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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-02-12-AC-min 02/12/15 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee February 12,2015 Place and time: Parker Room, Town Office Building, 8:00 p.m. Members present. Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine; Beth Masterman; Susan McLeish; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; Andrei Radulescu-Banu; Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: None Other attendees: Paul Ash, Superintendent of Schools; Margaret Coppe, Chair, School Committee; Joe Pato, Chair, Board of Selectmen (BoS); Kate Colburn, Lexington Parents Advocacy Group, Fiske Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization The meeting was called to order at 8:06 p.m. 1. Reserve Fund Transfer: Dr. Ash reported on a School Department request for a$150,000 Reserve Fund transfer to help cover the costs for the Lexington High School (LHS)Phase 2 prefabricated units capital project. A first set of units was installed during Phase l; Phase 2 involves the installation of a second smaller set of units for the intensive learning program. The low bid for Phase 2 came in $500,000 over the amount that was previously appropriated for the project. The bid has a one month acceptance window, which ends in two weeks. Rebidding would result in missing the fall 2015 deadline for accommodating students who are now in the middle schools and ready to move to LHS. An expensive alternative is sending these students to out-of-district programs. Dr. Ash added that the School Department anticipates taking $350,000, the balance of the $500,000 shortfall, from the Fiscal Year(FY) 2015 funds that are currently allocated for technical equipment and furniture. Those expenditures can be postponed until FY2016. The School Department plans to request $350,000 for technical equipment and furniture in FY2016 and withdraw a current FY2016 request for $350,000 for Diamond Middle School (Diamond) "Space Mining". Using $350,000 from the technical equipment and furniture appropriation plus the $150,000 from the Reserve Fund would allow the Town to sign a contract within two weeks for Phase 2 construction. Responses to questions included the following: • There were two bids for Phase 2; the low bidder happens to be the contractor that did Phase 1. • The design work for Phase 2 was not available when the Town went out to bid for Phase 1. • The FY2015 appropriation into the Reserve Fund was $900,000. • There is currently $784,380 in the Reserve Fund. • The Reserve Fund will be one of the primary resources for addressing the deficit that is building from recent snow and ice removal operations. A motion was made and seconded to make a Reserve Fund transfer of$150,000 for Phase 2 of the LHS prefabricated units. The motion was approved. VOTE: 9-0 1 02/12/15 AC Minutes 2. School Building Capital Projects: There was discussion about the School Committee's anticipated request, based on an analysis by Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities, and Jon Himmel, Co-chair of the Permanent Building Committee, for $4,080,000 at a spring Special Town Meeting (STM) to fund further studies, schematic-level design, design development, construction documents, and bidding. The purposes of the request for funds include the identification of the best approach or approaches for addressing the need for additional capacity in the schools, with the level of work tailored to the projected needs and timelines for each of the schools involved. In response to questions, Dr. Ash and Ms. Coppe noted the following: • There will be a request for proposals for architectural services for the studies noted above for a number of school buildings. It was noted that an acceptable plan must take the following issues into account: ➢ The pre-kindergarten program needs additional space. It can be located in a stand-alone facility or as part of an elementary school building. ➢ The Diamond and Clarke Middle Schools (Clarke)need additional space, but there are site challenges at Clarke. ➢ Enrollment projections indicate a potential need for 18 additional elementary level classrooms over the next five years. • One scenario for achieving 16 additional elementary classrooms within three years is to build a new Hastings Elementary School (Hastings)with 9 additional classrooms for students not now attending Hastings; move the pre-kindergarten program out of Harrington Elementary School and reconfigure that space into four additional classrooms; and use three classrooms that are currently available at Estabrook Elementary School (Estabrook); redistricting may be necessary for utilizing spaces in these and other schools in a balanced manner. • Core space for libraries, art, music,physical education and lunch programs, and administrative support must be adequate. • The $4,080,000 study would begin to yield information by the mid to late summer or early fall in order to allow the Town to make decisions