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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-08-12-CEC-min LL n Minutes of the Y = 4 Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting August 12, 2015 APRIL 19' Location and Time Town Office Building, Reed Room, 7.30 A M Members Present Jill Hai, Chair, David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk, Elizabeth Barnett, Wendy Manz Member Absent Rod Cole Others Present Judy Crocker, Member, Lexington School Committee, Jon Himmel, Chair, Lexington Permanent Building Committee, Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting Member (arrived 7 51 A M ), Bob Pressman, Member, Lexington Community Preservation Committee (arrived 7 58 A M ), Carl Valente, Town Manager (arrived 8 10 A M ), Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities (arrived 8 10 A M ) Documents Presented • Notice of Public Meeting/Agenda for CEC Meeting, August 12, 2015 • Background Information Regarding the on-going consideration of the Multiple Schools Construction Projects (MSCP) (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mails, July 23, 2015 1 .37 P M , July 29, 2015 11 .21 P M , & July 30, 2015 9.35 P M , to the other CEC Members and Sara Arnold ) • Projected Meetings for the Rest of Calendar Year 2015 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mail, July 29, 2015 0039 A.M , to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold) • State's Community Preservation Trust-Fund Collections (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mail, August 4, 2015 6 16 P M , to the other CEC Members) • Draft Minutes of the CEC Meetings, July 16, 2015 (Morning & Summit) (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mail, July 24, 2015 4 12 P M , to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold) • Cary Memorial Building Renovation, August 11, 2015 (with additional annotations) Budget/Actual Table & Summary of Construction Costs to Date (Handout by Mr Goddard) Call to Order Ms Hai called the meeting to order at 7:34 A.M Updates on any new information from the Board of Selectmen (BoS), the School Committee (SC), or other Town bodies regarding the MSCP Ms Hai reported that she was not aware of any new information for discussion at this meeting and Ms Crocker confirmed that for the SC Mr Himmel recommended that whatever projects are recommended by the Town bodies address the capacity enhancements to meet the current overcrowding and projected enrollment increases in terms of the student sections, not just the individual student count, as, in practice, the education is accomplished by sections He was also concerned that further evaluation of increased capacity at the new Harrington Elementary School is not a concurrent priority Ms Hai reiterated this Committee's long-standing concern that the decision on any capacity-enhancement projects should have the benefit of the formal analysis of any non-capital, operational, means that might moderate the need for capital projects We've been told that completion of that analysis is many months away—which Ms Hai said might make it difficult to achieve consensus-support of all of the capital projects likely to be Page 1 of 3 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting August 12, 2015 recommended by the SC and the Board of Selectmen Ms Hai hopes that there will be flexibility in the approach in those recommendations [7 50 A.M Ms. Crocker& Mr Himmel left] Committee's Actions Plan for FY 2016 Ms Hai reminded members to submit to Mr Kanter as soon as practical their updated "front matter" for what will be the Committee's Report to the 2016 Annual Town Meeting Other discussion under this Agenda item was deferred to a future meeting Consider dates and times for future Committee meetings including those at upcoming Summit Meetings and at the Fall 2015 Special Town Meeting (STM) The Committee discussed whether to change the default time for its Tuesday morning meetings from the current 8.00 A.M —10'00 A.M to 7.30 A M —9.30 A.M so members would be able to leave earlier to attend to other matters (Mr Cole had advised Mr Kanter that he had a slight preference for the earlier time and provided his expected availability for meetings through the end of this year ) It was unanimously agreed to switch to the earlier time block, but with recognition that any Town-staff presence would not be expected before the start of the regular workday unless they chose to do so Ms Hai said that the Committee would plan to attend to Committee-only matters first, as needed, to minimize the burden on Town staff [This was discussed later in this meeting with Mr Valente, who agreed with, and welcomed, that consideration by this Committee ] Mr Kanter reviewed the previously provided list of projected dates & times for this Committee to meet through the end of this