HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-12-AC-min 10/12/2023 AC Minutes
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
October 12, 2023
Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the
public; 8:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein;
Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan (8:12pm); Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town
Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Members Absent: Alan Levine, Secretary
Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Sreeni Chippada
At 8:04 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order.
Preliminary
At 8:04 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call.
Mr. Parker announced that the meeting would be recorded in order to create a computer-generated
transcript for the preparation of meeting minutes.
Announcements and Liaison Reports
Ms. Kosnoff reminded the committee that the water and sewer rate hearing will take place on Mon-
day starting at 6:30 p.m. during the Select Board meeting.
Mr. Bartenstein asked for more details on amendments to the FY2024 budget. Ms. Kosnoff stated
that she was still working out the final numbers and funding sources.
Mr. Padaki asked for more details on the appropriation to the Capital Stabilization Fund (CSF) un-
der Article 3. Ms. Kosnoff stated that she had received the Town’s certified new growth revenue
figure from the Dept. of Revenue. Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that roughly $3 million of that revenue
will be appropriated into the CSF.
Mr. Parker noted that he had made additions to the committee’s report for the Introduction and Arti-
cle 9 (Ranked Choice Voting), and that Mr. Levine had provided text for Article 8 (Speed Humps).
Mr. Padaki stated that he had begun work on Article 3, but he is waiting on more details. Ms. Kos-
noff stated that she expected to present actual numbers at the upcoming Budget Summit #1 on the
following Wednesday. Mr. Padaki asked for draft numbers to assist in drafting the report.
Mr. Parker asked committee members to submit drafts for all articles in time for the committee’s
next meeting. Members should read the draft and be prepared to provide review feedback and to
vote on all articles.
Article 9 (Ranked Choice Voting)
The proponent for the article, Mr. Chippada, led an in-depth discussion on the details of ranked
choice voting (RCV) with the committee. For several members, this was the first time they had en-
gaged in a discussion of how RCV works, and the discussion helped to answer many questions
about RCV from the members.
10/12/2023 AC Minutes
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The Committee discussed the funding that would be required to implement RCV. Mr. Chippada
stated that the Town Clerk said the initial software upgrade would cost $12,500, and the Town’s an-
nual maintenance fee for the voting system would also increase by $1,200. Mr. Chippada stated that
the Town Clerk might be interested in purchasing the software before RCV was approved in order
to begin familiarizing her staff with the new features in advance. However, according to Ms. Kos-
noff, the Town Clerk has begun to consider replacing or upgrading the voting system hardware in
the next year or two. If (1) a plan to make a hardware upgrade in the next few years is confirmed,
(2) it is not clear that software for the presently-owned hardware would be compatible with the up-
graded hardware, and (3) the required approvals for RCV are received, then it may make sense to
delay the implementation of a software upgrade to support RCV. Ms. Kosnoff stated that she would
discuss this further with the Town Clerk.
Mr. Parker thanked Mr. Chippada on behalf of the Committee for his help in understanding RCV
and Article 9. Mr. Chippada stated that he would share his meeting notes with Ms. Kosnoff by
email.
Article 7 (Affordable Housing Fees)
Mr. Michelson discussed the request under Article 7 to redirect Affordable Housing Rental Moni-
toring Fees and Affordable Housing Resale fees to the Affordable Housing Trust. Mr. Michelson
stated he would provide a more detailed draft in the Committee’s report tomorrow. The Town cur-
rently receives $13,000 in annual revenue for rental monitoring fees. The Town receives a one-time
resale fee when an affordable house transfers ownership. This has resulted in payments of $6,820
in FY2023, and $5,000 in FY2020. Rental monitoring is performed by the Regional Housing Ser-
vices Office (RHSO), which charged the Town just under $40,000 in FY2023 for this and other af-
fordable-housing services.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
Mr. Levine, the Committee Secretary, was not in attendance and no minutes were approved.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 9:18 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Glenn P. Parker
Approved: October 26, 2023
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker