HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_10.21.14
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TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date October 21, 2014
nd
Meeting Location: Town Hall 2 floor conf room
Bill Callahan, BC Chairman Susan Almono SA
X
Marta Solof MS Timothy Tschirhart TT
X X
Karin Blake KB Liz Gerron LG
X X
Thomas Ringley TR
Chris Nobile CN Pat Sifferlen, PS, Admin
X
Donald Elliot DE Vice Chair
X
Non FinCom Members in Attendance
OTHERS:
Note: All FINCOM votes are subject to change upon receipt of new information.
Note: Documents used in this meeting are listed in Document Table, herein.
II. Previous Minutes Approved
Motion made by LG to accept the October 7, 2014 minutes as amended by
DE, seconded by DE
Yes 5 N 0 TT abstain
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AGENDA ITEM B: Televising of Meetings
BC looked into other communities Andover does televise but Wilmington and Boxford do not
LG Tewksbury only does their Public Hearing.
BC spoke with Brian Fraser from NACam; the Conference room we use now is not good for televising
Audio will not be of good quality. Three places in town we could u
Committee room (at HS) or at the Police Station.
If we want to be televised it is feasible, we may need to change nights and locations. We could meet on
TT need to make sure of Wed and back-up plan for other rooms
BC Could also be shown on tape delay depending on nights.
AGENDA ITEM C Remote Participation
Handout was given of policy adopted by the BOS for remote participation.
BC reads some of the guidelines
Chair and/or Vice chair need to be present
Need to have a physical quorum at the meeting
Only one person is allowed to participate remotely and 3 day notice is needed.
Need to clarify with Town manager about item 7 concerning visual and audible. Is it one or both
requirements
No need to vote or adopt policy since it is already in place by BOS.
AGENDA ITEM D FY 2016 Budget goals and objectives
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Distributed Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Policy Statement, had group review.
BC What does the finance committee want to see? These are things we are looking for in budget
presentation. We are trying to define our role in the budget process evaluate/analyze.
TT We have a charter, like idea of our expectations. When you present your budget these expectations
should be covered.
How do we go about making up expectations?
LG Reads statement from Finance Committee rules and procedures. Are we going to expand these?
What common things are we looking for: Labor head count, Shifting of positions, shared services.
MS are there times when departments cannot do apples to apples.
LG If you are going to move people around we need to track it back to last year.
Need documents to backup. Need to explain how things are moving around.
TT Will put together a list of expectations.
KB gives brief overview of CPA funds to committee
BC will send link to UMASS study on the 125 corridor.
KB Brief discussion of TIF program.
AGENDA ITEM E Updates from other committees
TT gives brief review of RFCC meeting he attended on 10/21/2014
AGENDA ITEM F Selection of 5 comparable communities for comparison/benchmarking
BC looking to pick some communities who are comparable to us for benchmarking.
How do we compare? Compare town budgets. Public safety, looking for towns around the same
budget. Can we learn anything from other towns? Comparable that relies on local property taxes.
Sharon
North Reading
Tewksbury
Billerica
Lynnfield
Lincoln/Sudbury
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IV. Next Meetings
November 18, 2014
V. Adjournment-
Motion: TT
Seconded: DE Time: 8:20
TYPE FROM TO SUBJECT COMMENTS
ITEM #
1 Remote
participation
2 FY16 Budget
Policy Statement
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5
6
7
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