year—the majority being Tuesday mornings [8.00 A.M Ms. Ashton left] Except where noted in the following, all the members expected, at this time, to be available at all of the listed dates & times September 16, 2015, evening, potential Summit 3 on MSCP Ms Hai and Ms Barnett do not expect to be available October 23, 2015, morning Would slip to the 30th if the start of the fall STM were to be November 9th rather than the 2nd, or to November 6th if the start were to be November 16th October 27, 2015, morning Mr Cole does not expect to be available November 2, 2015, evening Ms Barnett does not expect to be available November 24, 2015, morning Eliminate as quorum unlikely with Thanksgiving travel December 8, 2015, morning Mr Cole does not expect to be available December 15, 2015, morning Ms Barnett does not expect to be available December 22, 2015, morning Ms Barnett does not expect to be available December 29, 2015, morning Eliminate as quorum unlikely with New Year's travel Ms Hai will work with Patty Moore, Lexington Budget Officer—who is developing the schedule for the departmental presentations to this Committee later this year of their FY2017—FY2021 Capital Improvement Projects—to try to avoid scheduling a presentation when the Committee member who is the liaison to the Department is not present. Ms Hai suggested, and the members agreed, that the Committee should plan to hold a morning meeting on September 1, 2015, for the purpose of discussing what happened at the BoS meeting the evening before—specifically with regard to the MSCP Page 2 of 3 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting August 12, 2015 Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Ms Hai asked Mr Valente and Mr Goddard to update this Committee on the funding actions that are being pursued to assure completion of the on-going project to restore the Cary Memorial Building Using his handout, Mr Goddard explained how the contractor has experienced several significant changes in what were understood to be the structural conditions existing at the contract award—the repair of which would normally have been accomplished, independent of the instant contract—and the Town decided it was prudent to accomplish a couple of additional enhancements requested by the Fire Department and the Department of Public Works in conjunction with the restoration The former are being funded as an FY2015 Operating Expense, the latter, as an FY2015 Building-Envelope capital expense There were sufficient, already appropriated, funds in both cases to cover those expenses without adversely affecting other work needed in FY2015 While there still remain some contingency funding in the project's budget and the project remains on schedule to have a Temporary Occupancy Permit in October 2015, and it is still too soon to identify whether those remaining funds will be sufficient, Mr Valente said the Town is prepared to take additional actions, if necessary, to ensure a successful, and timely, completion of the project. This Committee discussed both the already planned and the potential funding actions, and concurred that those actions are reasonable and prudent. Mr Kanter reported on Community Preservation Trust-Fund Collections and the mechanism whereby that Fund might receive an infusion of up to $10 million if, after the State's Supplemental FY2015 funding actions, there remains at least a $20 million surplus in that year's budget. Public Hearing planned for September 9, 2015, likely at 7.00 P M , regarding to which finish should the Minuteman Statue be restored Events regarding the Minuteman Regional High School's Capital Program, including the fact that at least 3 member towns in its district (Arlington, Belmont, & Sudbury) have formally advised of their opposition to district-wide referendum to approve the capital plan (vice going for a unanimous vote of all member-Town's Town Meetings), that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) would be voting whether to accept the Statement of Interest (SOI) for a new, 628-student, school project in Lincoln, and that the Minuteman School Committee plans to meet on September 8th on whether to go to the Town Meetings or pursue a district-wide referendum this December Ms Hai said she has the MSBA letter reporting they voted to accept that SOI Approval of Minutes A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #2 Minutes for the Committee's morning meeting on July 16, 2015, as presented Vote 4-0 A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft Minutes for the Committee's evening meeting at the Summit on July 16, 2015, as presented Vote 3-0-1 (Ms. Barnett abstained as she had not attended that meeting) Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 8 50 A.M to adjourn Vote 4-0 These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on September 1, 2015 Page 3 of 3