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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-19-CEC-min Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 19, 2016 Location and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Hudson Room 7:30 .. PM Members Present: Jill Hai, Chair; David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk; Wendy Manz Members Absent: Elizabeth Barnett & Rod Cole Others Present: None Documents Presented: Notice/Agenda of CEC Public Meeting, April 19, 2016 Ms. Hai’s e-mail to the CEC, April 18, 2016 10:03 a.m., advising that there would be no joint meeting with the Appropriation Committee to receive and discuss an update from members of the Board of Selectmen regarding STM 2016-2, Article 2, Land Purchase—20 Pelham Road, and STM 2016-4, Article 5, Purchase of Belmont Country Club Land, as that Board was not ready to provide that update. Draft #2+ CEC Report to April 25, 2016, Special Town Meeting (STM) 2016–4 Ms. Barnett’s e-mail to the other members of the CEC, April 19, 2016 5:15 p.m., Subj: Re: Draft CEC Report to April 25, 2016, STM 2016-4 Mr. Kanter’s e-mail to Melisa Tintocalis, Lexington Economic Development Director, April 6, 2018 2:42 .., Subj: Next-Level-Down Breakout of Cost Estimate for the PM Currently Proposed Grain Mill Alley Project (2016 Annual Town Meeting, Article 8(o)) Mr. Kanter’s e-mail to Melisa Tintocalis, April14, 2016 9:54 .., Subject: Re: \[same PM subject as his April 6, 2016, e-mail\] Draft Minutes for the CEC meeting, April 13, 2016. Call to Order: Ms. Hai called the meeting to order at 7:32 .. and the meeting continued PM in the Cotton Room in the same building. (A notice of the change in location was posted on the Hudson Room door.) Discussion of the Draft #2+ CEC Report to the STMs 2016-4 Article 2, Minuteman Regional School Bonding Authorization: After discussion, a Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval to the STM: Vote: 3–0 (It was noted that Ms. Barnett had reported her approval by e-mail.) Article 3, Accept Easement—482 Bedford Street: After discussion, and although the Committee supports the grant of easement in order to enable a bus shelter to be constructed at this location, the topic was considered not to be within its reporting scope. A Motion was made and seconded to delete reporting on that Article: Vote: 3–0 Article 4, Amend General Bylaws—Capital Expenditures Committee: After discussion, a Motion was made and seconded to recommend approval to the STM: Vote: 3–0 (It was noted that Ms. Barnett had reported her approval by e-mail.) Article 5, Purchase of Belmont Country Club Land: After discussion, a Motion was made and seconded for this Committee’s report to the STM to show a position was “Pending” as further information was needed. Vote: 2–0 (Ms. Hai continues to recuse herself from this matter.) (It was noted that Ms. Barnett had reported her agreement with that by e-mail.) A Motion was then made to approve the whole report, as presented, with the Chair or Vice-Chair having permission to make any non-substantive changes either felt needed and to distribute the report with a Release Date of tomorrow. Vote: 3–0 Page 1 of 2 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting April 19, 2016 Follow-up Discussions of any matters in the 2016 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Mr. Kanter reported that in the light of a previous debate at that Meeting and questions raised by Ms. Barnett, he felt it called for insuring this Committee had adequate back-up information in preparation for the upcoming presentation of Article 8(o), Grain Mill Alley Design Implementation. He had started a dialogue with Ms. Tintocalis, that project’s th proponent, by his April 6 e-mail which cited the top-level budget for the now-reduced-scope project and asked for the next-level-down basis for the amount in each category of that budget and provided some methodologies that he expected had been used to build the budget. He last heard from Ms. Tintocalis, or any of the Town staff who had th been “cc” on his e-mails, was from her on April 14. In total, the new information gained was (1) the contracted landscape architect for the project, GroundView Design, had developed the schematic design and provided that top-level budget; (2) that she didn’t have anything further to explain how that budget was built; (3) her cite of the kinds of physical elements that were contemplated be included in the project area; and (4) she said that area was approximately 27’X45’. th Mr. Kanter said he responded with his April 14 e-mail advising that based on the project not having what he considered a demonstrably credible estimate, especially with construction funds being requested and now appreciating the project is only at the schematic level, he could only support funding the net amount ($3,000) cited in the budget as needed for a “Final Design”. The Committee then discussed this new information about the project’s status and funding-request basis. (The Committee’s previous position had been 4–1 in favor of recommending approval to the ATM of the funding request.) A Motion was made and seconded to change the Committee’s position to recommending disapproval of the funding request—which is now $127,838. Vote: 3–0 Mr. Kanter announced that, in his position as a Town Meeting Member, he would be offering an Amendment to the current Article’s Motion changing the requested amount to the $3,000 net amount cited for getting to a “Final Design”. He said he would be clear that was not a Committee-prompted Amendment nor had the Committee taken a position on it. Next Meeting: Ms. Hai asked the Committee to mark their calendar for a potential th Committee meeting with the Board of Selectmen next Monday, the 25, in the early evening before the Town Meetings’ sessions. Approval of Minutes: A Motion was made to approve the Minutes for this Committee’s meeting on April 13, 2016, as presented. Vote: 3–0 Adjourn: A Motion was made and seconded at 8:34 .. to adjourn.Vote: 3–0 PM These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on April 26, 2016. Page 2 of 2