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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-05 BOS-min Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 1 of 7 SELECTMEN'S MEETING Wednesday, September 5, 2018 A meeting of the Lexington Board of Selectmen was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 in the Selectmen's Meeting Room of the 'Town Office Building. Ms. Barry, Chair- Mr. Pato- Ms. Ciccolo; Mr. Lucente and Ms. Hai were present as well as Ms. Kelly Axtell, Acting 'fown Manager; and Ms. Steele, Assistant to the Selectmen. Public Comment Ryan Grant, 23 Butler Avenue, spoke on behalf of the locked out gas workers with National Grid. He expressed concern regarding the unqualified gas workers doing work in the town, stating that it was unsafe both for residents and for the workers. He asked that Lexington place a moratorium on National Grid and presented Chair Barry with corresponding documents. Selectmen Concerns and Liaison RU.arts Mr. Lucente invited the community to a car wash being held by the Lexington Youth Commission on Saturday, September 81h at the Belmont Car gash. 'The profits will go to the Lexington Food Pantry. Mr. Pato invited the community to 'World Caf&'s' being held by the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee which will serve as gatherings for discussion on the future of Lexington. More information regarding dates and times will follow. Ms. Barry extended the Board's congratulations to the Shaw family, particularly Chris Shaw. Chris is a graduate of Lexington High Schools and grew up playing baseball in town. He was recently offered a position on the San Fransisco Giants Major League Baseball team and is the first Lexingtonian to play in the Lexington Little League and go on to the Major Leagues. Ms. Ciccolo thanked the community for their support during her campaign for State Representative. She extended her appreciation to the other contenders in the race. Each Board members extended their congratulations and thanked Ms. Ciccolo for the time she invested in Lexington as a Selectman. Town Man=r Re��� Ms. Axtell gave an update on the temporary fire station. The move for administration is hoped to begin on September 21". The move for the apparatus is scheduled for September 28th, pending the move for telephones and alarm systems lines from 45 Bedford Street to 173 Bedford Street. Ms. Axtell showed the Board various photos taken of the temporary station, including views of the kitchen, offices and apparatus bay. Ms. Barry asked if there was a timeline on the temporary traffic light to which Chief Wilson replied that it would be installed by the end of September. Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 2 of 7 A "rove and Sign 'Town Manager-Contract Ms. Barry introduced,fames Malloy as Lexington's newTown Manager. Ms. Barry stated that the Board successfully completed contract negotiations with Mr. Malloy for the period of October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2021. Ms. Barry noted that 2018 marked the 501h year of the Selectmen.-Town Manager Act and Mr. Malloy was Lexington's fifth town manager. Mr. Malloy said that he was excited to working with the staff and Selectmen and is looking forward to October 1st. Ms. Barry informed the community that there would be a Meet and Greet for Mr. Malloy on Monday, October 15th in Battin Hall from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mr. Lucente said he was thrilled that theTown Manager process happened in such an expeditious manner. He thanked theTown Manager Search Screening Committee and his fellow board members on the hard work that was put into the process. The other board members echoed Mr. Lucente's sentiments and voiced their anticipation in working with Mr. Malloy. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve and sign the Town Manager's employment agreement with James ,J. Malloy, effective October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2021. Review and A.move Revised Conditions for Inn at 1--lastin Park L.i uor�L.icense In accordance with the public hearings held on July 9, 2018 and August 23, 2018, the Board was asked to approve the recommended and revised conditions of the Inn at Hasting's Park Liquor License. Ms. Ciccolo recused herself as Ms. Perez.-Kennealy had made a donation to her campaign fund. Ms. Hai noted that photographs of the patio area of the Inn were included as existing conditions in response to questions regarding the adjacent patio. These photographs would be included as a record in the Inn at Hastings file. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 to approve and sign the amended Inn at Hastings Park Liquor License. Ms. Ciccolo returned to the meeting. 