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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-12-08-CEC-minMinutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting December 8, 2022 Page 1 of 2 Location and Time: Remote Meeting; 8:00 A.M. Members Present (remote participation): Charles Lamb, Chair; David Kanter, Vice−Chair & Clerk; Sandy Beebee; Mike Boudett; Rod Cole; & Lisah Rhodes Members Absent: None Other Present: Katharine Labrecque, Lexington Budget Officer Documents Presented: • Notice of Public Meeting/Agenda CEC Meeting, December 1, 2022 • Spreadsheet of FY2024–FY2028 Capital Improvement Projects/Program (CIPs) Reflecting All Department/Office Pending Comments • Proposed General Remarks Regarding CEC Opinions of the FY2024–FY2028 Proposed Funding and Timing Call to Order Mr. Lamb called this Remote (Virtual) Meeting, which had been posted as such, to order at 8:00 A.M. As the Committee members and the others joining this meeting 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 had, by legislation Governor Charles D. Baker signed on July 16, 2022, their expiration extended to March 31, 2023.) 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 are approved. By individual conversations to them, Mr. Lamb accomplished a roll-call attendance and determined all six members are present. Background for This Meeting Mr. Lamb described that, as requested by this Committee and consistent with recent years, a meeting with the Town Manager and Town’s Finance Department members has been scheduled for this Committee to provide its comments and opinions for consideration by the Town Manager as he prepares the “Fiscal Year 2024 Town Manager’s Preliminary Recommended Budget & Financing Plan” (called the “White Book”)—which is scheduled to be released in January, 2023. Building This Committee’s Positions Mr. Kanter had distributed this year’s spreadsheet of CIPs to all our members so each member could initially determine which of the CIPs they felt warranted their comments to the Town Manager, if any, and with their consideration of what might be included in a General Comments section that will be the introduction to this Committee’s submission to the Town Manager and his Finance staff. The first agreement made by the Committee members was that it wanted today’s outcome to be left in the Chair’s hands, with assistance from our Vice-Chair, for the transmission of the product to the Town Manager and the Finance Staff. Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting December 8, 2022 Page 2 of 2 Ms. Rhodes raised that she found the current data-gathering from the departments and offices put them under great pressure. Mr. Lamb concurred that they currently have a broad range of intensive, burdensome activities in the late fall, and he will be discussing that with Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager for Finance, to see if any adjustments can be made. When Mr. Lamb asked each of the members for their inputs a broad range of issues was raised; some based on the functions used by the presenters, others that identify weakness in projections of the required 5-year work and funding needs, and many other issues to specific CIPs. Mr. Lamb asked each of those members to draft the language warranted in the General Comments and/or in specific or groups of CIPs that deserve those attentions. Mr. Lamb managed the on-going discussion by all members with the identification, modification, or elimination of comments through the entire spreadsheet, so the outcomes reflected this Committee’s positions on those that remained. Throughout that process, recommendations were also suggested for inclusion in the General Comments. Mr. Lamb asked all the members to submit the cores of what they reported. Also identified, by being colored red, are some recommended changes in the identifications of CIPs, and colored yellow were some suggestions for which of those CIPs’ comments deserved early important highlighting in the spreadsheet. As planned, when the discussion had completed, all the resulting information was left to the Chair and Vice-Chair to edit, add, and eliminate as they saw fit while giving consideration of the members inputs. Adjourn A Motion was Moved and Seconded at 9:02 A.M. to adjourn. Roll-Call Vote: 6–0 This Minutes was approved by the CEC at its meeting on January 26, 2023.