HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-18-AC-min 4/18/2024 AC Minutes
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Minutes
Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC)
April 18, 2024
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; Anil Ahuja; Eric Michelson; Sean Osborne; Lily Yan (7:42 p.m.)
Members Absent: Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio)
Other Attendees: Charles Lamb, Chair, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); David Kanter,
Vice-Chair, CEC; Rod Cole, CEC; Lisah Rhodes, CEC; Todd Rhodes, Vice Chair, Sustainable Lex-
ington Committee (8:45 p.m.)
At 7:36 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. Parker noted that a quorum of the Capital Expenditures Committee was present. Mr. Lamb in-
structed his committee members to refrain from commenting during the meeting.
Mr. Padaki reported that the Recreation Committee discussed the impact of the LHS project on the
Center Recreation Complex and issued a memorandum that was previously shared with the Com-
mittee.
Mr. Levine reported that he participated in a tour arranged by the School Building Committee of
three recently constructed local high schools in Somerville, Arlington, and Waltham. Somerville
and Waltham were designed by SMMA, the same firm working on plans for renovating or replacing
Lexington’s high school. The schools in Somerville and Arlington each combine new construction
and renovations of existing structures while the school in Waltham is entirely new construction.
The Waltham high school was designed for 1,800 students and features an unusual athletic playing
field built on top of a parking lot. The construction included $35 million in blasting work to remove
one quarter of a solid rock hillside, leaving behind a 140-foot-high bluff. The total cost of the Wal-
tham project was $374 million and was bid in 2019. It would likely cost at least $100 million more
if it was bid today.
Mr. Levine said that the school architects have developed a set of criteria for evaluating construc-
tion project alternatives. He added that, in all of the alternatives, after the construction is completed
the recreation fields would be either fully restored or fully replicated.
Mr. Parker reported that the Select Board had requested that an AC member act as liaison to the
Town Manager Search Committee. Mr. Michelson, who participated in a prior search for a town
manager, volunteered and was accepted as the liaison.
Police Station Solar Canopy Funding
Mr. Parker opened a discussion on the budget shortfall for the Police Station solar canopy project,
which had been the subject of a joint committee meeting between the Select Board, the Capital Ex-
penditures Committee, and the Appropriation Committee on Wednesday, April 10. That discussion
4/18/2024 AC Minutes
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is summarized in a memorandum that was shared with the Select Board and is attached to these
minutes.
Minutes of Prior Meetings
Minutes from the committee meeting on April 3 were approved by a vote of 8-0.
Future Meeting Schedule
Mr. Parker stated that he would post a meeting for 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, but it would
be cancelled if there is no business to be conducted at that meeting.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Glenn P. Parker
Approved: July 11, 2024
Exhibits
● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker
● Memorandum from Glenn Parker to Joe Pato on the Police Station Solar Canopy Project
dated April 22, 2024