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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-03-12-AC-min 03/12/2020 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) March 12, 2020 Place and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Hudson Room, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair (remote participation); Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Nick Nichols; Lily Manhua Yan(remote participation); Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members)Absent: None Other Attendees: None The meeting was called to order at 7:37 p.m. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Parker announced the following: • Ms. Yan and Mr. Padaki will participate remotely, and any votes taken during this meeting will be taken by a roll call. • The Town Manager may be requesting a Reserve Fund transfer to cover costs associated with addressing the spread of the virus COVID-19. Ms. Kosnoff explained that it is not yet known whether funds beyond those included in the current budget will be needed, and it is unlikely that this will be known before this Committee's next meeting. It was noted that the FY2020 budget includes $900,000 for the Reserve Fund; the request in the FY2021 recommended budget is reduced to $750,000. Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Process: Mr. Parker reported the following regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the ATM: • Deborah Brown, Town Moderator, has proposed holding a virtual ATM; only staff would be present. Roll call votes would be required in all cases and would be particularly time consuming. Accommodating extended discussion would be challenging. • Ms. Brown's proposal includes truncating the actions to be taken at the ATM by combining most of the articles into several clusters of consent agenda items, as presented in her Proposed Article Dispositions, ATM, spring 2020. Nothing would be included on a consent agenda without unanimous support from both finance committees and the Select Board (SB). Her goal is twofold: ➢ To act on those articles that need action for the Town to function and that are time sensitive for various reasons, such as serious financial implications if postponed. ➢ To postpone those articles that could be addressed at a subsequent town meeting. • Ms. Brown would like the ATM to be completed in one evening, although she acknowledges that it may take additional time. She is currently seeking consensus from the critical committees. Discussion points made by AC committee members included, but were not limited to, the following: • Whether Article 4, Appropriate FY2021 Operating Budget, should be included on a consent agenda: Mr. Bartenstein expressed concern about packaging almost all of the articles that 1 03/12/2020 AC Minutes will go forward, including Article 4, into a single consent vote. Given the magnitude and importance of the Town's operating budget, which exceeds $200 million, he suggested that Town Meeting has a responsibility to demonstrate to Town residents that it has given Article 4 a careful, separate review. Mr. Padaki concurred. Other members noted that last year the discussion of the operating budget article was short, and not more controversial than other articles involving smaller appropriations. • Publication of all motions in advance would be helpful • The Town Meeting Members Association listsery could be used for raising questions, for responses, and discussion. • Opening the ATM on March 23 does not seem realistic; more preparation time is needed. Town Meeting members are used to having material presented to them; reading material in advance will require an adjustment including a delay in the start. • It could be preferable to plan on two or three town meeting sessions with specifically identified consent agendas/articles assigned to each. • It is not clear how this Committee could function during a virtual Town Meeting without physically being in the same room, particularly if there were an amendment or other development requiring the Committee to confer and vote. This would also be true for the Capital Expenditures Committee, the SB and the School Committee. This needs to be reviewed with Ms. Brown. • There will likely be financial ramifications, including a possible recession, associated with this pandemic, which should be addressed sooner than later. Ms. Kosnoff clarified the following: • Regarding the postponement of planning articles: If such articles were indefinitely postponed (IP'ed), a stringent process, involving a two-year delay, would be required to bring them back to a future town meeting. Under current circumstances, it is preferable to refer these articles back to the Planning Board or to the SB, which could bring them to a future Town Meeting on behalf of the original proponent(s). • The current idea is that the ATM would be broadcast on LexMedia and Town Meeting members would vote on their phones. • Over the last three years, there has been no substantive discussion about Article 4 during the ATM. • The SB plans to discuss the process at their Monday evening meeting. Mr. Parker asked for a motion to accept Ms. Brown's proposal