The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2015-07-09-AC-min 7/09/15 Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee July 9,2015 Place and time- Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7 30 p.m Members present Glenn Parker, Chair, John Bartenstem, Vice Chair and Secretary; Alan Levine, Eric Michelson, Richard Neumeier, Members Absent Mollie Garberg; Beth Masterman, Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Other attendees Susan McLeish, Margaret Coppe, School Committee, Patncia Moore, Budget Officer The meeting was called to order at 7 43 p.m 1 Committee Membership and Officers. Mr Parker reported that Ms McLeish's term of membership on this Committee was ending, and she did not seek reappointment. He thanked her for her participation, and she thanked Committee members for their support dunng her tenure Town Moderator Deborah Brown will be appointing a new member It was agreed to postpone the annual election of officers until more members are present. 2. Announcements. Mr Michelson reported on the following events relating to Minuteman Technical Institute (Minuteman Tech) • The Town of Wayland passed an article requesting approval to leave Minuteman Tech as a member-community A unanimous Minuteman Tech Board (Board)vote is required for approving the request. • A previous effort by the Board to change the regional distract agreement that regulates the governing functions of the member communities has been abandoned. • The Board is focusing on the need for a new facility, which would be considerably less expensive than renovating. The project has been approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authonty (MSBA), tnggenng the need for approval by the District within the MSBA's timeline either by (1) an affirmative Town Meeting vote of all member-communities, or(2) a majonty distract-wide vote in a single referendum held in all member-communities on the same day If approval fails, the future of the school is uncertain. It was noted that the State controls the tuition charged for out-of- distract students, but the State recently agreed that a capital funding fee can be added to the tuition. Mr Bartenstem reported that MWRA water usage reports for Lexington indicated an unusual spike dunng April and May, raising concerns about a leak in the system It now appears that there was a problem in the Town of Bedford, which has had several wells down. Bedford is incurring the costs for the necessary repairs as well as for the consumed water 1 7/09/15 Minutes 3 Minutes. There was a review of eight sets of minutes for which technical and clanfication-related edits were recommended. A motion was made and seconded to approve minutes of meetings on the following dates, as amended. February 19, 2015, February 26, 2015, March 5, 2015, March 30, 2015, Apnl 1, 2015, April 6, 2015, Apnl 8, 2015, and April 15, 2015 The motion passed. VOTE 5-0 4 Adjustments to the FY2015 budget: Ms Moore reported that two avenues are being pursued to balance line items in the Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15)budget: • Salary Adjustment Account: The Board of Selectmen (BoS) recently approved the transfer of$549,000 from the Salary Adjustment Account for allocation to the appropriate line items, as identified on a handout. When the FY15 budget was adopted at the 2014 Annual Town Meeting (ATM), many salaries, particularly those associated with union contracts that were being negotiated at the time, had not been finalized. Also, buy-back policies associated with unused sick time and vacation time resulted in the need for adjustments The Salary Adjustment Account is a continuing balance account. At the 2015 ATM, $878,000 was appropriated to the account for use dunng FY16 A motion was made and seconded to endorse the transfer as approved by the BoS The motion passed. VOTE 5-0 • Reserve Fund. The Appropnation Committee controls the use of funds in the Reserve Fund to cover unanticipated expenses FY15 legal fees exceeded those anticipated by $24,000 because of costs associated with the solar panel installation at Hartwell Avenue[All] and warranty issues associated with an artificial turf installation on Lincoln Field. The current Reserve Fund balance is $634,380, the fund started FY15 with $900,000 A motion was made and seconded to approve the transfer of$24,000 from the Reserve Fund to cover legal fees, as discussed. The motion passed. VOTE 5-0 5 Liaison Reports. Mr Parker reported on recent events associated with the Apnl 2015 Special Town Meeting(STM) #1, Article 2 Appropnate for School Facilities Capital Projects Pnor to the STM, the BoS adopted a consensus document, which outlined the anticipated approach to the project and a plan to allocate the appropriated design funds to two phases The document specifies that the BoS should seek input from the school and finance committees before issuing approval to release funds for work beyond Phase 1 Phase 1 included a design and feasibility study to determine the most feasible, cost effective and educationally desirable approach for addressing space needs associated with increasing school enrollment. DiNisco Design Partnership was hired in the sprang, and there is a summit meeting scheduled for two days next week to review the Phase 1 work. This is being done in anticipation of a request to release the funds reserved for the tasks that go beyond the Phase 1 effort. There was discussion about a number of alternatives for addressing enrollment increases at the elementary schools, the middle schools, and the pre-kindergarten program It was noted that the enrollment increases at Fiske Elementary School are at the high end of projections and overcrowding is already a problem 2 7/09/15 Minutes A number of questions about the project were identified, and Ms Coppe agreed to forward those to the School Committee Chair in advance of the summit. This Committee stressed the need for a clear understanding of how much money has been spent, what has been accomplished with that money, and how future project monies will be used, including a review of any aspects of the consensus document or project concepts that have changed since last spring. 6 Miscellaneous. Mr Neumeier discussed the financial advantages of having in-house counsel 7 Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9 13 p.m. A list of documents and other exhibits used at the meeting is included below Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Recording Secretary Approved September 10, 2015 Exhibits 1 Meeting Agenda posted by Glenn Parker, Chair 2 Table FY2015 Proposed Year End Transfers, presented by Ms Moore 3