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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-03-10-CEC-min Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Date, Time, and Place March 10, 2011 , 12.00 noon, Town Office Building, Room 111 Members Present Charles Lamb, Chair, Shirley Stolz, David Kanter, Ted Edson, Vice-Chair Member Absent Bill Hurley Other Attendees Dawn McKenna, Chair, Tourism Committee (and principal proponent of 2011 Annual Town Meeting Article 34), Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities (DPF), Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance, Carl Valente, Town Manager, John Livsey, Town Engineer, Robert Beaudoin, Superintendent of Environmental Services, Deb Mauger, Selectman Documents Presented (1) Draft Motion (dated 3 9 2011) under Article 34—Approve Battle Green Master Plan, and (2) Extract from the Town of Lexington Code, Chapter § 100-10, Protection of the Battle Green Mr Lamb called the meeting to order at 12 noon The Committee began a discussion of the 5-Year Capital Plan (5YCP) to be included in its report to the 2011 Annual Town Meeting The Committee's goal, and being consistent with its obligation to recommend its own 5YCP to Town Meeting, is to use as a starting point the information in the Town's FY2012 Recommended Budget & Financing Plan (the "Brown Book")—including the Town's 5YCP—but then to amend it to create the Committee's version of the 5YCP To that end, the members were asked to critically review what is in the Town's 5YCP to see whether the presentation of those projects needs to be modified or deleted, or that additional entries are warranted, to better represent the Committee's view Article 34—Approve Battle Green Master Plan With the arrival of Ms McKenna, she discussed the draft motion she had brought along with a copy of §100-10 in the Town of Lexington Code This Motion will be brought before the Board of Selectmen (BoS) Monday and it will either be approved or the Article will be moved for Indefinite Postponement (IP) The Committee discussed what Town Meeting would have before them to approve, the process this will take, as well as its position Mr Edson asked for confirmation of the contemplated funding process and Ms McKenna confirmed all funding, other than the two being proposed to the 2011 Town Meeting under Articles 8(e) & (f), would be the subject of Articles for future Town Meetings Mr Kanter reiterated his opposition to the parallel process regarding responsibilities already set before the BoS that he sees represented by this Article Mr Kanter moved that if that presented draft Motion comes forward to Town Meeting, the Committee recommends disapproval, if the Motion is for Indefinite Postponement, the Committee recommends approval, and if a materially different Motion is chosen by the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on March 14, 2011, the Committee would reconsider its position once that Motion is in hand Mr Edson seconded Vote Approved 4-0 Page 1 of 4 Article 13(e)—Clarke Middle School Paving Improvements Mr Addelson and Mr Goddard discussed with the Committee the short construction window to complete the proposed work this calendar year and delaying design & evaluation (D&E) until an appropriation under this Article would make it likely the work could not be completed before the school year starts in the Fall Mr Goddard explained this project includes the need for a Notice of Intent (NOI) to, and approval from, the Conservation Commission because of wetland issues, preliminary designs, completion of the bid process, and an 8-week construction period Therefore, Mr Addelson & Mr Goddard propose using $23,000 of FY2011 operating funding available to the DPF in its Outside-Services line (usually for preventive maintenance) for the design of this work so DPF would be ready in time to award the construction using the funds under this Article to allow completion before the school year begins this Fall The Committee asked what known projects, if any, would be impacted by using those operating funds now instead of having them available for other work later in FY2011 and was advised there were none The Committee also asked whether it would be prudent to reduce the amount requested under this Article to reflect it no longer included the D&E Mr Goddard recommended not making any reduction as it was still just an estimate of what even the construction might cost. Mr Kanter moved that the Committee, as a one-time action and not intending to establish a precedent, endorse the use of the Outside-Services funding to get a head start on D&E for the Clark Middle School Paving Improvements, and continue to recommend approval of this Article sub-element to the 2011 Annual Town Meeting action at $125,000 for the construction, Mr Edson seconded Vote 4-0 The Committee then had a discussion with Mr Addelson and Mr Goddard regarding how other practices could be implemented to provide a more-global solution to such critical-timing situations when the Committee's general expectation of a 3-phase approach (feasibility/planning, design & engineering, and construction), usually over 3 years, doesn't meet the needs of any specific project—especially for DPF projects, but it could also apply, for example, to Department of Public Works projects It was agreed that while some already-available practices