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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-24-AC-min4/24/2025 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) April 24, 2025 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; Lily Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Fi- nance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Sean Osborne; Vinita Verma Other Attendees: Lisah Rhodes, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) At 7:34 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 gave a brief report on the School Building Committee (SBC) meeting held on April 14 and on the schedule for the next several months. In July, the SBC expects to receive revised project cost estimates that will be based on the Schematic Design work presently under way. That will be followed by four SBC meetings in July and August to review the estimates and to discuss value en- gineering proposals. The resulting cost estimates will be the basis for an appropriation request for project execution and for the associated debt exclusion referendum. This Committee will likely want to meet in the August -September time frame to discuss the cost estimates and project financ- ing strategies. Mr. Bartenstein asked about the risk of cost escalation in the LHS project due to unforeseeable cost increases and whether such increases would be shared with the MSBA or would be the sole respon- sibility of the Town. Ms. Kosnoff expressed her understanding that some sharing is possible for cost increases identified before November although they would be subject to reimbursement caps. Once the MSBA has approved a project budget and their contribution, any cost increases would need to be covered fully by the Town. She also noted that after a project receives approval in a debt exclu- sion, the excludable debt generally cannot be increased except under limited circumstances with the approval of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. M. Ahuja announced that the crematory study group plans to meet on Tuesday next week at 9 a.m. Mr. Ahuja will attend this and future meetings. Ms. Kosnoff noted that she is not a member of the new study committee. Review of 2025 Annual Town Meeting Mr. Parker presented slides which covered five major aspects of the recently concluded town meet- ing that are related to preparation of this Committee's report. Preparation The Select Board conducts budget hearings that include presentation of program improvement re- quests (PIRs). During its meetings the CEC reviews all capital project funding requests. Community Preservation Committee (CPC) applications also include much useful information and are available relatively early. A number of speakers emphasized that the budget hearings of both the Select Board 4/24/2025 AC Minutes and School Committee are very informative. Ms. Kosnoff noted that these meetings are recorded and may be viewed via the LexMedia web site. Mr. Michelson noted that the financial aspects of citizen's articles are often more difficult to review. Mr. Parker added that these financial aspects are often reviewed only shortly before the start of Town Meeting. Tools and Resources Mr. Bartenstein stated that he relies on the Water/Sewer rate hearing materials in writing up the Wa- ter Enterprise Fund and Sewer Enterprise Fund warrant articles. He also finds that Select Board packets are the single most important source of information for use in working on this Committee's report. Mr. Levine speculated whether it would be possible to start scheduling Committee meeting inter- view sessions earlier. In response to a comment from Mr. Ahuja about knowing which staff member or other person may be best to contact in regard to a question, Ms. Kosnoff said that it could be helpful for members who have questions for staff to have senior management phone numbers and email addresses easily available. Mr. Padaki emphasized the importance of the White Book, Brown Book, and financial data base that may be accessed through Wdesk. Coordination Mr. Parker floated the idea of a checklist for subsections of the Committee report to Town Meeting that could be filled out by Committee members as they proceed through their assignments. Ms. Kos- noff described how "bubbles" can be displayed in Wdesk in different colors to indicate the status of subsections. Mr. Levine suggested that more use could be made of the Committee Draft Documents web page to make drafts available to the public and avoid Open Meeting Law issues while the Committee is working on written material. Mr. Parker responded that the process of putting a document on the web site takes several minutes of effort, but nonetheless there are situations where it would be worthwhile. Content Creation Committee members discussed use of links in Wdesk; such use is not always simple and straightfor- ward. Ms. Impink from the Finance Department has provided much support especially by linking numbers in the report. Mr. Michelson expressed his view that members should make an effort to raise questions about is- sues relevant to the Committee report in advance of town meeting. Mr. Padaki emphasized the importance of having access to the information in a nearly complete write-up of an article prior to a vote on a recommendation by the Committee. The members who work on writing up requests for appropriations for capital expenses noted their reliance on the CEC report and information from CEC meetings and members of the CEC. Ms. Kosnoff said that she and the Town Manager meet with CEC in December to look at the capital budget at a high level; members of this Committee may want to attend that meeting. 4/24/2025 AC Minutes Presentation The Committee discussed TMMA-list email and the situations in which a Committee member should respond to a question or issue. Mr. Michelson asked whether video presentations might add anything beyond what the Committee presently does. Mr. Padaki and Mr. Parker discussed the mechanics and availability of the Committee planning document containing a list of article assignments. Ideally the document should be available on a venue where it could be edited by any Committee member. Mr. Parker concluded by saying that he would put it into Wdesk where it will be visible during the development of the next report. Fougere Report Due to the lateness of the hour, discussion of the Fougere Report was postponed to a later meeting. Future Meetings An end -year wrap-up meeting was tentatively scheduled for June 26. Mr. Parker said that he would circulate a poll to find a date for further discussion of the Fougere Report. Ms. Kosnoff said that Maggie Peard, Town Sustainability Officer, would like to meet within the next 6 weeks or so with the Committee to discuss sustainability policy. Meetings on the high school project and its finances will also be needed over the summer. Minutes The Committee voted to approve the minutes of the meetings of April 2 and April 9 with minor ed- its as circulated (vote: 7-0). Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 9:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alan M. Levine Approved: June 12, 2025 Exhibits • Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker • Presentation slides from Mr. Parker