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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-06 Finance Committee MinutesFinance Committee Meeting March 6, 2013 The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Finance Committee Chairman David Greenfield, Vice Chairman Barry Berman, members Jeanne Borawski, Paula Perry, Hal Torman, Mark Dockser, Paul McNeice, Karen Herrick and Jeffrey Perkins, Assistant Town Manager /Finance Director Bob LeLacheur, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Fire Chief Greg Bums, Library Director Ruth Urell, Police Chief James Cormier, Town Planner /Community Services Director Jean Delios, Elder Services Administrator Jane Burns, Health Director Ruth Urell, Library Trustee Cherrie Dubois, Office Manager Paula Schena, Conservation Commission member Bill Hecht and Tom Procopio. Review FYI Town Manager Budget Mr. Greenfield noted he received a letter from Bill Brown regarding the funding of Veterans flowers. The trust fund money runs the risk of running out of money in the future and he is asking if the Finance Committee could aid the fund now or wait until it is gone. Mr. Torman asked what the balance is and Mr. LeLacheur noted it is $25,000. Barry Berman noted that people can make donations to that fund. Mr. Greenfield suggested that when it comes time to vote on the downtown flowers he will recommend a split. Ms. Angstrom addressed the Reading Ice Arena lease arrangement with the Town. She noted that they have repairs going on and they originally said they could pay the Town $100,000 this year, but she only received $50,000 because that's all they could afford. Mr. Berman asked if there is a mechanism for the Town to do due diligence and Ms. Angstrom noted that their audit firm will send her the details. Mr. Greenfield requested that this item be put on an agenda after budget season. Community Service s — Ms. Delios noted that there are no significant changes in staffing. The Conservation Commission is requesting that the Conservation Administrator hours be increased from 23 hours/week to 26 hours /week. Ms. Delios noted that the Inspections Revolving fund offsets the hours for a backup building inspector hours. The regional health services are working very well. She is requesting a one time $75,000 for a consultant to do an update of the Zoning Bylaws. An overhaul of the Bylaws will help the department communicate better. Also, we need to outsomce for the mosquito control because DPW staff should no longer perform this task. Mr. Greenfield asked how much of the $75,000 to update the Bylaws is actual cost and Ms. Delios noted that Boards, Committees and Commissions need to involved. The consultant will be given the resources and staff will schedule meetings, etc. She noted that the sign bylaws are 20 pages long. Mr. McNeice asked if we are losing businesses because of our Bylaws and Ms. Delios we are not, in fact she just met with two possible business owners who want to come to Reading but there is no space available. Mr. Perkins noted that he spent four years on the Zoning Board of Appeals and he agrees that Finance Committee Minutes — March 6. 2013 — page 2 this needs to be done. Mr. LeLacheur asked about the timeline to bring this to Town Meeting and Ms. Delius noted that she did this in Peabody and she had 32 meetings on it and it took one and half years. Ms. Herrick noted that she was looking for a bylaw that wasn't there because it got lost in the shuffle. Mr. Berman asked how the flu clinics worked out this year and Ms. Clay noted that the vaccines were pooled and there was enough for everybody. Mr. LeLacheur noted that page two of the handout explains the conservation wetland funds. We are spending $230,000 in veterans' aid. Mr. McNeice asked if any other towns are regionalizing veterans services and Mr. LeLacheur noted the state law requirements are difficult and it is not a true district we just provide coverage if needed. Mr. Toman asked what is driving the veterans' aid budget and Mr. LeLacheur indicated the number of cases and some individual cases can be very expensive. Library — Ms. Urell distributed the plan of service for the Library. She noted it supports the move to a temp location for 18 months. They have detailed plans on what will go to the temp location and what will go in storage. Mr. Greenfield asked if wages could be paid out of the building project fund and Mr. LeLacheur noted it could not for operations unless it was specialized. Mr. Hutchinson noted that they are committed to provide the same level of service and will try to stay within the budget. Ms. Perry asked if they will still spend the full amount on materials and Ms. Urell indicated they will. They will probably do double digital material and more magazines. Mr. Toman noted that on page 58 in the second paragraph it states that the expenses will likely decrease. Mr. Urell noted that is because the payments for their multifunction device will be moving to the Finance Department budget. Ms. Urell reminded everyone that the Library's Open House is March 16" and they will be celebrating the Highland School. Police — Chief Cormier noted that they are full staffed and 42 officers are funded in personnel expenses. They are trying to get back to normal levels of training. Traffic light maintenance and repairs has been moved to Engineering. Ms. Perry asked about sick leave buyback and Chief Cormier indicated they have two more left and that's it. Mr. LeLacheur noted that RCASA grant was not renewed but another grant was received so the budget for RCASA is split between the general fund and grants. Ms. McNamara indicated that the first five years are complete. They applied for the grant for years 6 — 10 but it was not funded. Last year the state funded 130 grants and this year only 30. Mr. Greenfield asked when the money will run out and the Town will pick up the full amount. Ms. McNamara noted the money will run out in FY16. Mr. McNeice asked how the FTE lined up with what she needs and Ms. McNamara noted two is great. She is Finance Committee Minutes — March 6.2013 — pa e 3 restricted to what the grant allows her to do but the second person is not restricted at all. Mr. Berman asked if the goal is to have a self sufficient program and Ms. McNamara indicated the Board of Directors can answer that better. The coalition work is hard to sell because companies want