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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
February 9, 2023
Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with An Act Relative to Extending Certain
State of Emergency Accommodations, signed into law by Gov. Baker on July 16, 2022, communica-
tion took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; John Bartenstein; Alan Levine,
Secretary; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town
Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Members Absent: Anil Ahuja
Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; James Malloy, Town Manager;
Mike Cronin, Director of Public Facilities
At 7:34 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and confirmed attendance by roll call.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Ms. Kosnoff announced that the Town completed a 20-year bond sale for $30 million to cover con-
struction costs of the new Police Station Headquarters. The Town received a triple-A rating from
Moody’s, and the True Interest Cost (TIC) was 3.03%, which is considered to be a low interest rate
in the current economic environment. The loan premium was over $3 million, which will be applied
to the cost of construction. The bond cannot be “called” during the first 10 years.
Mr. Parker announced the formation of the Select Board’s Ad Hoc Transportation Committee,
which will focus on the LexPress local bus service. The Select Board requested a liaison from the
Committee and, after asking for volunteers, Mr. Parker agreed to serve in that role.
Mr. Parker noted that he had shared the agenda for the upcoming Select Board meeting, including
documents related to two points of interest to the Committee: a slide show of the proposed design
for the solar canopy at the new Police Station Headquarters, and a memorandum from Jim Malloy
about remaining budget issues for the Select Board to discuss.
Mr. Bartenstein noted that a memorandum from the School Committee was published on the
LexTMMA mailing list. The memorandum addressed the current state of contract negotiations with
the teachers’ union. Mr. Parker mentioned that he had also forwarded this to the Committee.
FY2024 Budget Discussion with James Malloy, Town Manager
Mr. Parker introduced Mr. Malloy and Mr. Cronin, and then suggested that Mr. Malloy begin by
providing answers to questions previously submitted by the Committee.
Mr. Malloy summarized the questions and gave the following responses:
How to lower the trash budget, including the possibility of banning food waste in trash and provid-
ing curbside composting?
At their most recent meeting the Select Board had a lengthy discussion on “Zero Waste” and
curbside composting. The Board indicated its support for curbside composting service and asked
staff to make recommendations on how to fund it. Mr. Malloy’s memorandum proposed using
ARPA funds and free cash to pay for a one-year pilot program providing free composting for 2,000
households. In Lexington, 1,300 households already pay for curbside composting. These households
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would be automatically included in the pilot program and would receive a year of free service,
along with another 700 households.
However, Mr. Malloy expressed strong doubts that this kind of pilot program would be helpful in
future policy decisions. Mr. Malloy’s observations of other communities demonstrates that effective
policies for reducing sanitation costs employ monetary disincentives for throwing away items, along
with incentives for recycling and composting. Mr. Malloy acknowledged the legal history of free
trash pickup in Lexington but noted that if the long-term goal is to drive down sanitation costs, then
residents will have to pay based on the volume of trash they produce. A fixed monthly charge for
trash pickup would not lower the Town’s sanitation costs because it creates no incentive to reduce
trash volume. When combined with volume-based fees for trash pickup, free recycling and com-
posting would create incentives to use those services by directly reducing the volume of trash.
The Select Board’s task force on this issue proposed reducing trash pickups to every other week,
which would presumably lower transportation and hauling costs, but would have no effect on tip-
ping costs. Mr. Malloy was concerned that not every household would be satisfied with less fre-
quent trash pickup, but that this might be feasible for recycling.
Mr. Malloy stated that he has discussed the Town’s previous attempt to charge for trash pickup (Pay
As You Throw) with Town Counsel. Mr. Malloy expressed surprise that the Town’s legal defense
of PAYT was based on the definition of the word, “free”. The actual bylaw requires the Town to
provide a free place for trash disposal. It does not require free curbside trash pickup. To avoid any
ambiguity in the future, Mr. Malloy believes the bylaw should be revised by Town Meeting to ex-
plicitly remove this mandate.
Another option, used by many communities in Massachusetts, would be for the Town to cease
providing town-wide trash pickup service, relying instead on private haulers licensed by the Town
to contract directly with residents and businesses for trash pickup. This would allow for more flexi-
ble and individualized service to customers based on their needs. Mr. Malloy does not recommend
this option.
Mr. Malloy firmly believes the Town should not create its own Sanitation Department.
