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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-02-07-AC-MIN.pdf APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE MEETING SELECTMEN'S MEETING ROOM FEBRUARY 7, 1994, 7:30 PM Present: G Burnell, C Coughlin, R Souza, C Abbott, J Pagett, R Borghesani, M O'Sullivan, P Lapointe, J Ryan Absent: S Nablo, M Mairson * Minutes of January 31st and February 1st, accepted as amended (unanimous) * Capital Expenditures Committee attended for comments of capital articles * CEC members attending were N Cannalonga, P Hamburger, G Holland, K Dooks * N Cannalonga discussed the Recreation requests: Article 13 apparently is seeking $ 160,000.Improvements at Pine Meadows will account for $ 125,000 of the request in order to make necessary improvements in accordance with the golf course master plan. CEC supports this request. The remaining $ 50,000 Article 14, is for a tot lot and storage shed at Lincoln Field, the final phase of the Lincoln Field development. CEC does not support this request and feels that there are more pressing needs that the Recreation Committee should be addressing with limited resources. * CEC then discussed the Central Dispatch request. Originally thought to be in the area of $ 1,375,000,the request increased to $ 1,800,000 on January 31st. The CEC believes that the request also includes ADA work, both internal and external, replacement of the cells, radio equipment for the cruisers and the dismantling and relocation of the wiring of the fire alarm boxes except for those in public buildings and commercial and industrial buildings where the landowner pays for the boxes. CEC feels that the $ 1,800,000 is excessive and will support the original request, less 10%, or approximately $ 1,200,000. * General discussion as to how we will pay for this improvement and is it all necessary. CEC feels that some of the costs can be deferred or eliminated in the area of ADA and accreditation. Strong sentiment that the "fat"must be squeezed from the request, do we need the "Cadillac"??. * CEC indicated that the Town Manager's budget shows no funding for neither the ambulance replacement nor the boiler replacement at the East lexington Fire Station and yet the ambulance is contained in Article 16. Seems to be a significant amount of confusion as to how the dollar requests were arrived at in a number of the capital articles. * CEC discussed the DPW equipment request, Article 9. There has been no funding in this area for three years and this is a way of " catching up". DPW list calls for the replacement of 22 pieces of equipment. CEC can support approximately $ 650,000,with no request for the next three years. There should be an offsetting decline in maintenance. CEC stated that $ 426,000 of the request is critical and the remainder should also be replaced. * CEC requested that the AC communicate to them the effect that the bonding will have on the FY 96 budget. * CEC has not arrived at a decision in relation to Article 17, Brook Cleaning. * G Burnell spoke to the issue and stated that something needs to be done in order to minimize potential legal suits * P Lapointe brought up issue of "Facilities Manager" and it was felt that S Nablo should make a presentation to CEC . * CEC left and the AC resumed its meeting * C Coughlin stated that she felt that the AC need to discuss some issues Major concern over the fact that the AC made an error in having a meeting prior to the joint meeting with the School Committee on February 1st. There is a need to better coordinate the efforts of the AC and try to improve its functionality. Communication broke down and needs to be worked on. The meeting prior to the SC meeting was an apparent violation of the opening meeting law since it was not posted. This is a serious issue which needs to be discussed. All committees have tried to work together and C Coughlin feels that serious damage to that process took place on Tuesday. * C Coughlin stated that she and G Burnell met with J Young and J Moynihan on Wednesday, February 2nd, at which time J Young expressed his dismay over what had taken place on the previous evening. J Young stated that the SC had a difficult time in responding due to the fact that they were not aware of the issues to be discussed prior to the meeting. Concern expressed over a pending article to appear in the Minuteman on February 9th. Both C Coughlin and G Burnell have spoken to the reporter in an attempt to clarify the issue. * R Borghesani stated that he felt he was in the middle on this issue. He has been and continues to be supportive of the school department. He stated that J Young is very sensitive to any suggestions or recommendations from outside the school department. He stated that he understands to a degree the concern expressed by J Young but also feels that the issue has been discussed previously and it should not have been totally unexpected. It was stated that on numerous occasions in his presentation he couched his comments by stating that he needed to further analyze his computations. There were numerous meetings that had to be canceled by the school department over the past few months which were scheduled to discuss this very issue. School department does not appear to be open for input and still has not prepared any financial options and only appears to look the educational part of the problem. R Borgesani still supports the opening of the Hastings but would like the school department to look at the financial as well as the educational issues. The "ten year" forecast is admittedly a late entry but should be considered a viable option. * P Lapointe commented on how we need to better organize our time and efforts as a committee and how we work together. There must be a more efficient use of our time together. * G Burnell discussed the opening meeting law issue. The meeting with the SC was posted. When the AC gathered prior to the meeting with the SC all that was discussed was a "batting order" for presentation purposes. There were no votes taken. * J Pagett discussed the fact that she has been a damage control mode since last Tuesday. If there is an exchange of information in public the meeting must be posted. If AC not fully prepared for the meeting then we should have re-scheduled rather than meeting before the SC meeting. AC is not used to making public presentations and we need to work on that in the future. AC has not felt comfortable at Town Meeting and if we are going to expand our public presence we need to do a better job. If presentation is going to be made there should be a majority and minority report on the issue. * R Souza stated that it is difficult for aa appointed committee (AC) to have an open and free discussion with an elected board (SC). Appointed board can pretty much have a free reign where the elected board has a constituency to answer to. * C Abbott agrees with R Souza on the problem of the elected and appointed boards and committees interaction but felt that the SC should have made itself available to discuss the issue prior to the scheduled meeting. We should also make sure that if we are going to discuss an issue in a public forum with another board or committee that board or committee should be given notification as to what will be discussed. * G burnell felt that the AC didn't prepare very well for the meeting with the SC and we need to do a better job in the future. C Coughlin and G Burnell met with J Young and J Moynihan and apologized for any misunderstandings. Nothing that was presented was really new and should not have taken the SC by surprise. School department has had information at its disposal but has been reluctant to share it with S Nablo. G Burnell feels that J Young is very hesitant and doesn't readily share information with the AC or S Nablo. * C Coughlin senses that the AC needs to do something in order to ease the situation as we see it with the SC. G Burnell has called J Oberteuffer and is awaiting a call back. * G Burnell started discussion of the Hastings in order to clarify the position of the AC for the SC meeting on February 15th. AC will discuss further at our next meeting when all members are expected to be in attendance. Further discussion regarding privatization will also take place at that meeting. * G Burnell discussed the need to move forward with the AC report to Town Meeting. Members are expected to have an outline or draft by next week. The following is a list of assignments for the report: Introduction (GB), Strategic Planning Process (JP) Education(CC,CA,RB), Conservation(PL), DPW(PL), Recreation(PL,SN), Public Safety(JP),Culture & recreation(MM), Capital(RS), Summary of Budget(AC), Art 7,8,9,10,25(PL,RS),Article 13,14,17(SN),Article 11 (RS),Article 15,16(JP), Article 19(CC,RS,RB) * Next Meetings, Monday February 14, February 22, February 28 * Motion to Adjourn acmfeb7