HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-12-18-PWSC-minMinutes of the DPW Facility /Senior Center
Re- Evaluation Advisory Committee
December 18, 2002
Members in Attendance
Chairman Paul Lapointe, Donald Chisholm, Michelle Ciccolo, Marshall Derby, David Eagle, Bill
Kennedy, Jeanne Krieger, John McWeeney
Liaisons: John Rosenberg, Sheldon Spector
Staff: Mary Jo Bohart, Bill Hadley, Heather Hartshorn Sweeney, Kelly McKay Zeoli
Visitors: Harriett Cohen (Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee)
Minutes
Don Chisholm made a motion to accept the December 4 minutes. The motion was seconded and it
passed unanimously.
Board of Selectmen Presentation
Paul Lapointe updated the group on his presentation to the BOS and the Board's comments on
December 16.
The BOS:
• does not want the committee to send out an RFI on Hartwell Avenue
• said the committee should reserve a warrant article to ask for funding for the Senior Center site
evaluation and schematic design
• said that they will give the committee an extension until April 1, with the understanding that the
committee should report back to them as soon as possible. The BOS, the Capital Expenditures
Committee, and the Appropriations Committee would all like time to review the report before
Town Meeting.
RFI Publicity
• Kelly Zeoli will work with the MIS department to put the RFI on the DPW website as soon as
possible. She will let the committee know the URL when it is available.
• Mary Jo Bohart will place ads in the New England Real Estate Journal and Banker and
Tradesman She said that it would cost approximately $550 total for a one week advertisement
in both publications.
• Mary Jo will also place the ad in the Central Register. She will try to put it in for two weeks if
possible.
• Harriet Cohen suggested sending the RFI to potential Met State Developers
• Mary Jo will send a press release to the Minuteman and the Globe NW Weekly
• Kelly will send postcards about the RFI to all the Lexington realtors
• Kelly will send postcards to any area developers. Committee members are asked to get her the
names of any developers.
Dates
Due to the holidays and deadlines for the ads, the committee decided to push back the site visit until
January 15, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. The snow day for the site visit will be Friday, January 17. A letter of
interest from the developers is due on January 22. The proposal due date is still February 10.
Because of these date changes, the dates for the January committee meetings will also be different. The
meetings are now scheduled for January 15 at 7:45 a.m. at 201 Bedford Street and January 29 at 7:45
a.m. at the Senior Center.
Paul will draft a letter to send to the 201 Bedford Street abutters as a courtesy to let them know what the
committee is doing.
DPW Working Group
The DPW working group will meet on Friday, January 10 at 8:00 a.m. at the Hartwell Avenue Facility.
Senior Center Working Group
Paul said that the Senior Center working group would like to use some or all of the $50,000 appropriated
to them to hire a firm to put together a report on the senior center similar to the DPW's CDM report.
They are also looking for funding at Town Meeting for FY 2004. They believe $300,000 would allow
them to hire someone to do site development, a schematic design, and design development. They realize
that there is a lot contingent on the recommendation of the committee and on the BOS's decision on the
senior center site. John McWeeney said, in response to a comment Paul made about environmental
work on 201 Bedford Street in the Senior Center report, that if the committee hires a contractor to do
environmental work, it is expensive to keep going back and doing it more than once, which would have
to be done again before the sale /lease of the property. For example, if the contractor finds something,
then the Town will have to cure it. It could be a Pandora's box, and John suggests not doing an
environmental study until absolutely necessary.
Sheldon Spector said that he does not want to be another year behind, but is wondering if this $300,000
would actually be funded in FY04 given the budget deficit. Bill Kennedy said that funding is a matter of
priorities and what is politically viable. He does not think the budget situation precludes the committee
from submitting the warrant article. John Rosenberg said that there would only be about $800,000 for
cash capital in the FY04 budget and $400,000 of it is slated for the landfill. But he also said that there is
usually even less money for cash capital in the second and third years after an override.
Michelle Ciccolo thinks that the committee should ask for possible disposition of the property in the
warrant article, or better yet, in a second warrant article. She believes that due to 30B requirements, a
vote of disposition by Town Meeting is necessary before the town can undertake a formal RFP process.
She said that the warrant could also include wording to the effect that the land cannot be sold without
another vote by Town Meeting, so Town Meeting would have the final say on whom the land is
sold/leased to. Paul said that he would speak with Rick White and /or Leo McSweeney regarding the
warrant articles. He does not want to limit the group by not being flexible enough.
Next Steps
The next meeting will be at 7:45 a.m. at 201 Bedford Street on Wednesday, January 15, 2003. The site
visit will follow at 9:30.
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