Mr. Malloy stated that the Town does not have a particularly good recycling rate, and that it only
seems reasonable when yard waste is included in the calculation.
Mr. Padaki asked what kind of metrics would be used to determine if the pilot program was suc-
cessful. Mr. Malloy said this was a topic for future discussion with the Select Board, and that it
would be difficult to collect or extract meaningful data about reduced trash disposal under the cur-
rent system.
Mr. Bartenstein stated that the Director of Public Works has previously observed that there is no
longer a market for recyclables, but that the Town continues to encourage recycling because recy-
cling contracts cost less than trash disposal. Mr. Malloy stated that the market for certain recycla-
bles has begun to recover.
Mr. Bartenstein asked what fiscal year the pilot program would run in. Mr. Malloy said it would be
in 2024, and that if free cash was used it would require some adjustments to the proposed budget,
but that using ARPA funds would only require a vote of the Select Board. The cost of the pilot pro-
gram would be $216,000.
Mr. Bartenstein asked if converting to private trash haulers would risk creating nuisances caused by
residents who did not contract with a trash hauling service. Mr. Malloy said that the Town would
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respond to public health issues as needed, and that the Town would be obliged to provide a drop-off
location for those residents who did not wish to contract with a private trash hauler.
Mr. Michelson asked if the Town had data on how many residents compost their own yard waste.
Mr. Malloy said the Town does not have that data, but that he believes residents should be encour-
aged to compost at home because it eliminates transportation costs and pollution associated with
curbside composting.
Mr. Michelson asked if Black Earth Composting collected any data on the volume or weight of
composting material it collected. Mr. Malloy said they probably weighed their trucks, and that the
Town might be able to get this data, but he questioned whether this would be useful given the rela-
tively small number of curbside composting customers in Lexington.
Mr. Levine asked if Black Earth Composting would be used for the pilot program. Mr. Malloy said
they would. Mr. Levine noted that as more residents use a curbside service, the driving distance for
the provider plateaus, and that this might make it more economical to bring more residents into the
pilot program.
Mr. Malloy stated that Black Earth Composting charges a fixed annual cost of $110 per household.
Black Earth Composting has proposed a lower rate if they were granted access to land in the
Town’s composting facility, but that kind of negotiation would likely require an open RFP process.
Mr. Levine noted that there are limits on the materials that can be successfully composted at home,
but commercial composting services can accept more types of food waste, further reducing the
waste stream. The downside is the need to transport the waste to a facility.
Mr. Padaki asked if converting to private trash haulers would lead to a reduction in property taxes.
Mr. Malloy said he did not think that would be the case, but it was not an issue the Select Board had
discussed.
Should the Town replace the remaining 354 non-LED streetlights?
These are compact fluorescent lamps, which are more energy efficient than the lamps they replaced,
but less so than LED lamps. These fixtures were intentionally skipped during the conversion to
LEDs. Replacing them all would require a survey of their locations and fixture types. Mr. Malloy
would be willing to undertake this in FY2025 if there is a desire to proceed. This would be a good
topic to discuss with the Director of Public Works.
What is the cost impact of creating a stand-alone Health Department?
Mr. Malloy said the cost was minor and resulted from transitioning the Director of the Health De-
partment and an assistant. The Director would leave the LMMA union (middle management) to join
the senior management team. This position qualifies for a salary in the same range as the Director of
Human Resources, and thereby an annual increase of $7,310. The assistant working with the Health
Department under the (former) Land Use, Health, and Development Department (LUHD) will be
upgraded to Administrative Assistant in the LMEA union, an increase of $5,500, for a total annual
increase of $12,810.
Mr. Malloy noted that during the height of the pandemic response, the Health Director became a de
facto member of senior management, as a necessary participant in many meetings with senior man-
agement. It is also more appropriate to have a senior manager consulting with the heads of the Fire
and Police department regarding issues that involve the health of residents and staff.
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Why is exempt debt service for schools increasing?
Ms. Kosnoff stated that this was an error in the White Book. Due to the recently completed bond
sale for the Police Station Headquarters, municipal debt service will increase by about $1.5 million.
School debt service will decrease by about $1.6 million as two older projects roll off. The Brown
Book will use the revised numbers.
