Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-21-CEC-min Minutes of the v,sM Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting xx October 21, 2021 APRIL 19" Location and Time: Remote Meeting; 8:00 A.M. CEC Members Present (remote participation): Charles Lamb, Chair; David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk; Sandy Beebee; Rod Cole; and Frank Smith CEC Members Absent: None Others Present (remote participation): Other Lexington Committees: Sara Cuthbertson & Scott Bokun, School Committee liaisons; Glenn Parker, Chair, Appropriation Committee (AC) liaison; Staff: Finance Department: Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Documents Presented: • Notice of Public Meeting/Agenda CEC Meeting, October 21, 2021 • Draft #4 CEC Report to Special Town Meeting (STM) 2021-1, prepared by Mr. Kanter • FY2023 Budget Summit I Slides, pages 3, 6,11, and 12; Mr. Kanter's e-mail, October 20, 2021 Call to Order Mr. Lamb called this Remote (Virtual) Meeting, which had been posted as such, to order at 8:00 A.M. As all those present had been previously advised of the special conditions of this meeting, he passed on repeating them (i.e., the authority to not require a physical presence of a quorum and other selected terms under the Open Meeting Law is legislation signed on June 16th of this year by Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker). Mr. Lamb advised that materials provided electronically to the Committee or presented at the meeting, would be available upon request and are those listed in the Minutes as Documents Presented. Any votes during this meeting would be taken by a roll call. Further, this meeting would be recorded to assist in preparing Minutes, and the recording would be deleted once the Minutes is approved. Mr. Lamb took a roll-call attendance, determining that all five members were present. Report to the Fall STM 2021-1 Mr. Kanter led a review of the draft report, which included the sharing of additional information and the taking of votes, as follows: • Article 3, Establish, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds: What will be requested under this Article at that STM is not yet available so no review could be taken at this meeting. • Article 5, Appropriate for Police Station Architectural Design and Swing Space Construction: The appropriation request includes $50,000 for moving the 911 dispatch center to the swing space. When the project is complete, the dispatch center will need to be returned to the new Police Station. The State performs the move in both directions, but only absorbs the cost of one move. It is not known which direction will trigger the State charge. If the State happens to pay for this initial trip, the $50,000 would be rescinded and a new request would be brought to a later Town Meeting. A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this Article. Roll-Call Vote: 5-0 Page 1 of 3 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting October 21, 2021 • Article 6, Appropriate for Community Preservation Projects: The Article includes two requests for supplemental funding for projects previously funded by Town Meeting. For the "Park and Playground Improvements- Sutherland Park", there was discussion about supporting the change in scope, which is responding to neighborhood concerns, while recognizing that it would have been preferred that these concerns had been identified during the original outreach process and request for funding. For the "Parker Meadow Accessible Trail Construction", some editorial changes were suggested. For the 3rd element of this Article, "Old Reservoir Bathhouse Construction", no supplemental funds are requested; just a change in scope from renovation to a new, prefabricated, building. It was agreed that Ms. Beebee and Mr. Kanter would work on revising the wordings for all the elements. A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this Article, but subject to review of the revised supplemental text when ready. Roll-Call Vote:5-0 • Article 7, Appropriate for Westview Cemetery Building Construction: A Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of this Article. Roll-Call Vote: 5-0 It was agreed to schedule additional meetings for 8:00 A.M. on October 27 and October 29 to ensure time to finalize and vote on this report. (That was along with the previously expected 8:00 a.m. meeting on October 28.) The October 29 meeting will be cancelled if the report is fully approved before then. Mr. Kanter will submit to the Town Clerk's Office the request for posting all three of next-week's meetings. Matters Related to the FY2023 Financial Process Capital Improvement Program/Project (CIP) requests for the Schools and Fire Department will be reviewed with their staff at the October 28 meeting. The CIPs are expected to be available tomorrow. Questions for those two staffs should be submitted to the assigned members—Ms. Beebee and Mr. Kanter, respectively—by next Monday (the 25th), if possible. The committees at the FY2023 Budget Summit (Summit) were asked at that Summit to provide back their positions on the current FY2023 allocations to the Other Postemployment Benefits Fund (OPEB), the Pension Fund, and the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF). The Committee had a discussion, with consideration of some of that Summit's material distributed before this meeting, about those allocations and underlying policies. Mr. Parker suggested that the Pension Board may be conservative in its recommendations for reaching 100% funding in the Pension Fund to avoid undue pressure on Town resources. While sensitive to the bearing that OPEB allocations have on the Town's AAA rating—which this Committee recognizes is an important financial benefit to the Town—this Committee's members supported decreasing, if practical, the amount that is currently identified for the OPEB and applying those then-extra funds to the Pension Fund in order to pay off the Pension Fund obligation sooner than later. The key factor for wanting to accelerate that Fund in reaching 100% is the then relief from the major, annual, expense to it (believed to be on the order of $9 million). If applying such then-extra funds to the Pension Fund is not practical, the Committee would apply the then-extra funds to the CSF. Mr. Lamb agreed to share this Committee's sentiments with the Select Board as well as Jim Malloy, Town Manager, and Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager for Finance. Page 2 of 3 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting October 21, 2021 Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Mr. Cole reported that during the Commission on Disability meeting on October 19, 2021, there was a Munroe Center for the Arts (Center) presentation about a project to add a 300-person theater and elevator to the back of the facility, that it rents from the Town, to enhance accessibility. The Center said it has a private donor funding an architect and cost estimators. The architect has schematic drawings (a sketch was shown) and hopes to have full design documents and cost estimates to request the 2022 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) provide construction funding by the Town. During discussion by this Committee, there was agreement that there wasn't likely adequate time for such a request to be ready for that ATM, nor was it clear that those involved understood the full extent and timing of the process to be Town-Meeting ready. Mr. Kanter reported he understood the Town was responsible for the exterior of that building; the Center for what is done inside to facilitate the work of the tenants. Mr. Cole confirmed their request is for Town to fund the extension of the building. Mr. Kanter suggested that even if this project is not brought to the 2022 ATM, but is being endorsed as of interest by the Town, the project. should be considered for included in this Committee's FY2023-FY2027 Capital Plan. Mr. Parker suggest that Christina Burwell, the Executive Director of the Center, would be the logical person to contact for further insight into their proposed project. Mr. Cole agreed to contact her for additional information on such a project. Approval of Minutes: Deferred Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 9:05 A.M. to adjourn. Roll-Call Vote:5-0 This Minutes was approved by the CEC at its meeting on October 27, 2021 Page 3 of 3