with the understanding that he would forward concerns expressed during the discussion about including Article 4 on a consent agenda, and he would ask how this Committee would function if it had to take a vote during the ATM. A motion was made and seconded to accept Ms. Brown's proposal as presented in her document, with the caveats summarized by Mr. Parker. The motion passed. VOTE: 8-0 2020 ATM Financial Articles and Report Planning Mr. Parker identified the financial articles that still require finalized material for this Committee's report. He then identified the following articles individually for Ms. Yan to add her vote: • Article 4: Appropriate FY2021 Operating Budget • Article 6: Establish Qualifications for Tax Deferrals • Article 7: Petition General Court to Amend Legislation Regarding Tax Deferrals: • Article 8: Short Term Rental Impact Fee 2 03/12/2020 AC Minutes • Article 9: Establish and Continue Departmental Revolving Funds • Article 11: Appropriate for Recreation Capital Projects • Article 12: Appropriate for Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment • Article 13: Appropriate for Water System Improvements • Article 14: Appropriate for Wastewater System Improvements • Article 15: Appropriate for School Capital Projects and Equipment • Article 16: Appropriate for Public Facilities Capital Projects • Article 17: Appropriate to Post Employment Insurance Liability Fund • Article 22: Amend FY2020 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets Ms. Yan voted in the affirmative on each one, and Mr. Nichols changed his abstention on Article 8 to an affirmative vote,making all of the votes on the above articles 8-0. Mr. Parker opened discussion on the following articles on which this Committee has not yet voted: • Article 5: Appropriate FY2021 Enterprise Funds Budgets: No comments • Article 18: Rescind Prior Borrowing Authorizations: To be indefinitely postponed; no vote needed. • Article 19: Establish, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds: There was discussion about the portion of this article that would appropriate funds from the Affordable Housing Stabilization Fund for repairs/upgrades at Lexington Housing Authority sites. Mr. Michelson noted that the funds going into this stabilization fund are from Brookhaven, and the Brookhaven agreement indicates that the funds are to be used for new affordable housing. He does not believe that they should be used for maintenance or renovation of existing housing, as is currently proposed. Ms. Kosnoff reported that Town Counsel did not object to this use of the funds, although she understood the objection. She explained that there would be four motions associated with this article: a) appropriate funds into the Capital Stabilization Fund b) appropriate funds from the Capital Stabilization Fund c) appropriate funds into the Affordable Housing Stabilization Fund, and d) appropriate funds from the Affordable Housing Stabilization Fund. • Article 20: Appropriate from Debt Service Stabilization Fund: This Committee voted to include this article on the original consent agenda, indicating its support for the article. • Article 24: Reduce Legal Expenses: Mr. Michelson indicated his support for this article and was joined by Ms. Yan; the remainder of the Committee were opposed. • Article 34: Authorize Special Legislation-Development Surcharge for Community Housing: Ms. Yan explained that this article is requesting approval to levy a fee, to be used for affordable housing, on new development; State legislation would be required to allow the Town to implement such a fee. Because the impact of this article has not been identified, and the SB has not taken a position on it, it was decided to postpone a vote on this article. • Article 36: Amend Zoning Bylaw—Short Term Rentals: This article would affect the impact of Article 8, but those financial impacts would be rather limited. It was decided that this article would not be discussed in this Committee's report. Based on the discussion above, a motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of Article 5, Article 19 a), b), and c), and Article 20. The motion passed. VOTE: 8-0 Based on the discussion above, a motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of Article 19 d). There was a tie vote. VOTE: 4-4 3 03/12/2020 AC Minutes Based on the discussion above, a motion was made and seconded to recommend approval of Article 24. The motion failed. VOTE: 2-6 Minutes Mr. Levine plans to distribute the edited March 5, 2020 minutes for approval at the next meeting. Adjournment The meeting was briefly adjourned at 9:45 p.m. and immediately re-opened to discuss future meetings. Future Meetings It was agreed that this Committee needed to meet again before approval of the report because some material is still being submitted and this Committee has not taken a position on Article 34. A meeting was scheduled for March 17, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 9:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Approved: March 24, 2019 Exhibits • Agenda,posted by Mr. Parker, Chair • Proposed Article Dispositions, prepared by Deborah Brown, for the ATM, 3/12/20 4