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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-16 SB-min Select Board Meeting May 16, 2022 A remote participation work session meeting of the Lexington Select Board was called to order at 7:01 p.m. on Monday, May 16, 2022. Ms. Hai, Chair; Mr. Lucente; Vice Chair, Mr. Pato, Ms. Barry and Mr. Sandeen; were present, as well as Mr. Malloy, Town Manager; Ms. Axtell, Deputy Town Manager; and Ms. Katzenback, Executive Clerk. Ms. Hai stated that the meeting was being conducted via Zoom as posted, with the agenda on the Town’s website. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Select Board Committee Appointment To appoint Charles Hornig as the Planning Board Member to the Housing Partnership Board effective immediately to fill an unexpired term set to expire on September 30, 2024. DOCUMENTS: Planning Board Recommendation Letter for Housing Partnership Board Membership VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, by roll call, the Select Board voted 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda. ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION 1. Discuss Select Board Meeting Participation – Hybrid Options Ms. Hai stated that the existing legislative relief will expire on July 15, 2022. The Board need to be prepared by that time to return to in-person meetings which allow the public to attend in-person in the event the legislative relief is not extended. Ms. Hai asked the Board the Board to discuss the option of returning in-person meetings, prior to July 15, 2022, and subsequently, and what technology and other accommodations will need to be in place to provide both the equity of access created by a hybrid format, and also a safe and reasonable environment for the Board and the community. Vincent Lerow, AV Technician, stated that there is technology integration to make the Zoom experience better, while also leveraging some of the equipment already in place. One option would be to make the space more hybrid-friendly, which could cost approximately $12,000. Another option would be to make the space hybrid native, with an estimated cost of $40,000. He noted that the video control system will need to be changed if any piece of video equipment in the room is changed, because it is outdated. In response to a question from Mr. Pato, Mr. Lerow explained that the estimated $40,000 would be for him to do much of the integration work himself. If this work was farmed out to contractor, it could cost double the estimate. This option would allow the Board to choose between using an automated camera source, or Lex Media’s video source. During a broadcast meeting, he would find Lex Media’s video source to be superior, due to their experience filming meetings. It may be difficult to actually get this hardware in a reasonable timeframe, but refurbished hardware may be quicker to obtain. Mr. Lucente noted that his concern is that many different groups use this meeting room, and it may be difficult to have a staff member present for each meeting to help run the system. Mr. Lerow stated that it would be possible to put similar equipment into other meeting rooms around Town. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen about supporting larger meetings like Financial Summits, Mr. Lerow stated that the second option uses more of an automated system, which would not work as well for supporting meetings with a large group of attendees, but both options would allow for a similar level of access for residents wishing to attend and make a comment in person or remotely. In response to a question from Mr. Pato, Mr. Lerow explained that the first option allows for use of the existing microphones, but the second option will allow for beam tracking microphones installed in the ceiling. Mr. Sandeen asked if the Town might need to have more than one room set up for hybrid meetings to support multiple board meetings or for redundancy. Mr. Malloy noted that the Police Station, once completed, will also be setup with a similar arrangement for use by other Town entities. The Board agreed to discuss financing options when the Board discusses American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) later on tonight’s agenda. DOCUMENTS: Proposed Options for Hybrid Technology 2. Update on Committee Database Management Kat Labrecque, Management Analyst reviewed options for database management. Granicus offers a board management tool which integrates well with Civic Plus and has an online application. The system is completely customizable and can be used to create applicant packets for public meetings and redact pertinent information. It also allows for a number of reports to be generated, such as board vacancies and a master roster list. The system tracts term expirations for boards/committees and will automatically send emails to notify those involved of an upcoming term expiration. She noted that it would likely take 3-4 weeks to implement this new system. There is a one-time setup fee of $15,000, and an annual fee of approximately $7,500. Tim Goncalves, Director of Innovation and Technology noted that there is money in the department’s budget to cover this item for this year. The Board agreed to move forward with this new software. DOCUMENTS: Boards and Committee presentation 3. Update on Interim Select Board Committee Appointment Process Ms. Hai noted that there are currently approximately thirty openings on various committees. The Board reviewed a new draft application for board/committee membership. This includes a better explanation of the process, links to the Town website for the committee, and a suggestion that everybody should attend at least one meeting of the committee for which they are applying, prior to actually applying to the committee. The draft also has a voluntary item for supplying demographic information. Mr. Sandeen noted that he would like for the application to ask if an applicant has “recently” attended a board/committee meeting, instead of if one has “ever” attended a board/committee meeting. Mr. Lucente stated that he believes a question as to why the applicant is interested in a certain committee/board needs to be more explicit. Mr. Pato suggested that, if an applicant is applying for multiple boards/committees, an indication of priority of interest might be helpful. The Board agreed to continue to review any updated drafts of this application. The Board reviewed the interim process for submitted applications. Mr. Pato noted that there are a couple of regulatory boards that he thinks the Board should consider a more deliberative process for appointments, such as interviews for candidates. He is comfortable with the existing process for other boards/commissions. He would be happy to review the list of groups to see if it would make sense for the Town Manager to conduct some applicant interviews and appointments, if the Board deems appropriate. