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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-09-16 Board of Selectmen Minutes F$ Town of Reading e Meeting Minutes 0 sir/NCONT- Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Board of Selectmen Date: 2015-09-16 Time: 7:45 PM Building: School - Coolidge Location: Conference Room Address: 89 Birch Meadow Drive Purpose: Financial Forum Session: Attendees: Members - Present: Chairman Daniel Ensminger, Secretary Kevin Sexton and Barry Berman Members - Not Present: Vice Chairman John Halsey and John Arena Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Superintendent of Schools John Doherty, Facilities Director Joe Huggins, Assistant DPW Director Jane Kinsella, Director of Finance of Schools Martha Sybert, School Committee Members Linda Snow Dockser, Chuck Robinson, Elaine Webb, Gary Nihan, Jeanne Borawski and Julianne Joyce, Finance Committee members Mark Dockser, Vice Chair Paul McNeice, Paula Perry, Peter Lydecker, Marc Moll, Craig Merry, David Neshat, Vanessa Alvardo, Anne Johnson Landry, Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Nancy Docktor, Bill Brown and Stephen Crook. Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary Kevin Sexton Topics of Discussion: Chairman Mark Dockser called the meeting to order right after 7:30 PM. Chairman Chuck Robinson called the School Committee to order. Town Manager Bob LeLacheur explained that he and Superintended John Doherty have been talking about restructuring the Facilities Department. The restructuring would consist of creating a new Town Facilities Department that would be overseen by the Facilities Director and Supervised by both the Superintendent and Town Manager. The Town budget will increase with facilities being added. Number wise, nothing will change with facilities, it will just be where it is shown in the budget. The Town added an Assistant Facilities Director position and another custodian. The new line M1 in the proposed FY16 will need to be voted on since it is truly shared costs. Joe Huggins is going back to his position as Facilities Director and will answer to Mr. LeLacheur and Dr. Doherty. Chairman Dan Ensminger called the Board of Selectmen to order at 7:45 PM. Mr. LeLacheur then explained the changes being proposed to November Town Meeting under Article 5. The Article proposed a net increase of $977,250 to the FY16 budgets. A total of $478,250 of Capital is being requested for technology and DPW equipment. An addition of $150,000 is being requested for FINCOM reserves in case the modular classrooms exceed their budget. Ongoing legal expenses in the amount of $75,000 are being requested for RMHS litigation. There is a transfer request of $25,000 from the Permits Revolving Fund to Public Services to complete the Hazard Mitigation Planning work. The last Page 1 1 Board of Selectmen Minutes - September 16 2015- page 2 request of the total is $88,000 for consulting help for the Assessor's tri-annual revaluation. All of those expenses would be one-time. Mr. LeLacheur stated the Town and Schools are agreeing to share one more Human Resources person. Mr. Ensminger suggested using a graph to present this to Town Meeting. The meeting then talked about Article 5 which would be to see if Town Meeting will vote to amend the Town's Operating Budget. Line B99 would reduce the benefits cost. Technology would be using a large chunk for a shared disaster recovering system with the school and a phone project. Line G91, Administrative Services Wages, the Business Analyst position is being upgraded to a Procurement Officer. Mr. LeLacheur said the sewer projects came in higher than expected. Mr. Robinson asked what free cash is and Mr. LeLacheur said to subtract $850k from what the free cash number is today. He also noted it is possible we may use a little less depending on how the tax rates are set up. Ms. Alvarado asked where the money to fund all these new positions will come from next year after the initial money we use from free cash. Mr. LeLacheur noted they will go into the budget next year because they are reoccurring costs. Ms. Alvarado then asked when all the projects we weren't able to do, get done, what will that do to free cash. Mr. LeLacheur said we will have to do less in those years. Ms. Alvarado asked when the committee will be able to see the free cash number. Ms. Angstrom said hopefully in October. Bill Brown asked if the new Facilities Director will have any impact on the new Assistant DPW Director position and Mr. LeLacheur answered no, the positions do not have anything to do with each other. Mr. Dockser noted he would like to get a handle on what is going on with the RMHS litigation and suggested a joint executive session to discuss it if possible. Taking a look at the warrant outline for Subsequent Town Meeting in November, Mr. LeLacheur explained Article 3 is to amend the FY16-26 Capital Improvements program. A lot of numbers are being moved around because they are being deferred to other years. FY17 and beyond will have debt for sewer stations. I Article 4 is to vote to approve funds to pay a very large invoice in the RMHS litigation that we were not expecting to be so high and did not have the funds to pay immediately. Article 12 will recommend Town Meeting to settle this litigation and pay the $125k which will most likely come from free cash. Article 13 is to see if the Town will approve to borrow $1.2 million for a new cemetery garage. Mr. LeLacheur noted on September 23 the Permanent Building Committee will be set up. He also asked if anyone has any ideas on how to present the new facilities to Town Meeting, feel free to suggest them. Mr. Ensminaer made a motion that the Board of Selectmen accents shared facilities, second by Mr. Berman and approved with a 3-0-0 vote Ms. Borawski made a motion that the School Committee accepts shared facilities second by Mr. Nihan and approved with a 6-0-0 vote Page 1 2 Board of Selectmen Minutes - September 16 2015- page 3 Mr. Sexton made a motion for the Board of Selectmen to adiourn at 8.15 PM second by Mr. Berman and approved with a 3-0-0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 3