documentation. Chief Cormier noted that the coalition required the Town's help to get up and running but the hope of the Board of Directors is to make it a community based program at some point. Chief Cormier did note that they received another $5000 grant for underage drinking operations. Mr. Greenfield asked if the Police receive any other funding and Chief Cormier noted the only other funding they receive is for dispatch 911. Mr. Tolman asked about the $72,000 for Police cruisers and Chief Cormier noted that they found a couple of Crown Victoria's for this year and next year they will need to go with something else and whatever they get will need retrofitting. Mr. LeLacheur indicated page 4 had the overtime account. Chief Cormier noted they are not doing well this year. There have been a lot of Officers out of work with illnesses and injuries plus three ranking officers retired. He is hiring two sergeants this month and he might break even due to the retirements. Mr. Greenfield asked for a breakdown of overtime showing regular time, overtime and overtime with details and send it to the Finance Committee next week. Police Capital - Chief Cormier noted that there is $25,000 in the capital plan for an Animal Control van. The current van is 1998 and has rust and holes in the floor. Mr. Scribner noted the interview recording equipment needs to be replaced. They are required to record the interviews and have it for court. They are looking at replacement systems and have received a quote for two. They have four areas to cover so they will have to buy two systems. Ms. Perry asked if it includes hardware and software and Mr. Scribner indicated it does. Our current system doesn't do back up, but the new one does it automatically. Mr. LeLacheur noted that the dispatch budget is on page 67. Chief Cormier noted that the FTE stays the same. All dispatchers have been through training. He noted that one dispatcher working is difficult with the medical emergency software. Mr. Greenfield asked about regional dispatch and Chief Cormier noted we are ahead of everyone else so there is no incentive to drive regionalization for dispatch. Fire — Chief Bums noted the non union pay increase will be according to the pay and class. He has an additional 24 hours of pay at the end of the fiscal year so that line will need to be increased. A requirement of EMS is to have an affiliate physician and he is Dr. Alex Walker at Melrose. The state is requiring more oversight by the medical affiliates and he is asking for a stipend of $6000. He has always done it in the past at no cost but he needs to recover his costs for the additional oversight. The budget also includes money to license an engine as class 5 to put medication on it. The overtime has increased 2.50% and the memo on page 9 of the handout explains the overtime. They Finance Committee Minutes — March 6, 2013 — pa¢e 4 have had a number of injuries this year. Fire Fighters are required to work 182 shifts per year. They hired a Fire Fighter in July and he is already trained and that saved some overtime. Mr. Greenfield noted that the pay increases seem high and Chief Burns noted that his due to the additional 24 hours and two captains are going to receive an advanced degree, Mr. Berman asked if the advance degree is similar to the Quinn Bill and Chief Burns indicated it is a result of contract bargaining. Mr. Torman asked about the billing services. Chief Bums noted that he developed and RFP. The community pays a fee which is a percentage of what is collected. Mr. Berman noted that a private firm might not be as courteous as the Fire Department and Chief Bums noted that we can cancel the contract at any time. Fire Capital — Chief Bums noted the capital plan includes turnout gear, furniture for the station and replacement of fire hoses. Mr. Greenfield asked if there is a pipeline to give countries our old gear and Chief Bums indicated there is and he also saves some for new Fire Fighters to use at the academy. Ms. Herrick asked if there was any way to stagger the replacement of gear and Chief Bums noted he looked at that but he wants all the Fire Fighters in the same gear so it is better to replace all at once. Benefits — Ms. Angstrom reviewed the unfunded pension liability. She noted it will show in the budget in FY2015. This will be fully funded in 2030. Mr. Berman asked how much we will put in every year and Ms. Angstrom indicated $3 million. Mr. Berman asked what would happen if we don't fund it and Ms. Angstrom indicated it would affect our bond rating. Mr. LeLacheur reviewed the benefits budget and noted we are in good shape. Workers comp is at $266,000; unemployment costs are down some and health insurance is budgeted at 5.5 %. Mr. LeLacheur suggested doing a presentation on benefits after the budget season. Capital and Deb[ — Mr. LeLacheur noted that $3.84 million should be spent on debt and capital. The sale of real estate fund has $200,000 in it. We need to develop a program for school roof repairs. The capital plan includes $60,000 for network upgrades; GIS flyover of $45,000; Hunt Park is the last park to be done over so Recreation won't be needing the money after that is done; and money for road improvements. Mr. LeLacheur noted that debt is $2.04 million inside the levy and $2.33 million excluded. In the pipeline we have the library project, the cemetery garage, Killam School and the DPW garage. Mr. LeLacheur noted he gave the Finance Committee the wrong Library Building Committee policy last week and the correct one in the handout. Also, DPW needs a liaison and it was decided the Jeffrey Perkins would fill that position. Finance Committee Minutes — March 6.2013 — page 5 Approval of Minutes A motion by Greenfield seconded by Perry to approve the Executive Session minutes of January 22 2013 as written was approved on a roll call vote with all nine members voting in the affirmative. A motion by Torman seconded by Berman to approve the minutes of January 22. 2013 as amended was approved by a vote of 9 -0 -0. Mr. LeLacheur also noted that in Article 6 of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant the $49,000 for fire station radios was an insurance claim but still needs approval of Town Meeting. A motion by Greenfield seconded by Perry to adjourn the meeting at 10:45 p.m. was approved by a vote of 9 -0 -0. Respectfully s�u\b \�1Jm�i ^�tte'd, Secretary