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen, Ms. Katzenback stated that staff will work towards pursuing a recruitment effort to fill positions in June 2022 and September 2022. DOCUMENTS: WORKING DRAFT Application for Board or Committee Membership 4. Discuss Select Board Committee Liaison Assignments & Responsibilities Ms. Hai suggested that, except for places where membership seats are written into the operating documents of the committee, there be no more than one liaison to any given committee. This likely only impacts the Comp Plan Advisory Committee and the Economic Development Advisory Committee. She explained that she worked to break the committees into pods, so that a liaison would have a particular portfolio of committees. The proposed pods are Transportation and Housing; Health and Human Services; Economic Development/Events/Arts; and Facilities/Public Works/Public Grounds. Ms. Barry suggested pulling out all memberships from the liaison roles to look at them differently, as these often have separate duties. Mr. Pato noted that he would like to reconsider the Policy Committee as a subcommittee to this Board to be able to handle policy issues more efficiently. The Board discussed a draft document that highlights the differences between the role of a liaison and the role of a member. Ms. Hai noted that one of the expectations is that committee chairs will work with their Select Board liaison, to make sure that the Board is fully informed of any Town Meeting warrant article being considered, well in advance of it being placed on the warrant. Mr. Pato stated that he would like to formalize this a bit better, so that the process has a timetable and some expectation of what the outreach would be to prepare for a Board presentation by other committees. Mr. Sandeen stated that he believes the Board needs to better clarify what its definition of “fully informed” means with regard to warrant article submissions by committees, because this phrase could be interpreted differently from person to person on the Board. Ms. Barry noted that there may need to be additional information added to this document that Town staff is also consulted on some of these warrant article submissions. Mr. Malloy agreed. He explained that sometimes staff does not know about these articles until a week or so before the deadline for Town Meeting, and the budget cycle has already been passed where some of these things have budget implications. These items need to be reviewed by staff well before Town Meeting. Mr. Lucente noted that the Board may want to consider committee chair training in order to keep everyone adequately informed of the process. It was noted that this document will be amended to pull out membership seats and try to balance the committees more evenly. The Board agreed to review revisions to this document at a later date. DOCUMENTS: Select Board Projects List, Committee List for Liaison Discussion - day of week order, DRAFT Select Board Policy 05-13-2022, Working DRAFT - sorted by day of week within committee grouping 5. Discuss Select Board Goals & Implementation VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, by roll call, the Select Board voted 5-0 to accept the Select Board Goal Setting Report from the October 2021 Retreat. Ms. Hai stated that she believes the process should be that the Board sets its goals and from these goals the Town Manager’s goals are set. In turn, the Town Manager the staff and committee chairs use these goals to develop their initiatives. The Board reviewed the five general strategic outcome areas: Community Compass, Livable Lexington, Fiscal Stewardship, Quality Services, and Thriving Local Economy. The Board agreed to take a deeper dive into this document at its June 2022 Work Session meeting. DOCUMENTS: Report from Raftelis from October 2021 Goal Setting Meeting, Working Document to populate with department initiatives, Goals FromStaff 6. Planning Discussion for Select Board Retreat Ms. Hai noted that this retreat is tentatively scheduled for the morning of August 31, 2022. Communications will be one of the topics at the retreat. Ms. Barry suggested that an additional topic could be around team building. Mr. Pato suggested a topic regarding expectations and the interplay of the different roles involved. 7. Update on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Mr. Malloy explained that he put together information for the Board on the participatory budget process. He noted the small business grants have been fully expended at this time. There are still three applicants to the process, but they do not necessarily have the needs of others that have already been awarded the grants. There are five nonprofit businesses in Town who have also recently reached out for assistance. Kat Labrecque reviewed the communications plan for this item. The first phase includes placing information on the website, along with a link to the project submission form. There will likely also be banners going across Massachusetts Avenue. The second phase involves a tool that will allow residents to pick from a menu of different projects, which have to equal a total of $500,000, and rank them based on priorities. This tool can be used for additional items such as the comprehensive plan or climate action planning in the future. Information will also be sent using postcards to every residence, social media, and various newsletters. In response to a question from Mr. Lucente, Ms. Labrecque stated that there can be an authentication item added to the survey. Multiple submittals from the same IP addresses can also be tagged and removed. Mr. Pato suggested that there be a way for people without a computer to participate as well. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen about what qualifies as a project submission, Mr. Malloy explained that there will be an initial call for projects. Once those are received, they will be vetted to make sure they comply with the ARPA spending guidelines. These projects will then become part of what everybody votes on and ranks. These will be presented to the Select Board beforehand. As part of the application process, he hopes to highlight whether or not potential projects fall under one of the Select Board goals. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen about what types of projects would comply, Ms. Labrecque stated that some examples from other communities included the topics of rental assistance, basic human service funding, business assistance, broadband wi-fi projects, mobile home improvements, and pathways to parks. The Board discussed the hybrid technology options previously mentioned during this meeting. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, by roll call, the Select Board voted 4-1 to allow for $40,000 to be spent toward option B, the native hybrid system presented by Vince Lerow. In response to a question from Ms. Barry, Sandhya Iyer stated that three different locations were reviewed for the pop-up incubator. 15 Depot Square was decided to be the most appropriate location at this time. In response to a question from Ms. Barry, Mr. Malloy noted that this location does have steps to access it. Ms. Hai stated that she is uncomfortable spending Town money to create a pop-up business in a location that cannot be accessed by all residents. Mr. Malloy stated that he would work with the Facilities Director to see if this space can possibly be changed to accommodate all residents. Ms. Iyer explained that the other possible locations for this are quite removed from the center of Town. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen about the timing for signage approvals, Ms. Iyer stated that this proposed location is a good one in terms of signage because it is located right next to the bike path and there are large windows for window signage. Mr. Malloy stated sandwich signs could also be approved by the Town Manager. Mr. Malloy stated that he would report back on the feasibility of accessibility for this space. DOCUMENTS: ARPA Update ADOURN Upon a motion duly made and seconded, by roll call, the Select Board voted 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 9:47 p.m. A true record; Attest: Kristan Patenaude Recording Secretary