Which “top three” Program Improvement Requests (PIRs) would have been recommended if the
budget could support them?
The senior management team ranks all PIRs to create a prioritized list. The top four PIRs that were
not funded were:
• Benefits Administrator in the Human Resources Department – A single staffer currently
handles benefits processing for 375 municipal and 1200–1500 school employees. The state
Group Insurance Commission (GIC) revised all its plans this year, meaning that every em-
ployee plan will need to be updated.
• Streetscape Maintenance Program – Put off for a year because the brickwork is still under
warranty.
• Additional Fire Inspector – Requested by the Fire Department.
• Assistant Superintendent of Public Grounds – Would act as an assistant tree warden.
Senior management is looking for recurring revenue sources to fund these in FY2025.
Discuss the future of LexPress.
The Select Board has formed an Ad Hoc Transportation Committee to consider ways to improve
LexPress, which currently operates at a significant loss to the Town. The proposed FY2024 budget
provides level-funding rather than level-service. The Human Services Department had requested a
$140,000 increase. Mr. Malloy will recommend appropriating additional funds from the Transporta-
tion Demand Management (TDM) Stabilization Fund. Ridership in LexPress has declined from
90,000/year to under 20,000/year over the past several years. LexPress has three routes, and each
route makes 12 runs per day. One of the routes (#3) has, on average, less than one passenger per
run.
The RFP for LexPress includes two alternatives, a 2-route service, and a 3-route service. The 2-
route service could cover all the area of the current 3-route service while making fewer runs per
day.
Mr. Bartenstein asked whether LexPress ridership was expected to rebound. Mr. Malloy stated that
ridership had fallen “dramatically” even before the pandemic, and then collapsed to very low levels
during the pandemic. Ridership improved during 2022 but did not recover to the already low pre-
pandemic levels. So far, ridership in 2023 is comparable to 2022.
Mr. Bartenstein asked about the previously robust ridership of students that needed transportation
following after-school activities. Mr. Malloy stated that these riders had also decreased, and that this
was visible in an age-based breakdown of riders for 2000–2022.
Mr. Malloy stated that the annual expense budget for LexPress is about $650,000, out of a total
transportation budget of $950,000. Annual revenue from LexPress is about $35,000. His suggestion
to the Select Board is to charge more for the service, reduce the service, or make it free. Making it
free might increase ridership while eliminating the administrative overhead of collecting bus fees.
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Mr. Bartenstein observed that even though LexPress was losing money and generating unnecessary
pollution, it would be (politically) difficult to discontinue the service. He was skeptical that making
the service free would make much difference.
Mr. Malloy noted that ride-sharing applications, e.g., Uber and Lyft, had produced a strong shift in
the use of public transportation. Mr. Malloy calculated that the actual cost per ride for LexPress
ranged from $30 to $62, while an Uber ride covering the longest LexPress route would cost $10.50.
Thus, the Town could theoretically save a substantial amount by simply reimbursing residents for
Uber rides.
Mr. Bartenstein asked about the MBTA’s program to provide door-to-door service for people with
disabilities. Mr. Malloy stated that the MBTA program was not doing a good job meeting the needs
of riders in Lexington. Mr. Bartenstein responded that if the Town paid for rides, it should be lim-
ited to people with disabilities. Mr. Malloy agreed, and also noted that this would greatly compli-
cate that kind of service.
Stone Building.
Mr. Malloy stated that the Town is working with the CPC on a design to make the building useful,
assuming a tenant can be found. Mr. Malloy does not expect the Town would be able to fully re-
coup the cost of renovation by leasing the building. The CPC asked the Town to break the Stone
Building renovation into four phases: design, construction on the exterior, elevator and HVAC, and
final finishes. Mr. Malloy stated that the Lexington Lyceum group suggested using an older design
for the building that includes accessible restrooms and an elevator, but the design also divides the
lower floor into many smaller rooms, which would eliminate any chance of using the lower floor for
functions and events. Uses of the building must be approved the Library’s Board of Trustees, but
that group has yielded its responsibility to the Select Board, which in turn delegated it to the Town
Manager. Mr. Malloy’s goal is to create a building that is usable by the community, or by a third
party on behalf of the community. There is no decision on the final use, but the design will identify
structural components.
