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Minutes of the
Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
May 15, 2017
Location and Time: Town Office Building, Reed Room (111); 7:45 A.M.
Members Present: Jill Hai, Chair;David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk; Rod Cole;
Wendy Manz; Charles Lamb
Members Absent: None
Others Present: Sandy Beebee, resident; Frank Smith, Town Meeting Member;
Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary
Documents Presented:
Notice of CEC Meeting, May 15, 2017
Pelham Road Renovation Option Matrix, DiNisco Design, Inc., 05 May 2017
Lexington Children's Place (LCP)/Community Center (LexCC), Project Cost,
Summary for Six Options, DiNisco Design, Inc., 05 May 2017
LCP/LexCC Annex, Cost Estimate Packet, Six Options, DiNisco Design, Inc.,
04 May 2017
Pelham Road Renovation Options, Grand Summary, A.M. Fogarty & Associates,
05 May 2017
Agenda Item Summary, Lexington Board of Selectmen (BoS), 08 May 2017,
Department of Public Works Update, May 2017
Agenda Item Summary, Lexington BoS, 08 May 2017, Review Next Steps for
Visitors Center Design
CEC Input to the Board of SelectmenÓs Goal Setting for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2017 &
2018; May 27, 2016
Board of Selectmen: Goal Setting Ranked Priorities FY2017-18
Agenda Item 9ÏSupplemental Information: BOS Goal Setting Ranked Priorities;
BoS Meeting, 15 Aug 2016
Draft #4 Minutes of the CEC meeting, April 18, 2017
Call to Order: At 7:47 A.M., Ms. Hai called the meeting to order.
Introductions and Announcements: Ms. Hai reported that Ms. Beebe and Mr. Smith
would be joining this Committee in the near future. As an introduction, Ms. Beebe,
Mr. Smith, and each Committee member provided background information about
themselves.
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Ms. Hai confirmed that a May 30, 7 P.M., Special Summit Meeting regarding the
20 Pelham Road property has been tentatively scheduled by the BoS, and there is a
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Special Summit Meeting regarding Debt Exclusion Planning scheduled on June 8 at 7 P.M.
Planning for additional 2017 Special Town Meeting(s):Mr. Lamb reported on a
Permanent Building Committee (PBC) meeting that included a tour of the 20 Pelham Road
property acquired by the Town. His comments about the meeting and other member
comments about the new information on potential projects at that site included the
following:
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Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
May 15, 2017
Costs were identified for renovating the buildingÓs classrooms for the LCP and
comparing those costs to demolishing the classroom portion of the building and
building a stand-alone LCP on the site.
Renovation costs for the LCP included low-, medium-, and high-level
programcontent and structural-improvement schemes; Mr. Lamb considered the
low- and medium-levels are likely to be inadequate for the projected LCP.
New estimated cost for renovating the portion of the existing building for the LCP at
the high level is about $5 million less than the earlier estimate for the LCP portion.
Building a new LCP at this site is now estimated to be about $1.7 million more than
the new estimate for renovating at the high level.
New estimated costs for renovating a portion of the 20 Pelham Road facility for
LexCC use were identified. This area of the building includes gymnasium, cafeteria,
and kitchen space. Those estimates also included for low-, medium-, and high-level
renovations. In this case, the new estimate for a high-level renovation is about
$5 million more than the earlier estimate for the LexCC portion. The new,
overallproject, estimate for doing both the LCP and LexCC renovations at the high
level is about $24.1 million; the earlier, overall-project, estimate was about
$24.4 million.
If assuming a new LCP were built with the LexCC renovation at the high level, the
overall-project estimate is approximately $26.4 million.
This Committee discussed concerns related to expenditures that would support LexCC use
of this building without specific approval by the TownÓs voters. It was noted that such a
project has never been identified as a priority, and it is only being discussed because the
Town purchased a facility a portion of which could support enhancing the LexCCÓs
capabilities. While this Committee recognizes that the BoS is the sole determiner of the
question or questions in a debt-exclusion referendum, there was strong sentiment that any
such a referendum presented to the voters this fall should identify the LexCC as a separate
question from the LCPÏallowing the voters to record their positions on whether or not to
proceed with this LexCC-related project.
This Committee’s input to the BoS’s upcoming Goals Setting: In preparation for
creating this yearÓs input of recommended FY2018 & FY2019 goals, this CommitteeÓs 2016
recommendations were compared to the goals selected by the BoS last year for FY2017 &
FY2018. It was agreed that some of the goals recommended last year by this Committee
did not need to be re-submitted because of efforts made by the BoS to address them. It
was also agreed that the request to create a fund targeted for extraordinary maintenance of
capital assets should not be resubmitted because the BoS and Town Meetings have
supported a broad range of specific projects to address the backlog of such capital needs.
The Committee supported including, but not necessarily limited to, recommendations as
follows:
Develop guidelines and standards in a matrix for large capital projects that provides
a Ðroad mapÑ for when, along the time line, which stakeholders will be included in the
process and when the decisions are needed by Town boards, committees, Town
Meetings, andÏin some casesÏthe voters.
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Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting
May 15, 2017
Develop financing policies and a financial plan with modeling that includes all
anticipated, substantial, projects. The duration of such modeling needs to be long
enough to include all, known, major projects (e.g., in the instant, case, specifically
the Lexington High School).
Develop sustainability goals so that they can be included in cost estimates.
Ms. Hai agreed to re-write the concerns about the need to continue to use condition
indexes for roads and sidewalks to guide implementation of those capital projects as
was done by the BoS in the last budget cycle.
Ms. Manz agreed to re-work the wording in the 2016 recommendation regarding
affordable housing.
Ms. Hai agreed to re-write the recommendation to increase the availability of playing
fields.
Development of the Comprehensive Plan needs to include transportation and
economic-development components.
It was agreed that additional input should be sent to Ms. Hai as soon as practical.
Approval of Minutes: A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #4 Minutes
of the CEC meeting, April 18, 2017. Vote: 5–0
Mr. Cole left at 9:00 A.M.
Member Concerns and Liaison Reports: Mr. Kanter reported on two discussions held at
the BoSÓ May 8, 2017 meeting:
David Pinsonneault, Director, Department of Public Works, provided updates on a
list of projects included in the BoSÓ agenda packetÏwhich list was subsequently
distributed to this Committee.
Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities, provided a status report on
plans for a new Visitors Center. The BoS discussed the possibility of moving the
Hosmer House to the Visitor Center site so its space could be used to meet part of
the new CenterÓs needs, but the BoS then decided not to support such a study or
such a use for that House. The BoS released the balance of the previously
appropriated funds that had been held in abeyance by the BoS, and supported using
the additional FY2018 funds that were appropriated at the 2017 Annual Town
MeetingÏall of which can be used to pursue Schematic Design for a new Visitors
Center.
Adjourn: A Motion was made and seconded at 9:10 A.M. to adjourn. Vote: 4–0
These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on June 7, 2017.
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