HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-22-AC-min 10/22/15 AC Minutes
Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee
October 22,2015
Place and time- Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7 30 p.m
Members present John Bartenstem, Vice Chair and Secretary; Kate Colburn, Mollie Garberg; Alan
Levine, Beth Masterman, Eric Michelson, Andrei Radulescu-Banu, Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex
officio)
Members Absent Glenn Parker, Chair, Richard Neumeier
Others Present: Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting member, Bob Pressman, Community Preservation
Committee (CPC)
The meeting was called to order at 7 35 p.m.
1 Announcements. Mr Bartenstem reported that the first meeting of the Town Manager's
Working Group on financial modeling will be held on October 29t1i and that Ms Colburn has
agreed to serve as the Committee's designated representative The group will provide advice and
feedback to Town staff in modeling the potential impact on the taxpayer of the mynad school and
town building projects currently being considered.
2. Articles for November 2, 2015 Special Town Meeting (STM) #2. In preparation for
finalizing this Committee's report to the STM, the articles were discussed as follows
• STM#2, Article 2 Amend Minuteman Regional Agreement Mr Michelson reported on
a meeting regarding Wayland's request to withdraw from the Regional Minuteman School
distract that he attended with Carl Valente, Lexington Town Manager, Dave Horton,
Lexington's representative to the Minuteman board, and representatives from the Town of
Wayland. The positions of both Towns were discussed. The issue is complex because it is
interconnected with a previous attempt to create a new regional agreement for the sixteen
member communities and the ongoing effort to rebuild the school facility Approval on
such items requires a high degree of consensus that has been difficult to attain.
Mr Valente is concerned about the financial impacts if Wayland leaves the district, which
would result in fewer participants covering certain financial obligations, including the
district's unfunded Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) liability The Board of
Selectmen (BoS)voted 3-2 to recommend disapproval of this article
It was noted that if Lexington votes no on Article 2, this stops the process for addressing
Wayland's request because all sixteen member communities must support a town's
withdrawal It was also noted that Wayland does not support a replacement facility for the
school, foreclosing the potential of getting unanimous approval by all member towns The
replacement project can still be approved by a two-thirds vote of the residents of the member
communities in a district-wide referendum. Mr Valente thinks the latter route for getting a
new building is feasible
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A motion was made and seconded to support indefinite postponement(IP) of this article on
the ground that the issue could be brought up again at the spnng 2016 Annual Town
Meeting when more information might be available The motion failed. VOTE 3-4
A motion was then made and seconded to support Article 2 The motion failed. VOTE 1-4-
2 Mr Michelson, who is preparing the Committee's report on this Article, will include in
his write-up a discussion of both the majonty and mmonty positions
• STM#2, Article 3 Transfer ofProperty to LexHAB The Committee will not take a
position on this article, because it does not include a financial request.
• STM#2, Article 4 Appropriation for Water System Improvements Mr Addelson
reported that the funding request for this article has been increased from $2.2 million to $2.5
million and that it will be financed by a combination of borrowing and $400,000 from water
enterprise fund retained earnings, which currently stand at approximately $1 8 million. A
motion was made and seconded to support the appropriation request as revised. The motion
passed. VOTE 7-0
• STM#2, Article 5 Appropriate for Property Improvements 241 Grove Street Ms
Garberg reported that the funding request for this article has been increased from $177,100
to $200,000 to include possible requirements identified by the Histoncal Commission. A
motion was made and seconded to support the article as revised. The motion passed.
VOTE 7-0
• STM#2, Article 6 Appropriate Funds for Fire Station Site Study Mr Levine reported
that according to a previous study, it is possible to build a new fire station at the current fire
station headquarters site, but more study is required because the site is very constrained. It
was clarified that the funding request is for $20,000
• STM#2, Article 7 Amend FY2016 Operating, Enterprise Fund and Community
Preservation Budgets Using a handout, Mr Addelson reviewed the items that will be
included in Article 7 A motion was made and seconded to support Article 7, as described.
The motion passed. VOTE 7-0
• STM#2, Article 8 Appropriate to and from Specified Stabilization Funds Using a
handout, Mr Addelson identified amounts to be appropriated into stabilization funds under
Article 8 A motion was made and seconded to support Article 8, as described. The motion
passed. VOTE 7-0
• STM#2, Article 9 Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements It is anticipated
that this article will be indefinitely postponed.
• STM#2, Article 10 Appropriate for Prior Years ' Unpaid Bills Mr Radulescu-Banu
added his vote in support of this article, making the vote now 9-0
3 November 2, 2015 STM#1. In preparation for STM #1, which includes funding requests
for school projects, Mr Radulescu-Banu distributed a handout showing the rate of inflation in
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school building project costs since 1997 based on the cost per square foot. He noted that the
average annual inflation increase has been 8 85%, which is significantly greater than general
inflation increases during the same penod. Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities,
has explained to him that new state regulations relating to sub-contractors are one significant factor
leading to the inflation of public building construction costs Mr Levine noted that a number of
other factors, including increased world-wide demand for steel and other construction materials,
may play a role as well
The meeting adjourned at 9 15 p.m
The documents used at the meeting are listed below
Respectfully submitted,
Sara Arnold
Recording Secretary
Approved November 5, 2015
Exhibits
1 Agenda, posted by Glenn Parker, Chair
2 Handout on Proposed Action Under Articles 7, 8 and 10, prepared by Mr Addelson
3 Data on new construction costs in square feet for school projects in Lexington since 1997,
prepared Mr Radulescu-Banu
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