1999-01-06 Board of Selectmen Minutes

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Board of Selectmen Meeting January 6, 1999 The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chain-nail Bruce MacDonald, Vice Chairman Sally Hoyt, Selectmen Camille Anthony and George Hines, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Assistant Town Manager Russell Dean and the following list of interested parties: Joe Connelly, Nancy Eaton, Donald Wood. George Hines announced that he will be seeking re-election for a fourth three-year tern. Sally Hoyt announced that she will also be seeking re-election. Discrission/Action Items Approval of BANS - On motion by Anthony seconded by Hoyt, the Board approved the following motion on the award of the Bond Anticipation Notes by a vote of 4-0-0. Moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the issuance, sale and delivery of$5,610,000 Bond Anticipation Notes (Municipal Purpose Loan of 1999) of the Town of Reading. Said Bond Anticipation Notes shall be dated January 14, 1999 and shall mature on January 13, 2000. There will be one note, issued by means of a book entry system. The Board of Selectmen approves the acceptance of the bid of Fleet Securities and designates State Street Bank and Trust Company as Note Registrar, Transfer Agent and Paying Agent. The winning bid to purchase the notes was a 3.25% interest rate with a premium of$13,314.67. The net interest cost (NIC) was 3.012%. The motion was approved by a vote of 4-0-0. Review Budget—The Town Manager reviewed the draft FY 2000 Budget for municipal services. He noted that the revenues are presently estimated to increase by 4.5%. The Town Budget with everything included as shown would increase by 4.9%. The Town Manager went over the individual department budgets with any new program requests that were included. In the Finance budget, the Board wants the School telephone expenses kept in the School budget 1-1 and not shown in the Town budget. The Board had discussion as to whether or not a GIS Coordinator should be included in the Finance Department as proposed or elsewhere. In the Department of General Services, the Board asked that the Assistant Town Manager position be put in the General Services Department not in Human Services in order to keep the focus on the Assistant Town Manager function of the job. The Board asked to consider adding Professional Development for the National League of Cities, and the Town Manager will review the cost. With regard to the Library budget, there was discussion as to whether or not the minimum expenditures for materials should come out of the Town budget, or whether it was appropriate to use State aid or trust fund money for this purpose. The Town Manager noted that it had always