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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-25 Finance Committee MinutesOWN OF Ri BJ9.INCID to Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committee Date: 2015 -03 -25 Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Time: 7:30 PM Location: Conference Room IV-D ?i N CLtRK Ir,SS. P3 :42 Chairman Mark Dockser, Vice Chair Paula Perry, Members Peter Lydecker, Craig Merry, Marc Moll, Anne Landry, Vanessa Alvarado, and Karen Herrick Members - Not Present: Paul McNeice Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Police Chief Jim Cormier, Deputy Chief Mark Segalla, Fire Chief Greg Burns, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, DPW Director Jeff Zager, Assistant DPW Director Joe Huggins, Finance Director of Schools Martha Sybert, Superintendent of Schools John Doherty, Selectmen members John Halsey, John Arena, and Dan Ensminger, Recreation Director John Fuedo, Business Administrator Jane Kinsella, School Committee Chair Chris Caruso and member Chuck Robinson and Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders. Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Chairman Mark Dockser called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Special Town Meeting Overview and Vote Article 4 is the Birch Meadow Field lighting. Mr. LeLacheur noted the Recreation Revolving Fund usually turns back $100,000. The lighting would provide $10,000 in energy savings per year. If they increase fees 10% that will generate approximately $5,000 a year, however Mr. LeLacheur said Recreation is not trying to turn a profit they are trying to provide needed services important to the town. The factors will pay for itself over 10 years. Article 5 is the debt for the modular classrooms. Bids from two companies came in higher than anticipated so they are going out to bid again with some changes which pushes back the time line. They are hoping to keep in the $1.2 Million range. If the bids come in at $1.2 Million or lower we can decide to convert to debt. This is essentially a place holder for now until more information becomes available. Article 6 is the debt for the retaining wall repairs at the high school. It would cost between $320K -$620K depending on how much of the wall needs to be replaced. Ms. Alvarado said the way this is written it seems there is a possibility it could go over $620,000 depending on a lot of factors. Dr. Doherty noted they will have more information next week. Ms. Perry asked if there was any way to file this in with the ongoing litigation with the high school. Dr. Doherty said they asked and unfortunately not. Page 1 1 2015 -03 -25 FINCOM Minutes page 2 Mr. Robinson of the School Committee wanted to clear something up by saying if the bids do come in higher than $1.2 Million, they haven't decided if they would ask for more money or not. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 4 of the April 27 2015 Special Town Meeting Warrant second by Craig Merry and approved with a 8 -0 -0 vote. Marc Moll will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 5 of the April 27 2015 Special Town Meeting Warrant second by Marc Moll and approved with a 8 -0 -0 vote. Karen Herrick will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 6 of the April 27 2015 Special Town Meeting Warrant second by Karen Herrick and approved with a 8 -0 -0 vote. Craig Merry will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Annual Town Meeting Warrant Overview and Votes Anne Landry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 4 of the April 27, 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant second by Marc Moll and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Paula Perry will report this Article to Town Meeting. Article 5 is to amend the Operating Budget. Snow & Ice went up and the State gave us more money for road repairs. Karen Herrick moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 5 of the April 27, 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Peter Lydecker and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Peter Lydecker will report this Article to Town Meeting. Article 6 is to move the Smart Growth money into the stabilization fund. Ms. Alvarado asked if we move this money are we restricted on using it for those purposes set by the fund. Mr. LeLacheur noted not this one, however, this is why we set up this account for the money to be used for that. Craig Merry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 6 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant second by Karen Herrick and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Vanessa Alvarado will report this Article to Town Meeting. Article 7 is to transfer money into the OPEB fund. Mr. LeLacheur noted this isn't the year to do more money than last but still important to do. Page 1 2 2015 -03 -25 FINCOM Minutes page 3 Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 7 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Craig Merry and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Article 8 is the Complete Streets funding from the State. Marc Moll moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 8 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Karen Herrick and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Article 9 was tabled. Article 10 is the rubbish contract. Mr. LeLacheur noted they will most likely do an RFP unless the current contractor comes back with an amazing deal to resign. This article allows the town to discuss a longer contract. Marc Moll moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 10 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Karen Herrick and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Karen Herrick will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Article 14 is to see if we can discuss a longer contract on our cell lease. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 14 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Craig Merry and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Paul McNeice will report on this to Town Meeting. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 15 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Marc Moll and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Vanessa Alvarado will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Article 16 is the MWRA low interest program which would give us more grant money. Karen Herrick moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 16 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant second by Peter Lydecker and approved with vote of 8 -0 -0. Mark Dockser will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Article 17 is money for the Cemetery Building. Mr. Dockser thinks this should go to the permanent Building Committee. Ms. Herrick believes the committee needs more information before they can approve this. Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 17 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant second by Karen Herrick and failed with a vote of 0 -8 -0. Mark Dockser will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Article 18 will vote to approve an Affordable Housing Trust Fund Allocation Plan. Page 1 3 2015 -03 -25 FINCOM Minutes page 4 Paula Perry moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 18 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Marc Moll and approved with a 7 -0 -1 vote with Craig Merry abstaining. Paul McNeice will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Peter Lvdecker moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 19 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant second by Karen Herrick and approved with a vote of 8 -0 -0. Peter Lydecker will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Karen Herrick moved that the Finance Committee recommend the subiect matter of Article 21 of the April 27 2015 Annual Town Meeting Warrant, second by Paula Perry and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Marc Moll will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Mark Dockser second by Karen Herrick moved that the Finance Committee recommend the following budget lines as specified for FY16: Line B99 approved Benefits in the amount of $15,050,744 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line C99 approved Capital in the amount of $2,201,000 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line D99 approved Debt service in the amount of $4,525,000 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line E99 approved Education - Vocational in the amount of $490,350 with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Line F99 approved Finance Committee Reserves in the amount of $150,000 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line G91 approved Administrative Services wages in the amount of $1,216,700 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line G92 approved Administrative Services expenses in the amount of $1,239,200 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line H91 approved Public Service wages in the amount of $1,194,100 with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Line H92 approved Public Service expenses in the amount of $368,200 with an 8- 0-0 vote. Line I91 approved Finance wages in the amount of $603,565 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line 192 approved Finance expenses in the amount of $142,200 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line 391 approved Public Safety wages in the amount of $9,165,775 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line 392 approved Public Safety expenses in the amount of $376,750 with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Line K91 approved Public Works wages in the amount of $2,403,800 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line K92 approved Public Works expenses in the amount of $883,050 with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Line K93 approved Public Works Snow & Ice in the amount of $625,000 with an 8- 0-0 vote. Line K94 approved Public Works Street Lights in the amount of $210,000 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line K95 approved Public Works Rubbish in the amount of $1,538,000 with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Line L91 approved Library wages in the amount of S1,130,569 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line L92 was amended with a motion by Anne Landry, second by Peter Lvdecker, to approve Library expenses in the amount of $300,600 in an 8 -0 -0 vote. Page 1 4 2015 -03 -25 FINCOM Minutes page 5 Line U99 approved School Department in the amount of $41,350,043 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Mr. Dockser said this is the time to start talking about priorities and unfunded lists. Selectmen John Arena noted the list of priorities should be presented by each side for themselves. School Committee member Chuck Robinson said we should not be using the word "priorities" because committees have not discussed those yet they have only stated what their unfunded lists are. Line V99 approved Town Facilities in the amount of $777,977 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Line W99 approved Water Enterprise Fund in the amount of $5,211,075 with an 8- 0-0 vote. Line X99 approved Sewer Enterprise Fund in the amount of $5,570,710 with an 8- 0-0 vote. Line Y99 approved Storm water Enterprise Fund in the amount of $385,800 with an 8 -0 -0 vote. The Committee then looked over the letter to Town Meeting that Mr. Dockser prepared. Ms. Herrick suggested maybe adding more of an overview with numbers at the end to remind people just where we are at in terms of the budget. Ms. Perry suggested adding a chart project cash flow. Dr. Doherty said FY16 required a lot of one time cuts that can't be duplicated next year. Ms. Alvarado said the way the letter is written is seems like FY16 was an easy budget when in fact it was not. Mr. Arena said the letter should be neutral and they should state the facts and let the data do the talking. Selectmen John Halsey said simply stating the facts and showing a graph will be more powerful than provoking a response. Mr. Moll noted the group is an advisory committee but after the data is shown they need to come to and show a conclusion. Ms. Herrick said the committee should remind Town Meeting that they had a similar message last year. Mr. LeLacheur said the best thing for FINCOM to do is to stay neutral and use the words that the Town and Schools have used. Mr. Robinson stated he thinks it is time to have the conversation of where exactly "the cliff' is. He noted we are saying it is FY17 but is it really? Ms. Alvarado said we really need to get more information out to the community. Mr. Lydecker updated the committee on the final report of Phase 1 on the RMLD report and what the next steps are. He noted the report indicates RMLD may not have been aware they could reject a bid. He said the new policy restricts employees from bidding on anything now. Page 1 5 2015 -03 -25 FINCOM Minutes page 6 It seems as if the incident was more a lack of education on procedures with staff because this is how they have done it for years and nothing was ever said before. Mr. Lydecker said we should do phase 2 so RMLD knows they were not singled out and to make sure we have no other policy /procurement issues on any sides of the town. Mr. Lydecker made a motion to approve moving forward with phase 2 on reviewing procurement policies with Powers & Sullivan second by Ms. Perry and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Mr. Merry made a motion to adjourn at 10.35 second by Mr. Moll and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 1 6