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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-02-04-CEC-min ���ry Ndg42 btr��f} Y Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting February 4, 2021 Location and Time: Remote Meeting; 8:00 A.M. Members Present (remote participation): Charles Lamb, Chair; David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk; Sandy Beebee; Rod Cole; Wendy Manz; and Frank Smith Members Absent: None Others Present (remote participation): Members of Other Committees: Sara Cuthbertson and Scott Bokun, School Committee liaisons; Glenn Parker, Appropriation Committee liaison; Town Meeting Member: Taylor Singh; Staff: Finance Department: Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager for Finance (arrived 8:06 A.M.); Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Documents Presented: • Notice of CEC Meeting, February 4, 2021 • CEC PENDING FINAL Nominations for 2021 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) Consent Agenda, Prepared by Mr. Kanter, 25 Jan 2021 • Strawman Capital Expenditures Committee Report to 2021 ATM, 19 Jan 2021 • Draft #3 of CEC Minutes for its January 28, 2021 Meeting Call to Order Mr. Lamb called this Remote (Virtual) Meeting, which had been posted as such, to order at 8:01 A.M. As all those present had been previously advised of the special conditions of this meeting, he passed on repeating them (i.e., The requirement to have a physical presence of a quorum had been suspended in an Executive Order by Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker, on March 12, 2020, after having proclaimed, on March 10, 2020, a STATE OF EMERGENCY in the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, known as "COVID-19.). Mr. Lamb further reported that the documents for this meeting, which had been provided electronically to the Committee and would be available upon request, were those listed as Documents Presented. Any votes during this meeting would be taken by a roll call. This meeting is being recorded to assist in preparing Minutes, and the recording would be deleted once the Minutes were approved. Mr. Lamb took a roll-call vote and confirmed that all six Committee members were remotely participating. Mr. Lamb then asked Mr. Kanter to direct the rest of this meeting. Continued Discussion of the Status of this Committee's Report to the 2021 ATM ("Report"); and other matters related to that Town Meeting Mr. Kanter opened the discussion by expressing appreciation for the staff's prompt, thorough, and considerate responses to this Committee's concerns regarding the FY2022 Town Manager's Preliminary Budget & Financing Plan (White Book) and their cited appreciation of the time and care taken by this Committee in its review, and the spirit of collaboration involved. (Mr. Kanter repeated this for the benefit of Ms. Kosnoff when she later logged in to this meeting.) Page 1 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting February 4, 2021 Consent Agenda: Mr. Kanter reviewed suggested changes to the list of recommended nominations of Consent Agenda items that had been prepared during this Committee's January 28, 2021 , meeting. As follows, he noted and explained the presence of Articles for which a NONE position was being taken and the reasoning for the suggestions: • Articles 6 (Senior Services Program); 20 (Appropriate for Prior Years Unpaid Bills); and 27 (Increase in Recreation Committee Membership): Although these do not relate to Capital projects and therefore will not be discussed in this Committee's Report, Mr. Kanter included them to complete the nominations proposed to the Select Board. • Article 10 (Appropriate the FY2022 Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and CPA (Community Preservation Act) Projects): In contrast to his earlier opinion, which this Committee had ultimately accepted, Mr. Kanter expressed his support now, after a discussion with the Chair of the Community Preservation Committee, for also including the four projects in this Article in the Committee's nominations—which is now consistent with the Ms. Manz's original opinion at the last meeting. • Article 21 (Amend FY2021 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets): Mr. Kanter believes this Article could be included on the Consent Agenda if Enterprise Capital and CPA budget items are not included. • Article 25 (Amend Borrowing Authorization Conservation Land Acquisition): While the "No" position taken at the January 28, 2021, CEC meeting was because of understanding the Town's Financial Staff thought routine discussion was warranted, Mr. Kanter advised there was no longer any reservation of it being on the Consent Agenda. Ms. Kosnoff confirmed that is her current position. She said a video presentation explaining this Article's change of the $1 million debt portion of the 39 Highland Avenue purchase to cash in Community Preservation Fund—making the purchase solely by cash—will be prepared, available before the Town Meeting, and be sufficient to support this Article being in the Consent Agenda. • Article 29 (Clean Heat—Authorize Special Legislation to Regulate Fossil Fuel Infrastructure and Adopt Bylaw Amendment Enabling