with attachment containing Charles Lamb's e-mail, June 11, 2012, Subject BoS [Board of Selectmen] Goal Setting Call to Order Ms Hai called the meeting to order at 8.06 A.M Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Ms Hai polled the members about attending the BoS Executive Session tomorrow evening Ms Hai and Mr Kanter said they couldn't, Ms Manz and Mr Hurley plan to attend, and Ms Masterman did not know at that time If three members should be in attendance, there would be a quorum and as the meeting has been posted to include this Committee, those attending can participate in the deliberations on behalf of this Committee If less than 3 members are present, the Executive Session would be an information-only session for the members in attendance Ms Hai proposed that the Committee meet with the AC on the evening of May 7, 2014, jointly to discuss Committee members participating in campaigns for elected Town positions and recommendations for the BoS' goal-setting session The Committee agreed and Mr Parker will post the meeting for both committees Review of the Committee's Role in the FY2015 Budget Cycle Ms Hai asked whether there were any recommended improvements to how this Committee accomplished that role that would help this Committee fulfill its responsibilities The Committee and Mr Addelson reviewed the current approach Capital Improvement Project (CIP) requests from each department are distributed to this Committee and, where requesting use of Community Preservation Funds, to the Community Preservation Committee immediately after they are given to the BoS—which is traditionally in mid-October At that point, the CIPS reflect the departments' requests and do not reflect any Senior-Management-Team approvals The BoS does not start to review in any detail the operating and capital budgets before December Page 1 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 29, 2014 From late October to mid-December, this Committee meets weekly, with the Town's Budget Officer having scheduled a time for staff from each department to present their CIPS Usually the CIPS from two departments are covered during a meeting, but Facilities (DPF) and Public Works (DPW) require at least a whole meeting each The Schools Department usually comes to two meetings to address its own CIPS and also those proposed by DPF for school buildings Starting in January, this Committee begins to build its report to Town Meeting to fulfill its responsibility to so advise that Meeting By the time the BoS hosts the third Budget Summit, this Committee already has an understanding of the CIP requests and can give an overview report to that Summit. Mr Parker commented that the AC doesn't follow such a bottom-up process—even for the Operating Budget. Its process is more top-down as they begin with the assembled budget, attending the Budget Summits without having yet drilled down into either the Operating or Capital Budgets He shared a DOR flow chart that indicates finance committees participating in the initial build of the budget. Mr Addelson suggested that approach tends to be appropriate for communities that do not have a Town Manager and a robust financial staff The following considerations were discussed • CIP Distribution Some members need paper copies of the CIPS It would be helpful to have this happen automatically, especially when updated CIPS are distributed • CIP Edits Mr Addelson explained that the CIPS are internal documents that do not need to be perfected in terms of things like typographical errors, but items of substance need to be corrected as the CIP language is the basis for what will be included first in the Preliminary Budget ("White Book") and then in the Recommended Budget ("Brown Book") • CIP Level of Detail It was agreed that the CIPS have continually improved over the past few budget cycles This Committee needs detail to be able to understand the big picture, and this is generally available in the CIPS or in answers to questions when the departments present to this Committee Where applicable, inventories of capital equipment are needed, and these are currently being provided by the Recreation Department, Fire Department, and DPW • Providing Context for a Project It is helpful when a department includes historical information about a project and/or an update on a project that is in progress, future plans are also needed for the five-year plan that this Committee submits to the Annual Town Meeting Mr Addelson agreed to provide an Open Money Articles Report concurrently with the CIP package as that report provides a use-of- previously-appropriated-funds status on all prior capital projects that aren't yet closed • Funding Information in a CIP It is important that there is a consistent presentation of the funding sources for a project. Page 2 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 29, 2014 • Staff Perception of the Process It is not this Committee's intent to be taken as being critical when asking for additional information—whether by its questions or requests for additional back-up materials Mr Addelson said that staff understands this Committee's role and respects its importance, and recognizes that this Committee's support of the projects at Town Meeting is to the staff's advantage He added that having the departmental staff in attendance with the department head at the presentation of its CIPS provides a valuable opportunity for the staff to learn, first hand, of that aspect of the process and how this Committee depends on the information in each CIP • Process for Communication between this Committee and the Departments Mr Addelson said that this Committee should use its judgment when asking questions of staff If the question possibly will require substantial staff time to answer, such a request should go through Mr Addelson Otherwise, the question can go directly to the appropriate department head or staff member, depending on the implications of the question If specific questions are known before a department's presentation to this Committee, it is helpful to forward them in advance, but this is not required This Committee's liaisons can also meet with the Department heads, but, as noted earlier, those discussions need to respect that positions have not necessarily been taken by the Senior Management Team at that time Any requested changes to a CIP must be reviewed by Mr Addelson before a revision would be released The Committee noted that department heads may find it useful to review the Minutes from the previous year's meeting when they made their presentation to this Committee (This Committee is up to date with approving and providing all of its Minutes to the Town's on-line Records Portal—excluding one for an Executive Session that is approved, but pending release to the public ) • Role of CEC This Committee's intent is to provide an evaluation of each CIP that is independent of that of the proposing Department to help determine the credibility, priority, and marketability of a project. This Committee believes its efforts will enhance the capital program that is presented to Town Meeting • CEC and AC Overlap As the AC is required to report to Town Meeting on all of the Town's financial programs, there is some unavoidable overlap in the work done by this Committee and the AC regarding the capital program—although the primary focus of each committees is on different aspects of that program (For example, the CEC's is on the specific content of each CIP while the AC's is on the management of the debt service and the allocation of resources between the Town's capital and operational needs ) Mr Kanter suggested that, as he had done during the FY2015 budget cycle, briefing one or more members of the AC early in that committee's preparation of its report to Town Meeting, might assist in reducing the extent and depth of the overlap in the AC's work and reporting • Next Steps This Committee will provide Mr Addelson with a bullet list of things that staff could do to improve the process, citing specific examples where possible Review the Committee's Contributions to the March 24, 2014, Special Town Meeting and the 2014 Annual Town Meeting No separate discussion was held on this topic. Page 3 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 29, 2014 Approve a Version of the Committee's Report that Consolidates all the Updates & Errata for Submission to the Town Archive and to Simplify Future Reference to It Mr Kanter advised that he had not yet prepared a draft of that version so the matter will be addressed at a later meeting of this Committee Mr Hurley left the meeting at 9.27 A.M Begin the Discussion of the Committee's Input to the BoS Goal Setting (Currently Scheduled for that Board's Meeting on the Morning of June 19, 2014) Ms Hai asked the Committee to review her earlier e-mail that had provided a prior-year's input by this Committee of topics for potential BoS goals The Committee agreed that each member would provide suggested topics for this year's input just to Ms Hai At a later meeting, those topics will be discussed and each of those endorsed by the Committee would be assigned to a Committee member to write up in more detail for subsequent approval by the Committee as a whole Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 9.39 A.M to adjourn Vote 4-0 These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its joint meeting with the Appropriation Committee on May 7, 2014 Page 4 of 4