that were discussed may be applicable (e g , a Special Town Meeting—either in conjunction with the Annual Town Meeting or subsequent to it, collapsing the project into just 2 phases, getting agreement to use available funds whose purpose, when appropriated, is broad enough to encompass the new work, to cite a few mentioned), the Committee committed to work with them on laying out what may exist and what new approach may be warranted to best meet the Town's needs while fully respecting fiscal (including the timing of the issuance of debt and debt-service implications) and programmatic requirements Article 7(3rd Fund)(b) - Compost Facility Green Waste Study(Anaerobic Facility Study) Mr Valente, Mr Livsey, Mr Beaudoin, and Selectman Mauger discussed this proposed project. Mr Valente gave background regarding the desired anaerobic digestion and composting facility for food waste The wet or dry system would use the methane produced to generate electricity The Town could eventually sell electricity back to the grid, have increased revenue from the leased space, and contribute in a positive way to the Page 2 of 4 environment. Additional research is necessary to include just how the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) might amend the current permit regarding the capping that was done at the site, and what other issues will need to be addressed in regards to the impact on groundwater, surface water, penetrations, weight loads, gas lines and other site issues CDM, the consultant, has completed an initial evaluation and has a draft report that is being reviewed before being submitted to the BoS Additional engineering and site work will be needed to determine the viability of the site for the proposed facility and a Request for Proposal (RFP) would be issued for that as well as to run the facility DEP supports these facilities, but recognizes that implementation requires it to update their own regulations 5-10 acres, out of the 26 on the site, would be used for this type of facility The Committee discussed the current capping as well as the cost that could be incurred if the cap had to be redone to meet regulations Mr Kanter applauds this effort, but expressed concern about the availability of input material There was discussion regarding local vendor input volumes and the Committee was informed that hadn't been confirmed, the proposed facility would likely need about 40,000-50,000 tons a year to operate at full capacity The presenters believed that volume should make the facility viable and even the local suppliers of the waste can save costs by providing it for this purpose instead of having otherwise to dispose of it. The contractor that would install the facility will be required to assist in the resolution of issues with capping and the Town has an expectation of success in this regard Selectman Mauger discussed the benefits of including the private sector and explained that their incentive is aligned with the Town's to create a good and workable situation Solutions using new technology are already being used in Europe, but are new to the East Coast. Those using this new technology typically use venture capital—a funding source that might not be totally aligned with our contracting process—but the developers of the technology want it to be successful in the US The RFP process was discussed as well as the benefits to the Town of investing $52,000 to reap benefits generated from this project. (It was noted that the total revenue generated last fiscal year by the current Hartwell site was about $402,000—about half from the sale of compost, about half from disposal fees paid by those bringing material to the site ) Mr Valente discussed potential zoning issues with the new use of the Hartwell site regarding the frontage and change of use for this project. The current use is grandfathered Frontage on Hartwell Avenue is owned by NStar, but the Town of Lexington has an easement. This project has no affect on the concurrent request for $65,000 to fix the culverts under the access road to the site under Article 7(3rd Fund)(a) Mr Edson moved to support the $52,000 request, Mr Kanter seconded Vote 4-0 Article 20—Establish and Appropriate to Specified Stabilization Funds Mr Addelson mentioned that two new Stabilization Funds are being created although all the funding amounts have yet to be decided Those new funds are the Avalon Bay School Enrollment Mitigation Fund and for the Transportation Management Overlay District (TMOD) (TMO-1) Page 3 of 4 As it's capital related, Mr Kanter moved to endorse the establishment of TMOD Stabilization Fund, Ms Stolz seconded Vote 4-0 Committee Report to the 2011 Annual Town Meeting The Committee resumed discussion of its approach to the 5YCP The Committee discussed Article 17—Reduce CPA Surcharge, Article 8(c)—Leary Property Planning Funds, and Article 8(d)—LexHAB Set Aside Minutes. Mr Edson moved to approve the minutes of the March 8, 2011, meeting, as distributed, Mr Kanter seconded the motion Vote 4-0 Mr Kanter will forward final minutes to the Town Clerk. Other Business The Committee decided to have another meeting on March 16, 2011 The Recording Secretary will see that it is posted At 1 57 p m , a Motion was made by Mr Kanter to adjourn, Mr Edson seconded Vote 4-0 These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on March 30, 2011 Page 4 of 4