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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-27 Finance Committee MinutesOFR O i . k Town of Reading. �a� b Meeting Minutes ,s39�1NCORQO Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance- Committee Date: 2017-09-27 Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members-- Present: R"EADING. MASS 1011 OCT -12 A 4:1016 Time: 730. PM Location: Conference Room Session: Version: Chair Peter Lydecker, Vice -Chair Paula Perry, Mark Dockser, Anne Landry, Vanessa Alvarado, Paul McNeice Members - Not Present: David Neshat, Marc -Moll, Eric Burkhart Others Present: Administrative Assistant Brendan Sweeney, Town Accountant/Finance Director Sharon Angstrom, Treasurer/Assistant Finance Director Endri Kume, . Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Fire Chief Greg Burns, Deputy Fire Chief Paul Jackson, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Deputy Police Chief David Clark, George. Kachen Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Brendan Sweeney Topics of Discussion: The meeting convened at 7:30, PM in the Conference Room with the purpose of discussing the agenda items, including: a review of public safety budgeting, continued review of FINCOM policies, and Financial Forum 'planning. Mr. Lydecker called the meeting to order at.7:39 PM. Mr. Lydecker began the meeting's conversation by turning to the topic of public safety budgeting. Mr.-LeLacheur explained the thought process behind budgeting for public safety wages, and.how for three of the last four years that process was fine, last year being the outlier in which a fund transfer was required to.cover the additional overtime wages. Mr. LeLacheur emphasized the importance of having funding available for public safety overtime wages, as you cannot stand idle during an emergency solely because you do not have the funds available to respond. Mr. LeLacheur proposed the potential of moving the year end FINCOM meeting to July in order. to allow for wage -actual numbers to be processed, thus giving FINCOM specifics with regards to any transfers. Chief Segalla iterated how last year was tough for the. Police Department due to 4 vacancies as.well as having to deal with . disability payments. Chief Burns noted that the Fire Department had a similar problem with vacancies last year. Mr. LeLacheur clarified that due to the longer training process Police -and Fire vacancies cannot be filled as quickly. Chiefs Segalla and Burns also added that the state's Police and Fire academies will only reserve spots for specific people, thus adding time to the hiring and training process. On the topic of public safety'Mr. LeLacheur noted that the Fire and Police Chiefs will be meeting with the Board of Selectmen on October 10th to discuss staffing levels and peer community analysis. Mr. LeLacheur stated, however, that peer community analysis for Page 1 1 public safety, is tough because you can never really be sure- what another town's thought process is with regards to, budgeting. Mr.. Dockser wondered if looking at the percent of the budget allocated to public.safety would help clarify peer community analysis, to which .Mr. LeLacheur noted that it would be a better -way to look at it, but would still be tough to draw direct comparisons. Both Chiefs Segalla and Burns noted .that in the past their departments had done comparative studies, running just below the.average on staffing levels. They noted that these studies are 20+ .years outdated, and that Reading has seen significant commercial expansion since then. Mr. LeLacheur brought .up the. point of whether the Town should be justifying hiring additional public safety officers with current. OT spending, and discussed the potential pitfalls that exist there. Chief Burns noted that OT numbers vary by year and -it is tough to use definite -numbers on that end, to which Chief Segalla confirmed was also the case with Police. To round out the discussion -FINCOM members Peter: Lydecker, Paul McNeice, and Mark Dockser all felt that they were fine with the way that the . town have been doing transfers for OT currently. Mr. LeLacheur then moved .the topic of,discussion to the town's Economic Development Forum taking place on October 4th. 'M r. 'LeLacheur briefly spoke of regional economic development and how Reading is high on the list of favorable.business communities. Mr. LeLacheur spoke then of the town's early plan to try and move the DPW to a joint facility with Wakefield at Camp Curtis Guild, with the intention of freeing up the current DPW property for economic development...This.would allow for an increase of commercial revenue for the town. Mr. LeLacheur did note that this is.far from a done deal, as there are `many difficulties to.negotiating with the military -about use of -their land. - When questioned further by FINCOM Mr. LeLacheur noted that he believes this project can potentially be funded within the tax levy and that he doesn't expect anything to be completed any sooner than 5 years out. George Kachen of 66 Colburn Road then chimed in and explained his role as'a board Member of Middlesex 3, a regional organization looking to promote economic.deveiopment in nine communities along Route 3. Mr. Kachen explained how excited he is for the potential of this project, and noted how beneficial any economic development is to.the region as a whole. Mr. LeLacheur agreed, and noted how Reading's employment numbers (as in Reading exports labor) are low as compared to peer communities.. Ms. Alvarado .had a few further questions about the project, including who would approve funding, on which town's land would the DPW be on, and on how each town will bear the -cost. Mr. LeLacheur clarified that.funding would have to be approved by. Town Meeting, and that the specifics about whose land and cost division have not yet been ironed out, but will likely be around a 50/50 split. Ms. Angstrom then brought up the town's. debt and capital policies. An independent report. gave the town an AAA bond rating, but did point out weaknesses in lack. of specified fiscal .policies. Ms. Angstrom proposed wording changes that would clarify.current.practices with regards to debt and capital purchases. Mr. LeLacheur noted that although the state does issue. guidelines on these, they are loose and Reading already executes fiscal practices that are more prudent than state guidelines. Ms. Angstrom then talked of the town's OPEB policies. Lack of specific policy with regards to OPEB (Other Post -Employment Benefits) funding was another identified area of weakness for Reading. Budgeting for OPEB.in advance allows the town to have a buffer in the case of changes in insurance rates or state aid, Ms. Angstrom explained. If we need to use it we have it, if not we can transfer that funding as needed. Ms. Landry noted that the OPEB policy language does not sound.binding, which Ms..Angstrom confirmed. Furthermore, Mr. LeLacheur stated that these obligations'are often forgotten in override discussions, and that town would be wise to plan'for these expenses in advance. Mr. Lydecker- inquired about the use of debt with funding OPEB, to which Mr. LeLacheur responded that would not be the safest approach: Page 1 2 Mr. LeLacheur then brought up the upcoming Financial Forum. The initial FINCOM .proposed topic was a discussion of fees, specifically the compost/train sticker, and other potential fees, that made sense for the town. Mr. LeLacheur and FINCOM engaged in conversation about the pros and cons of certain fees, how fees are determined based off of costs to the town for services, .and the potential to work with the MBTA over -control of parking lots at the financial benefit of the town. Mr. LeLacheur noted to FINCOM that it is within the Board of Selectmen's realm of authority to set fees, and that they'd -like to do so in the coming months so to be prepared by January 1st Ms. Alvarado spoke of how she wanted to include :budget override talks into the forum, and discussed potential manners of presentation, -such as a line'item.analysis. Mr. LeLacheur and the FINCOM engaged;in conversation on the best ways to.presents details of the.budget and funding inadequacies`to the town, and Mr., Kecham-notedthat, it was .important for the town's credibility to outline all scenarios with complete transparency. Additionally it was noted how. important an outlined- plan will be going forward, and Mr. LeLacheur stated that people nowadays just don't think that far into the future financially, so it is tough, for. many to relate. FINCOM also discussed ways to share information effectively with the public so as not to overwhelm them, including the use of video clips as a tool for the town to distribute information. On a motion by Ms. Perry, seconded by Ms. Alvarado, the Finance Committee voted to approve the meetina minutes from July 26, 2017 by a vote of 5-0-1 On a motion by Mr. Dockser, seconded by Ms. Alvarado, the Finance Committee voted 6-0-0 to adiourn the meeting at 9:53 PM. The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Lydecker at -9:53 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Secretary Page 1 3