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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-26-AC-min 10/26/2023 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) October 26, 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; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, As- sistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: none Other Attendees: none At 7:35 p.m., Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine commented that earlier discussions about the architectural firm, SMMA, which has been chosen as the design partner for Lexington High School, incorrectly indicated that they had de- signed the new Maria Hastings School in Lexington. SMMA did create a Master Plan for the schools several years ago, but the high school will be their first actual school building design in Lexington, at least in the last ten years. Ms. Kosnoff reported that the Select Board had held a hearing regarding setting the FY 2024 tax rate on the past Monday evening. If the Select Board continues to apply the maximum allowable shift and the effects of new growth are removed, the average tax bill will increase by about 2.8%. Ms. Kosnoff also reported that the Select Board held a hearing on the water and wastewater rates at the Monday evening meeting. One comment was received that advocated for a reduced rate for small businesses like restaurants that use a lot of water. Final Votes for the Committee’s Report to Special Town Meeting 2023-1 Mr. Parker led the Committee through a review of all the articles covered in the Committee’s report and collected the votes of members who were absent at the prior week’s meeting. Article 2 Appropriate for Prior Years’ Unpaid Bills Mr. Osborne and Ms. Yan voted to recommend approval of the appropriation under this article. The Committee now recommends approval by a vote of 8-0. Article 3 Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that the dollar figures in Articles 3 and 4 had been updated to reflect a $28,000 drop in the requested addition to the Facilities budget (Article 4), and the addition of that $28,000 to the amount to be appropriated into the Capital Stabilization Fund (Article 3). The Committee voted to recommend approval of Article 3 by a vote of 8-0. Article 4 Amend FY2024 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets Ms. Kosnoff noted that the requested increase in the Public Facilities Department budget is $85,000 to cover the adoption of the maintenance of 5 buildings which includes the new Westview Cemetery 10/26/2023 AC Minutes 2 building and four other small buildings. This request is reduced by $28,000 from $113,000 because it no longer covers renovations to space for the Land Use and Housing and Health Depts. Ms. Kos- noff relayed a message from the Director of Public Facilities that the Center Recreation Complex restroom building still has an area for DPW equipment storage. Mr. Osborne and Ms. Yan voted to recommend approval. The Committee recommends approval by a vote of 8-0. Article 5 Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements Mr. Osborne and Ms. Yan voted to recommend indefinite postponement. The Committee recom- mends indefinite postponement by a vote of 8-0. Article 6 Appropriate Opioid Settlement Mr. Osborne and Ms. Yan voted to recommend approval. The Committee recommends approval by a vote of 8-0. Article 7 Appropriate Housing Resale and Rental Monitoring Fees Mr. Parker noted that the Affordable Housing Trust had voted earlier in the day to withdraw its mo- tion under Article 7 due to concerns raised in the Committee’s draft report. The report now reflects the intent to move for indefinite postponement, but still describes the basic facts and outlines the Committee’s concerns with the original motion. The Committee voted to recommend indefinite postponement by a vote of 8-0. Article 8 Appropriate for Speed Hump Pilot Program Mr. Osborne and Ms. Yan voted to recommend approval. The Committee recommends approval by a vote of 8-0. Article 9 Authorize Home Rule Petition for Special Legislation — Establishing the Election of Town Offices Using Ranked Choice Voting (Citizens’ Petition) Following a change in the motion to exclude Town Meeting Member elections, Mr. Ahuja changed his position and voted to recommend disapproval of the motion because the election of town meet- ing members was removed from the motion. Mr. Osborne also voted to recommend disapproval, and Ms. Yan abstained. Mr. Padaki noted that one of the reasons he supports the article is that it will help build support for Ranked Choice Voting at the state level. The Committee vote on the motion to recommend approval of Article 9 now totals 3-4-1, i.e., the Committee now recommends disapproval. Mr. Parker agreed to revise the report to reflect the change in the Committee’s position and the major rationale(s) to disapprove or approve the article. Mr. Osborne left the meeting at 8:00 p.m. Approve Committee’s Report to Special Town Meeting 2023-1 Mr. Parker stated that he would incorporate tonight’s votes into the report and make any minor edits required to polish off the report, including comments received from members as he deems appropri- ate. He plans to submit the report to the Town Clerk on Tuesday, October 31, after which it will be published on the Town’s website. Mr. Parker will announce the posting of the report on the Town Meeting Member Association’s email list once it is available online. 10/26/2023 AC Minutes 3 Mr. Levine stated that the section in the introduction about the end-of-year budget adjustments is incomplete and needs to be rewritten. He and Mr. Bartenstein suggested possible ways to address this issue. Mr. Parker edited the report to implement the suggested changes. The Committee voted to approve the report, including any non-substantive edits that may be made after the conclusion of this meeting, by a vote of 7-0. Approve Minutes of Prior Meetings Minutes from the Committee meetings on October 12 and October 19 were approved by a vote of 7- 0. Future Meetings Mr. Parker stated that he would post agendas for brief meetings from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the evenings of November 7–9, immediately before special town meeting sessions on those dates. Mr. Parker also said that he would not be available on November 8 or 9. Mr. Padaki will act as chair when Mr. Parker is not present. These meetings may be cancelled if there is no business for the Committee. The Committee agreed to meet remotely using Zoom, as some members will not be at- tending the town meeting in person. During the town meeting, the Committee will use Google Chat to caucus as necessary to address, e.g., a possible amendment to Article 3. As in prior town meetings, members will communicate via an online chat session if a caucus is re- quired while town meeting is in session. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned by roll call vote at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Glenn P. Parker Approved: November 7, 2023 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker