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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-03-26-BOS-min SELECTMEN'S MEETING MARCH 26, 1980 1 A meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Wednesday, March 26, 1980, at 7 00 p m. Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent, Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present App Com. The Appropriation Committee, the Capital Expenditures Committee, and Cap Ex- Mr Zehner, Town Treasurer, met with the Board penditures Mr Zehner recommended that $750,000 be committed to E & D We have Committees been erratic and diverse in our actions in the past on free cash, fre- quently to our regret In 1975, we had $1,617,000 and we appropriated 89 percent of that; that involved an unexpected windfall from Chapter 766 and the next year we were cut back and had to refund $566,000; in 1976, we had no free cash and no available funds; in 1977, we had $277,000 in free cash and available funds and appropriated $261,000 or 95 percent; in 1978, we did better with $1,317,000 and appropriated $750,000 We have $1,112,000 and we are cutting back to $750,000 We should be thinking about laying money aside to take care of the uneven- ness of the availability of the free cash to fill in the valleys and trim down the hills Mr White, Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, said that the committee originally went along with $1 million as we would like to keep the tax rate at a minimal increase The future appears to be uncertain and is getting more uncertain by the hour Mr Zehner's recommendation should be taken seriously and our committee has approved $750,000 Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve $750,000 E & D Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Vote recommendation of the Town Manager to commit $750,000 to E & D Art 33 Mr White discussed Article 33-Human Services Center and said that Hum.Sery the committee's concern is on what is the need and what are we getting Center for the money? The numbers range from $7,500 for preliminary plans to onward and upward to doing various things Not that we don't see the need for a human services center but the question we are trying to deal with from a financial standpoint is, what do we get for $7,500? Chairman Miley said that we would search to find out if there is a need Mrs Battin said that we really have to get a handle on the need in terms of figures both for existing programs and the projected need We need professional help in helping us devise a questionnaire and in deciding how to get the information; whether we survey all the seniors, whether we sample it, and how to analyze all the data We have to get a needs assessment that is really valid and that we then plan for If it turns out there is no need, that we are completely wrong, no one plans to go ahead if there is no need identified But once we get that need identified, we want to look at Munroe and Muzzey and get a professional judgment to see if one or both of them are suitable to meet this need and to be expanded if necessary to meet a projected need We wouldn't probably even have preliminary plans Mr Hutchinson said that the proposals we received recently allow for the capacity to get really completed plans if the needs study said we should .2o5 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - March 26, 1980 go forward on even a cost estimate. Capital Expenditures will comment but they have basically said to follow the traditional town process on the program Mr Barnert, Chairman of the Capital Expenditures Committee, asked who is going to set up the criteria to figure what things you are going to look at for needs Mrs Battin said that she would hope we would use the good offices of our Human Services Committee and the Office of Elder Affairs, and we have good people on committees on hand who would help us with this, and then tell us what professional advice we would need This is one of the most important things in drawing up the right kind of survey instrument We would use our Human Services Committee, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Mass Municipal Association, and the experience of other towns; then come up with who we need to hire to help us with portions of it A great deal can be done with volun- teers Mr Barnert said that the concern of the committee is the fear that you may be ignoring the possibility of a completely new building There is town land that may be able to be used and whether you won't consider what the requirements for such a new building would be Mr Kent said that he had a somewhat different view than that which pre- vails around this table, although he was very much in accord with this par- ticular proposal in this particular proposed appropriation We are not talk- ing about a human service center basically, we are talking about a center for senior citizens We had a report submitted prior to the last annual Town Meeting by a citizens ' committee on a senior center, expressing a view that this community needed a senior citizens ' center The Town Meeting, to an extent, accepted the direction of that report by directing the Selectmen to include the possibility of use as a senior center in the Selectmen's assess- ment of possible uses of Munroe School We came down to a point where we believe we are not remotely ready to present to Town Meeting, namely a pro- posal for between $500,000 to $700,000 to go ahead on this presentation We don't start with a fresh sheet, "Do you need a senior center?" If we did not have currently the quarters we have in the Church of Our Redeemer, we would be in trouble on this subject That is initially a makeshift arrangement and has the element of a makeshift about it Fortunately, it looks as though it may be expanded in order to take care of our near-term needs What we don't have is an assessment that includes not only present needs but projected needs for the future which simply have to be taken into account if we are going to engage in any substantial capital program, be it partial or total occupation of the Munroe or Muzzey Schools; or be it as Mr Barnert suggests, the possibility of an entirely different structure We just don't have a sufficient handle on the data at the moment We need to get it The $7,500 is a bit of an estimate in this regard He would hope that we would go to the point that Mr Barnert talks about, if Munroe and Muzzey don't work, at least what are the potentials? We don't want to ask for more than is necessary, even if it is quite conceivable that this money would not be all spent at this particular point We've got some momentum on this project; we've got citizens asking us to go forward; we have a receptive Town Meeting on the general proposition already, and not without previous opposition We would like not to lose the momentum be- yond the extend to which we already have to keep this thing going in essen- tially the study phase, recognizing the dimensions of the need and particularly the future needs We really don't have a handle on it and we have to have it before we can fairly come to you and come to Town Meeting with any concrete capital request Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - March 26, 1980 Mr White said that it is absolutely essential to establish the need and his committee will probably support $7,500; they have not voted on it yet Are we to assume we will get a report that says the needs of the town have been assessed and here is a report that establishes the need? Chairman Miley said she would assume that Mrs Battin said this is what we are looking for, and then we say we have the survey, these are the needs, these are the space requirements; that we have looked at these two schools and this one seems much better; we want preliminary plan money ; we have to make some sort of a judgment Or as Mr Barnert said, neither one might be suitable We would lay out then what would be available to meet those needs Mr White added that professional services would be for constructing the questionnaire, seeing that it is properly presented to the town and seeing that it is properly analyzed Mrs Battin said there would be small additional monies to actually look at those two schools once the needs have been established As Mr Kent said, we can't stay forever at the Church There is obviously a need for at least that great a facility if not some expansion Again, this does not have to be preliminary plans Mr Gilman said he assumed the School Sites Conversion Committee has been disbanded and you would not go through them? Chairman Miley said that is correct Mr Gilman asked if the Human Services Com- mittee would be involved, or perhaps set up a new committee? Chairman Miley said that it might be a subcommittee of the Human Services Committee. There are people on that committee who have done needs assessments Mr Busa said that he had noP roblem with the needs assessment even though we have had a report done by a committee in 1974 They did an indepth study of the human service needs and a person on that committee didn't understand why he was objecting to not going forward with the Munroe School We have just spent $2,000 for the Munroe School and they came in with an estimate of $777,000 and he couldn't understand why we want to put another $2,500 into more study of Munroe when he had assumed the $2,000 was to see if it was feasible to put a human services and senior center in there, and they came up with this figure on what it would cost us for some cosmetics to bring it up to standards The Senior Sites Committee says there is a need, the Board understands there is a need, and Mr Busa couldn't understand why we want to involve the Human Services Committee or go into the state house to get some information Before we appropriate $5,000, we should set up a separate needs committee, professionally done, and let them come back and have the senior citizens of the Town of Lexington become involved, and not have a subcommittee to do the study and come back with their report; but get out into the neighborhood and let the professional group outside of our Human Services Committee and outside of our Senior Citizens Committee Mr Hutchinson said that we will work this out pro- cedurally Mr Crain said that he certainly thought we should consider the Human Services Committee and its resources, based on the excellent work they have presented on budgets which they have looked at at the Board's request In terms of elder affairs in the state house, he had no idea of what they can supply, but it is there and it is free He would rather do that than spend money Mr Busa said that if that is the avenue, the Board should determine that this is the avenue we should take and not appropriate any money Mr Crain said that it is impossible to make those determinations and as he understands it, that is why the Board is asking for the minimal amount so o7 Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - March 26, 1980 that it is available with full knowledge that it won't be spent unless it is absolutely necessary Mr Busa said that he had no problem with appropriating $5,000 for a professional job being done and the $2,500 is to look at Munroe and Muzzey Schools Mr Hutchinson said that the best estimate we can obtain is about $4,500 for office program and layout, investigation of Muzzey and Munroe Schools, and the best estimate we could put together here is $3,000 for working with needs assessment advice On the $4,500, we were asked to look at what's really involved on a 10-year basis with Munroe, looking at all the groups and the senior citizens in particular might go in there All that was done from the old article was to look at Munroe School and say what would it cost us if you tried to convert it into a human services center rather than a senior center What it amounts toffs that they interviewed a very narrow group of people for that $2,000; that's how we kept the cost down Now we are saying, if the needs are determined, that's a separate study, that there would be involvement again with the senior center, and all of those needs tied to how can you lay the building out in such a way in a very detailed basis, and the $3,000 is the study of needs Mr Gilman said he assumed the Board would be opposed to any change in the motion on the part of the Council on Aging in terms of added facilities of the Church of Our Redeemer Mr Cohen said it is not really clear that that is within the scope of the article and that is going to be something that the Moderator will be approached on Mr Kent asked if it would be fair to say that to the extent that additional space means some re-negotiating with the Church of Our Redeemer that we believe we can find a way to manage this without additional appropriation There are places that we can go to seek some help on this Mr Hutchinson said that the answer is that we also might not, but we will try to look at every legitimate resources, including fund raising Mr Hutchinson said that he and Mr Busa had met on the capping article Tax and it looks as if, if you allow for the exceptions, we would be about 3 to Cap 4 percent on the appropriations, and we would be about 2 to 3 percent on the levy side The intent is to protect the town on whatever actions are taken on individual items, and it is important that what we are doing is protecting the Town Meeting under these motions on the budget Chairman Miley said that she and Senator Rotandi had filed a bill which would cap the State, County, and the MBTA. The County and the MBTA have it but you would never know it She did testify before the Committee on Taxation and we hope it will do some good Mr White said that it would be appropriate to alert Town Meeting to what may appear to be undue haste and let them know that this is one of our goals Mr Hutchinson said that he had appointed, subject to the approval of Appt the Planning Board, Mr Robert Bowyer as Planning Director We had a screen- Planning ing committee for 80 applicants and Mr Bowyer is the No 1 candidate He Director understood that the Planning Board will be approving the appointment tonight We are pleased to have Mr Bowyer a he has an excellent planning background Mr Bowyer will be resigning as a Town Meeting member and whatever other capacities he has been involved in on town committees The Appropriation Committee and the Capital Expenditures Committee retired from the meeting Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - March 26, 1980 Burglar Mr Kent said in connection with the Burglar Alarm By-Law Article, Alarm he wanted to assure the Town Meeting that in the event the Board of Article Selectmen has the power for this by-law to promulgate regulations governing the issuance of permits for burglar and fire alarms, that those regulations will only be promulgated after hearings ar which public partic- ipation will be sought The Board agreed Cemetery Mr Hutchinson asked if there were any problems with his recommenda- Bids tion to reject the cemetery building bids? He said that he would rather not, with our past track record, make another estimate on the building without another bid being received Mr Kent said that if we are going to do that, should we not before you actually seek that bid, go over just what it is we are including in the proposal? Mr Hutchinson said that he would; we have looked at the scope of the article but we would like to review with you in greater detail the building and what we propose to do Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 7 51 p m A true record, Attest Executive Clerk, Selectmen