1-,ner,y Procurement Discussion Ms. Carolyn Kosnoff, AssistantTown Manager for Finance, Mark Sandeen, Chair of Sustainable Lexington, and Shawn Newell, Facilities Director, informed the Board that the 'T'own's current electricity supply contract expires at the end of November, 2018. Staff will be accepting bids for theTown building's electric energy supply on Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Bidders will include prices for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) which theTown will have the option to purchase to increase its percentage of sustainably sourced electricity. Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 3 of 7 Ms. Kosnoff explained that theTown had hired a consultant to help with the energy procurement process and assist in making a recommendation. In addition to this, theTown will have a sustainable option that will allow theTown to source energy from a green perspective. Ms. Kosnoff explained that one renewable energy credit is equivalent to one megawatt hour of renewable production. In order for theTown to be completely sustainable, they would need 12,000 renewable energy credits. The bids for the energy procurement would be coming in on Wednesday, September 12th and the process would need to be completed by the end of that day. Ms. Kosnoff differentiated between the two types of renewable energy credits: Mass Class I (priced between $15 and $25 each) and the National Wind Renewable Energy Credits (priced at approximately $1 each). She asked the Board to keep in mind that 14% of MA Class I RECs are statutory and already included in all Massachusetts electricity base prices. Ms. Kosnoff referred to the agreement coordinated by the Sustainable Lexington Committee in which the energy customers of Lexington entered into the Community Aggregation Choice Program which enabled them to purchase 100% renewable energy. Mr. Lucente asked for the differentiation between MA Class I RECs and National Wind RECs. Mr. Sandeen said the MA Class I RECs are required to be within the New England region which cause the prices to be much higher as there are land constraints. The main difference between the two are the geographical locations. Ms. Hai asked what the actual cost of the electricity is versus the cost of the delivery plus the electricity and if there was an increase on the delivery side of either of these procurements. Mr. Sandeen said the bills demonstrate a delivery portion and a generation portion. At the moment, they are only talking about procurement for the generation portion and this would not affect delivery. Ms. Kosnoff said the current budget for electricity was $2,438,796. She introduced four different strategy options for energy procurement, with the fourth option being the one currently used by the Lexington Community Aggregation Choice program: • Status Quo (14% Renewable Energy) o No increase in the annual budget • Budget + 86%MA Class I RECs o $129,000 increase to the annual budget • Budget + 86%National Wind RECs o $5,160 increase to the annual budget • Budget + 5%MA Class I + 81%National Wind RECs o $12,360 increase to the annual budget Ms. Kosnoff asked the Board for guidance on the direction they would like theTown to take when procuring electricity. Mr. Pato asked if it was necessary to enter into a contract next week and if there was a timing constraint to the procurement timeline. Ms. Kosnoff said that the bid process has already been started but if theTown was not comfortable with any of the bid options received, they had the Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 4 of 7 option to start the bid process again. She said that the consultants did not think that any very different results would be obtained by doing this. Should theTown not enter into a contract, once the contract expires, theTown would then be paying the basic supply rates of Eversource which would possibly be higher than what theTown pays under a contract. Referring to Ms. Kosnoff's presentation, Mr. Pato inquired what would happen if theTown did not consume the 12,000 MWh annual supply load cited for Lexington and if the 'Town was bound to pay for that amount. Ms. Kosnoff said that she believed that there is a 25% flux either way, either over or under. The 25% flux makes them comfortable that this will cover any energy overage, especially with a few newTown buildings coming online in the upcoming year. Mr. Sandeen said that the legislature recently changed to an increase in percentage from one percentage point to two percentage points beginning in 2021 and lasting for ten years. Ms. Hai asked if this affected the percentage that theTown should be considering purchasing. Mr. Sandeen said that this could be taken in account when making the bid. The Board reached consensus to support Option 4. Mr. Pato thanked Mr. Newell for his hard work on ensuring the chiller in the Cary Memorial Library was working again. Review Potential Fall Special 'Town Meeting Warrant Articles The Selectmen reviewed a draft of all