Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-03-11-AC-min 03/11/2021 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) March 11, 2021 Place and Time: Remote Participation: in accordance with the Governor's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law; communication took place via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Meg Muckenhoupt; Lily Manhua Yan (arrived 8:01 p.m.); Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Member(s)Absent: None Other Attendees: David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Mr. Parker confirmed attendance, reviewed the authorization for meeting remotely, noted that the meeting was being called to order at 7:32 p.m. on March 11, 2021, and stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purpose of creating minutes. He also noted that materials for the meeting were available on-line. AC Report to Annual Town Meeting (ATM)2021 (Report) Mr. Padaki added his affirmative vote in support of recommending approval of the following articles: • Article 19, Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate to and from Specified Stabilization Funds; • Article 21, Amend FY2021 Operating, Enterprise and CPA Budgets; • Article 34, Amend General Bylaws-Tree Bylaw Fees and Mitigation Payments; • Article 36, Authorize Special Legislation-Development Surcharge for Affordable Housing (Citizen Petition). Mr. Michelson asked that this Committee's vote recommending support of Article 32, Amend General Bylaws-Receive Appraised Value for Removed Trees be rescinded to allow an opportunity to hear discussion at the ATM before taking a position. He noted that the Town Manager is concerned about the administrative demands on the Select Board and staff that may be triggered by this article, while the Tree Committee has issued a rebuttal to this concern. Additionally, the SB has not yet taken a position on the article. A motion was made and seconded to rescind this Committee's recommended support of Article 32, and to make this Committee's position pending. After discussion, there was a roll call vote. The motion was approved. VOTE: 6-0 (Note: This vote was taken prior to Ms. Yan's arrival.) Mr. Parker led a page-by-page review of the draft report version v5. Edits were discussed and some additional changes/clarifications were incorporated. Text in the report triggered discussion about several issues, including the following: • Ensuring that the report clearly explains the $3.0 million in free cash that was set aside for potential expenses associated with Covid-related needs in FY2021 and the $2.0 million that is being similarly held for FY2022. • Use of the Special Education Stabilization Fund for supplementing revenue to cover the School Department operating expenses. 1 03/11/2021 AC Minutes • The appropriate amount of free cash and the use of free cash in presenting a balanced operating budget versus using it for capital expenses. • Making reference in the report to the Town's solicitation to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for receiving grant funds for rebuilding/renovating the high school. A motion was made and seconded to approve the amended report to the 2021 ATM, allowing additional non-substantive edits, including corrections/clarifications regarding numeric information. There was a roll call vote. The motion was approved. VOTE: 7-0 Mr. Parker requested that edits should be submitted to him by Saturday at noon. He thanked the committee members for their help in preparing the report. Ms. Yan agreed with changing the vote on Article 32 to pending. Announcements and Liaison Reports During the meeting, the following updates were provided: • The CEC met earlier in the day, and its report will be published on March 15tH • There are two strong candidates for this committee: Anil Ahuja and Vineeta Kumar. • The Community Preservation Act Administrative Budget will not be included on the Consent Agenda, as previously anticipated. Additionally, Ms. Kosnoff reported that she expects that a small Reserve Fund transfer request will be brought to this Committee's next meeting scheduled for March 18tH Minutes of Prior Meetings A motion was made and seconded to approve the draft minutes for the March 4 and March 8, 2021 AC meetings, with edits. There was a roll call vote. The motion was approved. VOTE: 7-0 The meeting adjourned at 9:36 p.m. by a roll call vote. VOTE: 7-0 Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Approved: March 18, 2021 Exhibits • Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker • AC Report to 2021 ATM-v5 Changes 2