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Home My WebLink About2023-09-14-AC-min 09/14/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) September 14, 2023 Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Lily Manhua Yan (8:12pm); Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Anil Ahuja; Sean Osborne Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Sara Cuthbertson, School Com- mittee; Rosalyn Impink, Lexington Budget Officer At 7:34 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order. The meeting was recorded for the purpose of generating minutes. A roll call of the members was taken to note their attendance. Preliminary Mr. Parker welcomed a new staff member, Rosalyn Impink, who started the previous week as the Town’s Budget Officer. Mr. Parker then asked the Committee members if there was any objection to his use of an AI soft- ware application called “Jamie” to produce a transcript as well as a summary of the meeting that could be useful in creating a first draft of minutes. After a brief discussion regarding the nature of the product and how the audio recording would be used, the Committee agreed to proceed. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Parker summarized his participation in a “Goals Setting” seminar for Town committees to pro- vide feedback to the Select Board. The main feedback he provided was that the Committee would like the Select Board to provide timely and comprehensive information about their positions on warrant articles. Mr. Levine reported on the work of the School Building Committee, which has hired the architec- ture firm of Dore + Whittier as the Town’s Owner’s Project Manager to provide overall support throughout the MSBA design and construction process. This same firm also worked on the Hastings Elementary School and the Police Headquarters Station projects. They are currently supporting the selection of a design team for the high school project, which has attracted six candidate proposals. A committee of 18 people, i.e., the Designer Selection Panel which includes 3 representatives from Lexington and 15 designated by the MSBA, will make the choice from the list of candidates. This decision should be finalized by mid-October after which the Feasibility phase will begin. The Fea- sibility phase will be followed by the Schematic Design phase which is nominally projected to con- tinue into late 2025. The School Building Committee and Dore + Whittier are holding a community meeting this evening to give a status report and receive input from the public. School Building Committee related material including agendas, minutes, presentations, and meeting recordings may be found by clicking on “LHS Building Project” that is located on the LPS home web page. Mr. Parker asked if the decision on renovation versus reconstruction had been resolved. Mr. Levine responded that the feasibility phase is required to produce at least three options including: 09/14/2023 AC Minutes 2 renovation, renovation with additions, and new construction. These plans will then be evaluated to determine the best path forward. Mr. Michelson noted that the Select Board has chosen Sharon Musto as the Town representative for the Minuteman School Committee of the Minuteman Regional High School. Ms. Kosnoff and Ms. Impink noted that in addition to Ms. Impink, the Town has also hired Thomas Case who will work in the Finance Dept. as the administrative assistant for the Community Preser- vation Committee. Financial Developments During the Summer Ms. Kosnoff stated that no significant financial matters have come up during the summer. The staff is currently working on closing the books for FY2023, which is necessary in order to determine the available Free Cash and a revised estimate for new growth in the property tax levy. She expects to have the results by mid-October, in advance of the first budget summit. Draft Warrant for Special Town Meeting 2023-1 Mr. Parker led the Committee in a review of the draft warrant that he had shared earlier in the day by email. Ms. Kosnoff stated that she was not aware of any unpaid bills (Article 2), and that there were no plans at present to request additional appropriations for previously authorized capital im- provements (Article 5). The Town anticipates an appropriation of free cash to the Capital Stabiliza- tion Fund (Article 3). Committee member responsibilities for the warrant articles were assigned as follows: • IP expected: Article 2 Appropriate for Prior Years’ Unpaid Bills • Mr. Padaki: Article 3 Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds • Mr. Bartenstein: Article 4 Amend FY2024 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets • IP expected: Article 5 Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements • Mr. Bartenstein: Article 6 Appropriate Opioid Settlement • Mr. Michelson: Article 7 Appropriate Housing Resale and Rental Monitoring Fees • Mr. Levine: Article 8 Appropriate for Speed Hump Pilot Program Mr. Parker noted that the final warrant will be approved in two weeks, at which time articles could be added or deleted, and the article numbering might be updated. Committee Section for the 2023 Town Annual Report Mr. Parker asked if the members had any objection to the draft section for the 2023 Town Annual Report that had been shared and updated based on comments from Mr. Padaki and Mr. Levine. No objections were raised, and Mr. Parker stated he would submit the report along with the same pho- tograph of the Committee members that was used last year. Future Meetings Mr. Parker asked the Committee to hold all Thursday evenings in October for Committee meetings in order to develop, review and approve the Committee’s report to Lexington’s Special Town Meet- ing 2023-1. He suggested that the Committee has the option to schedule another meeting before he returns from a trip, but that it would be necessary to coordinate in advance with the Town to provide a Zoom conference. 09/14/2023 AC Minutes 3 Lexpress Ms. Kosnoff provided details about the committee considering the future of the Lexpress service. There are currently four options being explored. The first option is to leave the service as is. The second option is to replace regular Lexpress service with an on-demand van service targeted at spe- cific users. The third option is to improve Lexpress service with expanded routes and/or greater fre- quency. The fourth option is to make more limited improvements while also piloting an on-demand service. That committee is also discussing fare structures and other aspects of local transportation services. Data on Lexpress ridership is available with some of that data being covered in the presentations that the Lexpress committee has made at its public forums. Minutes of Prior Meetings Minutes from the Committee meeting on July 11 were approved by a roll call vote of 6-0. No other minutes for the meetings are outstanding. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned by unanimous roll call vote at 8:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Glenn P. Parker Approved: October 5, 2023 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker