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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_09.20.06 TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 @a 6:30PM NORTH ANDOVER TOWN HALL, 2ND FLOOR FinCom Members in Attendance: Chairman Mike Batsimm,Vice Chairman Melinda Coppa, Steve Dawe, Mark Nichols, Eva Hamori, Ellis Fitzpatrick. Mike Giarratano arrived at 6:36 p.m.. Others in Attendance: Two private citizens sat in attendance including Citizen B Fink;Town Manager Mark Rees arrived at 7:47 p.m. I. CALL TO ORDER at 6:34 p.m. II. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING—August 24, 20o6 Motion to Approve by Mark Nichols, second by Eva Hamori. The Motion was approved 6-o-1,with Steve Dawe abstaining. III. NEW BUSINESS a. New Member Update — Ben Osgood was unavailable for tonight's meeting, gth member appointment still pending b. Town Manager Report— Report delayed until Town Manager Rees'arrival. See notes regarding the Memorandum of Agreement. c. BCG Report— Melinda&Steve— Steve Dawe and Melinda Coppa presented a Memorandum of Agreement between the NA Board of Selectmen,NA School Committee and NA Finance Committee which asked that we approve the Memorandum which allows the School Committee to hire additional teaching staff with up to $260,000. A future Town Meeting vote to transfer the funds from certified free cash would be required to fund this expenditure. The explanation for the drafting of this Memorandum was that Town Manager has reported that he has identified substantial additional FYo6 revenues (delinquent taxes, interest income,building permit fees,turnbacks—i.e., money that was allocated to,but not spent by, departments). Currently,this additional revenue is categorized as uncertified free cash. Of the total,the TM is recommending that$260,000 be used immediately by the school department to hire approximately six additional teachers. There was much discussion about spending non-certified free cash and the politics of this vote request. As part of the discussion, MN asked about the status of the deficit in the School Lunch program. The answer was that reserves from other school funds were being put in their General Fund and then the lunch program deficit would be covered by their General Fund. The Memorandum of Agreement issue was tabled until Town Manager Mark Rees arrived at meeting. At 7:47 p.m.,TM Rees arrived and the issue was reopened for further discussion. TM Rees stated that he feels substantially confident that the additional revenues amount will be higher than $i million and is only bringing this solution forward at this time in order to benefit the schools and time is of the essence. The $26ok figure was chosen in order to try to strike a balance to allow for dealing for the structural deficit as well as dealing with the immediate needs of the schools. There was further discussion and a motion was made by SD and seconded by MN to suspend the rules and vote on the Memorandum of Agreement. The motion to suspend carried unanimously. A straw poll was taken and it was then decided that a meeting to vote on this issue will be held at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, September 25. Other BCG discussion items: Acting Superintendent O'Connor mentioned that there are hearings pending on four special needs students who are looking for funding for schooling outside the NA school system. These "mystery"students were in the school system last year. The cost of these transfers would be $150,000. Foster Farm School and the fact that this issue was coming to a head was also discussed by the BCG. The School Committee will have to vote to move it ahead this year(so as not to lose state funding) and the Board of Selectmen would have to put it on the warrant for a Special Town Meeting. This does not seem likely. There was also discussion about the Bradstreet School and whether or not it would be pressed back into service if Foster Farm was not pursued. School Committee Members indicated that it would. The BCG will try to meet monthly. No date was set for the next meeting. d. Communication— Updates L Website - Chairman Mike Batsimm has been in touch with the Town's MIS person and learned about Virtual Town Hall,which will be soon rolled out. They have offered the FinCom a space there. MB has asked for input on content. MB and MC will go to Virtual Town Hall training on Friday morning. ii. Monthly Column-Sarah Wolfe from the Citizen was very receptive to the idea of a 500 word monthly FinCom column. MB will draft a first column and will submit it to the group for approval. It was suggested the each member of the FinCom take a turn in writing the monthly column. iii. School Communications — MB will tentatively be meeting with Al Perry and Dr. O'Connor on Friday morning. One thing MB will suggest is that the School Committee send a liaison to report to the FinCom at our meetings. e. Search for Secretary— Update— Mark Rees has asked Irene O'Brien of Elder Services if there are any Senior Citizens who are applying for the tax credit and might be interested in taking our meeting minutes. There is a qualified person available. MB is running some numbers to see if there would be any issue with the 10 o hours required to qualify for the tax credit and whether our needs will meet or surpass that loo hours. f. Other— Mark Nichols said that regrettably he had to step down from his recent reappointment to the Revenue and Fixed Cost Committee for this year. MC made a motion to nominate Mike Giarratano to the fill the position. MN seconded the motion.and MG accepted the nomination. The motion carried unanimously. IV. NEXT MEETING-Monday, September 25 at 6:15 p.m. V. ADJOURNMENT-- Motion by MN, second by SD at 8:35 p.m.