Legislation)—for which this Committee had not taken a position pending further information: Mr. Kanter advised that with the further explanation provided by the proponent Sustainable Lexington Committee, Mr. Lamb had determined that this Article should be discussed in this Committee's Report to the 2021 Annual Town Meeting, and it should not be a nominee for the Consent Agenda. Ms. Kosnoff joined the meeting. A Motion was made and seconded to support (1) approval of the updated nomination table as discussed; (2) having Article 29 in the Report; and (3) Mr. Kanter's distribution, with a covering e-mail, of the table To the Town Moderator, the Select Board, and the Appropriation Committee, along with usual Cc addressees. Roll-Call Vote: 6-0 Completing the Committee's Preliminary Votes on the Articles & Sub-Articles in the Strawman Report: Mr. Kanter asked Mr. Cole to record his preliminary votes on the same Articles/Sub-Articles included in the Strawman Report which other Committee members had voted on at the January 28, 2021, meeting. Mr. Cole reported that he had reviewed the Page 2 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting February 4, 2021 Minutes from said meeting—which were appreciated—and the contents of the Strawman Report, and asked that his support of all the same Articles/Sub-Articles be included. That made this Committee's preliminary positions unanimously supporting all but two Articles in the Strawman Report. Mr. Kanter provided these details on those two Articles: • Police Station Construction Funding: This appropriation request was removed from the Report as it would be brought to a later Town Meeting—potentially the Fall 2021 Special Town Meeting. • Article 19 (Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds): Pending inclusion of the actions and dollar values. Mr. Kanter also reported that the Appropriation Request for the South Lexington Traffic Mitigation Plan ($115,000, Traffic Demand Management/Public Transportation Specified Stabilization Fund) that is in the White Book and would have been under Article 12 (Appropriate for Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment, and on which this Committee had made a preliminary vote), had been subsequently withdrawn because of insufficient bandwidth to execute that scope in the staff department in FY2022. Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Ms. Kosnoff reported on Article 12(o), Parking System, explaining that this project did not have a Capital Improvement Program request, and it was not included in the White Book because it had only recently been identified as a project. She said that the project arose as it is time-sensitive because it is tied to the Center Streetscape project. The current parking system operates using 3G technology, which is becoming obsolete. All the parking meters must be removed during the Streetscape Project, making this a good time to upgrade the meters to 4G or to a more robust system (e.g., kiosks and/or cell-phone technology) whether throughout or only at the public parking lots. The cost of just the 4G upgrade—estimated at about $103,000—could be covered by the approximately $106,000 remaining in a 2016 parking-related project—which may not need a new appropriation. The more robust system is potentially estimated to be about $300,000. There is approximately $750,000 available in the Parking Meter Fund that could be used, as needed, to complete the funding. So, although it isn't known what overlap there might be with the 4G upgrade, its likely to present an $400,000 request. There are pros and cons to each option, and they are currently being evaluated. The more robust systems could potentially save approximately $90,000–$100,000 per year of operating costs (e.g., eliminating parking attendants and other administrative expenses). Ms. Kosnoff then reported that a Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the Streetscape Project construction is expected to be issued near the end of this month or in the next month, putting pressure on reaching a decision so that the specifications for the preferred parking system can be included. The FY2022 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book) will include this project, probably with a limited discussion and even an unknown request amount. In response to a question about including this project as an add-alternate in the RFP, Ms. Kosnoff noted that may be done, but cautioned that regulations require that add–alternates be executed sequentially in the order the Town prioritized them in the bid documents, making it a challenge to use this approach. Page 3 of 4 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting February 4, 2021 Approval of Minutes A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #3 CEC Meeting Minutes for January 28, 2021 , as presented. Mr. Cole extended his appreciation to Ms. Arnold and Mr. Kanter for timely providing this Minutes as it was a great help to him—especially as he had not attended that meeting. Roll-Call Vote: 6-0 Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 8:24 A.M. to adjourn. Roll-Call Vote: 6-0 This Minutes was approved by the CEC at its meeting on February 21, 2021 Page 4 of 4