about how to proceed with specific projects. The idea is to take different projects to different levels of design and preparation of construction documents and then schedule a fall town meeting to request construction funds for the projects that are selected for construction. Not all of the projects being initially considered will necessarily be pursued. • Educational and financial implications need to be considered when deciding how to proceed. A suggestion was made that Estabrook be included in the study to determine whether the site would be appropriate for an addition or a stand-alone pre-kindergarten facility. There was general support for an approach outlined by Joe Pato, Chair of the BoS, that the motion include a requirement for BoS authorization to proceed beyond a certain point for each of the projects being considered, with the understanding that the BoS and staff would hold a summit with the School Committee and finance committees to review the options. The BoS would make decisions based, in part, on input from the summit. Mr. Addelson discussed the complexities associated with a five-year time restriction associated with bonding a project that does not result in construction. He plans to meet with staff next week regarding this issue and will work with bond counsel to determine how to word an article that may 2 02/12/15 AC Minutes include design work for some projects that are constructed and some that are not. 3. Announcements: Citing some examples, Mr. Neumeier reported that area cities and towns continue to advertise for attorney positions. Published salaries are less than $100,000 while Lexington is spending $800,000 to $900,000 annually for outside counsel. It was suggested that this be brought to the attention of Town officials when they are developing the operating budget. Ms. McLeish reported that the Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee(TDESC), with support provided by Mr. Radulescu-Banu, made a presentation on Monday to the BoS on the residential exemption and concluded that it would not be well-tailored to remedy hardships resulting from the recent revaluation process. The TDESC also made a presentation on an expanded senior tax exemption program, similar to the State's circuit breaker, recently adopted by the Town of Sudbury that is funded by a surcharge on all taxpayers. The BoS voted not to pursue this concept further, which means that ATM Article 33 will be indefinitely postponed. The TDESC announced that it will not be recommending any changes this year to the eligibility limits for the senior tax deferral program, noting that no applicants have recently been turned away for lack of eligibility. This means that ATM Article 32 will also be indefinitely postponed. Ms. McLeish noted that members of the BoS expressed strong support for the tax deferral program as the most fair and effective way to afford senior tax relief, but acknowledged that it is underutilized and could benefit from additional publicity. 4. Preparation of Committee's Reports to the 2015 Town Meetings: Specific funding requests were discussed, as follows: • School Building Capital Projects: After extensive discussion, the Committee agreed that it was premature to take a formal vote on Article 2 on the warrant for the first Special Town Meeting, "Appropriate for School Facilities Capital Projects,"but that it would be useful to poll Committee members' current views and take a straw vote. Seven members expressed support for the appropriation request in its current form, one was a"maybe," and one preferred to abstain at this point. Mr. Parker discussed the impact the school projects, as currently envisioned, are likely to have on the taxpayer. He has suggested that the Town evaluate a 30-year debt model as an alternative to the traditional 20-year debt model. A 30-year model would help to smooth out the tax increases, avoid the later-year spikes in the 20 year model, and match more closely the expected useful life of the projects to be funded; however, it would involve a higher interest rate, could potentially affect the Town's bond rating, and because it would take longer to retire could potentially complicate the bonding of future projects such as replacement of the high school. • Fire Engine Purchase: The write up for the new fire engine funding request will be revised to take into account a non-disparagement clause included in the settlement agreement that was reached with the manufacturer of the existing fire engine that was returned. • Cary Memorial Building Sidewalk: More information will be available after the Historic District Commission has an opportunity to discuss the project. 3 02/12/15 AC Minutes The meeting was adjourned at 10:11 p.m. The documents used at the meeting are listed below. Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Recording Secretary Approved February 19, 2015 Exhibits 1. Agenda, posted by Glenn Parker 2. Memo: From Patrick Goddard; To Paul Ash; Re LHS Modular building Phase 2; Date: February 5,2015 4