Mr. Bartenstein asked if the current floor plan would be left intact. Mr. Cronin noted that the exist-
ing interior walls were not structural and could be changed.
Mr. Bartenstein asked if the Town had offered the space to the neighboring Follen Church. Mr.
Malloy said the church might have been interested earlier, but they have now completed a renova-
tion and have no need for additional space. Mr. Malloy said the Waldorf School had expressed in-
terest in using the building. There has been no progress on that discussion, but the Waldorf School
remains a possibility. Mr. Bartenstein noted that parking in the area would be very limited during
school hours.
Mr. Osborne asked if the Town had a policy for other buildings such as the East Lexington Fire Sta-
tion and 173 Bedford St. The Town will perform a feasibility study to determine if the former build-
ing can be renovated and continue serving as a fire station. Another option for the fire station would
be a parcel of land the Town purchased from the Scottish Rite near the Community Center. The par-
cel is adjacent to the “Commander’s House” and carries a restriction barring construction for 25
years. Mr. Malloy believes the restriction could be re-negotiated to permit a fire station.
Mr. Osborne said he wanted to know if the Town would dispose of buildings that it could not use.
Mr. Malloy said this would likely be the case for the East Lexington Fire Station, and that the parcel
might be transferred to LexHAB. Mr. Malloy said that other than the Central Administration Build-
ing at Harrington, there were no other buildings or parcels that the Town was prepared to dispose of
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in the near future. Once the Town no longer needs 173 Bedford St as swing space, it might also be
disposed of, but that would be at least 10 years out.
Mr. Padaki asked if the East Lexington Fire Station could be relocated to the Stone Building. The
answer was no, there is not enough room. Mr. Padaki asked if any large employers in town would
be interested in using the Stone Building. Mr. Malloy said that would be a possibility, but it would
require his office to organize a lease for the building.
Mr. Bartenstein asked about whether a possible future access road behind the Commander’s House
would complicate the siting of a fire station in that area. Mr. Malloy said that an access road could
be designed to work with a fire station. Mr. Bartenstein asked if the Town would prefer a location in
East Lexington for a new fire station, as he felt this would be more aesthetically appropriate, even
though the Town would have to purchase land. Mr. Cronin responded that the Town has $2 million
in its capital plan for 2025 that is intended for the potential purchase of land for a fire station. The
feasibility study in FY2024 will help the Town decide whether to sell the current building and pro-
vide insight on alternative locations.
FY2024 Budget Discussion with Mike Cronin, Director of Public Facilities
Mr. Cronin summarized the questions and gave the following responses:
East Lexington Fire Station and School Administration Building
Mr. Cronin said the current fire station building needs HVAC, a new roof, and the garage bays are
too small for modern fire engines. The driveway infringes on the neighboring property line. The
dormitory rooms are sub-standard. The Town would have to invest about $2 million to get from 5 to
7 more years of use out of the current building.
Mr. Levine stated that the Town will face difficult timing for capital projects while the High School
project is underway, and it might make sense to delay projects, even at some cost to the Town, to
avoid exacerbating the early debt service impact from the High School. Mr. Cronin said that under
ideal circumstances, the High School would be completed in September 2029. Delaying the fire sta-
tion for two years after that would mean a total delay of 10 years. Mr. Cronin felt this was a risky
plan for a building with so many existing issues, especially given the changes to modern firefighting
gear since 9/11. He feels that the living accommodations are in dire need of renovation.
Mr. Cronin said it would theoretically be possible to keep the current School Administration Build-
ing operational for another 10 years. However, the Town expects it will take all High School fields
offline during the High School construction. The School Administration Building could be torn
down and converted into fields for about $1.5 million (demolition) plus $6.2 million (fields). If the
building is not torn down, Mr. Cronin said it would need $9 million in maintenance over the next 3
years to replace the windows, roof, HVAC, improved electrical service, fire suppression and an ele-
vator. The building is very inefficient to heat during the winter, in large part due to the windows.
Mr. Levine agreed that if the Town wishes to add recreation fields, the building should be torn
down.
Mr. Levine asked whether it would be feasible to reduce the laydown area for the High School con-
struction project. Mr. Cronin pointed to the new Police Station, which is a 30,000 sq. ft. building
that is currently occupying a much larger amount of space during construction. He then suggested
multiplying that amount of lay down space by 15 for the High School. Construction projects that are
accomplished without convenient lay down space are far more expensive on a per-square-foot basis.