known Special Town Meeting 2018 articles, including a list of citizen's petitions. Ms. Barry said that the anticipation is that the Special Town Meeting would take two to three nights with the tentative dates being November 13, 14, and 15. Dawn McKenna, Chair of theTourism Committee, expressed concern that the Center Streetscape design is not in line with the Battle Green Master Plan. She stated that there is further work to be done to ensure the two projects are in concert with each other. Ms. Barry determined that at this time the following items will be ready for the fall Special Town Meeting: • Amend Zoning Bylaw to update the regulation of marijuana to reflect changes in State law • Appropriate for Science Classrooms • Appropriate for Center Streetscape Design ® Transfer 18 Rangeway to Lexhab ® Appropriate for Hosmer House Reuse Study ® Amend FY 2019 Operating, Enterprise, and CPA Budgets ® Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements (in progress) ® Appropriate for Prior Year's Unpaid Bills (in progress) Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 5 of 7 0 Appropriate 'To/From Stabilization funds 0 7 Hartwell Ave, PD Rezoning (Petition submitted) 0 331 Concord Ave, Assisted Living PD Rezoning (Petition submitted) 0 Belmont Country Club PD rezoning (Petition submitted) The following items were determined to not be ready for fall STM and will be deferred to a futureTown Meeting: • Appropriate for Municipal Facility Master Plan • Lease of Land from Historical Society • Appropriate for Westview Cemetery Building (IP till Spring) • Appropriate for Automatic Meter Reading Equipment(IP till Spring) • Firing range-schematic design funds f Pizza The Board was asked to consider a request for a Common Victualler's License for the new owner of Lexington House of Pizza. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 to approve a Common Victualler's License for Lexington House of Pizza, 399 Lowell Street for the hours of 11 :00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday.-Sunday. Selectmen -- CommitteeA�ointi�neiits/�Rea�ointi-ne�iits/Re�,si mations Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 to reappoint/appoint with gratitude the list of committee members as presented: 0 2020 Vision Committee 0 Bicycle Advisory Committee 0 Board of Appeals 0 Board of Appeals Associates 0 Lexington Center Committee 0 Communications Advisory Committee 0 Council for the Arts 0 Design Advisory Committee 0 Economic Development Advisory Committee 0 Energy Conservation Committee 0 Fence Viewers Committee 0 Greenways Corridor Committee 0 Housing Partnership Board 0 Human Rights Committee 0 Human Services Committee 0 Lexington Scholarship and Education Fund Board 0 Monuments and Memorials Committee 0 Noise Advisory Committee Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 6 of 7 • Sustainable Lexington Committee • Tax Deferral and Exemption Committee • Tourism Committee • Town Report Committee • Transportation Advisory Committee • Tree Committee • Water and Sewer Abatement Board Consent Agnda Ap arove Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to approve and release the Board of Selectmen meeting minutes of July 23, 2018 and to approve but not release the Executive Session minutes of,July 9, 2018 and ,July 23, 20M Water& Sewer Commitments and Adustments (Scrivener's Error The Board is being asked to sign to re.-vote the Water and Sewer Adjustment that was made on August 27, 2018 agenda due to a scrivener's error. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to approve the Water and Sewer Adjustment as recommended by WSAB on July 26, 2018 for an amount of $26,245.37. 0 n Week Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen vote 5­0 to approve the request of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to sign a Proclamation for the 231st Constitution Week to be celebrated September 17 through September 23, 20M 0 Amr_O_vCTax Bill Insert for Second Quarter Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to approve the tax bill insert regarding the REV bus. Upon motion duly and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to approve the tax bill insert regarding the Transit Study/Comprehensive Plan. 0 8 Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to lower the Battle Green Flag on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, the anniversary of 9/11 in memory of all those who lost their lives. 0 r Veteran's QA y Events Selectmen's Meeting—September 5, 2018 Page 7 of 7 Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5­0 to approve the request of the Town Celebrations Committee for the Veterans Day Parade and Ceremonies as presented in their letter dated August 29, 201& Ad'ourn Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selection voted 5­0 to adjourn at 8:04 p.m. A to record; Attest: Morgan Steele Assistant to the Selectmen