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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-05-15-CEC-min cos mr)Fr Aqp Minutes of the 4 Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting ook May 15, 2017 4yh 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 Selectmen's Goal Setting for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2017 & 2018, May 27, 2016 • Board of Selectmen Goal Setting Ranked Priorities FY2017-18 • Agenda Item 9—Supplemental 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 Ms Hai confirmed that a May 30th, 7 P M , Special Summit Meeting regarding the 20 Pelham Road property has been tentatively scheduled by the BoS, and there is a Special Summit Meeting regarding Debt Exclusion Planning scheduled on June 8th 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 Page 1 of 3 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting May 15, 2017 • Costs were identified for renovating the building's 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 program-content 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, overall-project, 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 Town's 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 LexCC's 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 LCP—allowing 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 year's input of recommended FY2018 & FY2019 goals, this Committee's 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 "road map" 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, and—in some cases—the voters Page 2 of 3 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 900 AM Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Mr Kanter reported on two discussions held at the BoS' May 8, 2017 meeting • David Pinsonneault, Director, Department of Public Works, provided updates on a list of projects included in the BoS' agenda packet—which 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 Center's 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 Meeting—all 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 Page 3 of 3