Mr. Levine asked if the Town could use some portion of Hartwell Ave. as a lay down area. Mr. Cro-
nin did not know if that was feasible.
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Mr. Bartenstein asked how much of the School Administration Building was unoccupied. Mr. Cro-
nin said that people naturally expand to occupy all available space. A space study performed by the
Superintendent and an outside contractor found that the building has about 45,000 sq. ft., but that
the school staff need less than 20,000 sq. ft. This effectively doubles the heating and maintenance
costs. A new School Administration Building would be half the size of Old Harrington. Mr. Barten-
stein asked whether any other Town departments could share the building. Mr. Cronin said this was
an interesting question but noted that it would not decrease the costs to maintain the existing build-
ing. Mr. Padaki asked if the Stone Building could host the school and town administration. The an-
swer, again, was no due to limits on space, parking, and the deed restriction.
Mr. Bartenstein asked if the Town still owns the basement space in the Muzzey School Condomini-
ums, which Mr. Cronin confirmed. The space has deed restrictions that only allow for Monday–Fri-
day operation and allow the space to be used only for senior purposes, which greatly limits its use-
fulness to the Town. The Town is currently using part of it as storage for the local food bank. The
entire building has an ongoing fire code issue, and the Town has offered to cover more of the costs
towards resolving this issue in exchange for lifting the deed restriction. Another option would be to
sell the unit back to the condo association. Until the fire code issue is resolved, the Town cannot
dispose of the space.
Police Station Solar Panels
Mr. Cronin said a design for the solar panels will be presented to the Select Board at their next
meeting, and they have partial approval from the Historic Districts Commission (HDC) for a design
that would have solar panels on a two-tiered canopy in the parking area behind Fletcher Park as well
as on the roof of the Police Station Headquarters. The HDC has asked for solar panels that transmit
some light. The solar panels approved so far will yield around 95% net zero operation for the Police
Station (not including EV chargers). Additional panels under discussion between the Select Board
and the HDC would boost the total yield to 115% of the building’s electric demand.
The design estimate construction cost of the solar panel arrays is $3.3 million, which narrowly fits
the $3.4 million appropriation request. This project would be put out for bid shortly after Town
Meeting concludes, but construction would wait.
Munroe School
Mr. Cronin stated that the construction project would be fully managed by the Town.
Lexington High School
The Town is currently in the 270-day Eligibility Period, with 27 days to go. The Town has submit-
ted all the necessary paperwork to the MSBA. On March 1 we hope to be invited to participate in
the Feasibility Phase, during which the Town will hire an architect and begin analyzing basic re-
quirements for the school building. This phase should be completed around September 2024.
From that point construction could begin in September 2026, with students moving in September
2028, and fields completed in September 2029.
Mr. Bartenstein asked what would cause the MSBA to withhold an invitation to the Feasibility
Phase. Mr. Cronin said it was rare for a community to exit after the Eligibility Period, but it was
usually the community’s decision not to proceed. Nevertheless, this will be one of the largest pro-
jects the MSBA has done, and the Town must await the MSBA’s formal invitation. It is possible the
MSBA could delay our invitation for a year in order to ensure they have the necessary funding to
proceed.
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Municipal Capital Budget
Mr. Michelson asked if the Town was on schedule for completion of the Police Station. Mr. Cronin
said he was knocking on wood, but the Town was on schedule for opening in spring 2024. It’s been
a productive winter for construction work so far.
Mr. Levine’s comments on the budgeting process
To paraphrase Mr. Levine’s comments:
The revenue allocation process begins with set-asides for shared expenses, some of which
are mandated and others which are discretionary. Examples of the latter include contribu-
tions to the OPEB and pension funds intended to reach full funding in advance of the legally
mandated deadline in 2040. These discretionary items should be called out during the reve-
nue allocation process, with the option to recommend some portion of those set-asides be
directed to school and municipal budgets.
Mr. Levine thanked Town staff for a fine job putting the FY2024 budget together. Mr. Malloy
thanked Mr. Levine and agreed that it would be worth discussing further.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
No minutes were ready for approval.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 9:24 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Glenn P. Parker
Approved: February 23, 2023
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker