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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-24 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date January 24, 2017 Meeting Location: Board of Selectmen, 120 Main Street Bill Callahan, BC, Chairman X Sasha Weinreich, SW X Jennifer Goldman, JG, Vice Chair Divya Bhatnagar, DB X Karin Blake, KB X Angela Ciofolo, AC X Thomas Ringler, TR Chris Nobile, CN X Timothy Tschirhart, TT X Liz Gerron, LG X 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. Non Finance Committee Members in attendance -Charles Gray(Gray), Police Chief -William McCarthy(McCarthy), Fire Chief -Jennifer Price (Price), School Superintendent -James Mealey(Mealey), Assistant School Superintendent -Ray Santilli (Santilli), Assistant Town Manager -Lyne Savage (Savage), Town Accountant Call to order 6:45 BC: Last set of hearings for our Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Committee went around the table and introduced themselves. Police- CIP Discussion starts on or about 6:45pm/00:30 on video time (Pages 17-18 of the CIP) Gray: When I took over the department I did a very thorough analysis of what was needed. 1 January 24,2017 One is the Radio Project, it will solve the issue with communication. The Purchase of 65 new Motorola Radios (along with the Fire Department) for police personnel. Most of these radios are coming to the end of their life cycle. Gray: The next one is the Carport and Storage Garage, it will solve issues with keeping vehicles out of the elements. This is actually part of completing the project from 2010. CN: Why a carport and not a full garage? Gray: Responded it was the best practice, and the carport was the best option (as opposed to the garage) being fiscally responsible for keeping the elements off of the vehicles. The Storage portion would be for the tractor trailers. Finance Committee thanked Gray Fire-CIP Discussion starts on or about 6:56pm/10:45 on video time (Pages 19-21 and page 31 of the CIP) McCarthy: Also did an analysis of priorities that were needed and the first one was a Forestry Vehicle. This is a multi-use apparatus and the department will get a lot of use out of it. It can be used for forest and brush fires. The department currently relies on the State for assistance with fires in wooded areas. McCarthy: We can also use this vehicle for ice rescues and to pick up equipment at fire scenes. McCarthy: Spoke more of the various uses of this apparatus. McCarthy: Like the Police we also put in for radios, we purchased ours a year after the Police Department. These radios will come with increased wattage (a little different in usage and look from the police radios). McCarthy: Our other request is for a New Engine. Engines 1 and 3 are now 13 years old and we need to update our apparatus fleet. McCarthy: Our other request is for a new ambulance. The fire department responds to about 3,000 calls per year. It is felt that front line ambulance replacement should be done on a 5 year cycle. Finance Committee thanked McCarthy School-CIP Discussion starts on or about 7:04pm/19:20 on video time (Pages 1-2 of the CIP) Mealey: passed out handouts to the Committee Price: Currently we are looking to redo the Sport Turf Field Surface at the High School. Price: Every year we ask for $100,000.00 for IT. Price: The other project is the Atkinson roof. Price: Our big project is the District Wide Pavement for FY21. 2 January 24,2017 Price: Our big conversation that is of major concern, is the class sizes. We are about 4 students above the average size. Mr. Mealey passed out a handout to everyone and it was also sent out to the community of parents of the North Andover Public Schools (reference handouts). Price: Class size is one of the major concerns. Our joined goal along with the school committee is to address class sizes, specifically the elementary schools. The challenge is that we do not have any room, we can add teachers,but we do not know where to put them, so we did a study and hired an architecture firm KBA. So this handout contains the study. They came up with 3 options. Price: Reviewed the options, along with the pros and cons. Option 1: To add more space to Franklin, Kittredge and Atkinson (the Elementary Schools). This would help reduce class sizes Option 2: To add a kindergarten wing at the Franklin, since they have more physical space. The kindergarten would be centralized in a new 16 room Kindergarten and would be all at the Franklin Elementary School. The vacant kindergartens at the other elementary schools would free up the space that could be occupied by grades 1-5 (also helping reduce class size). Option 3: The Last option and the one that the School Committee voted to adopt was to move the kindergarten population from each elementary school and to construct a new 16 room kindergarten (at the ECC site). This would enable us to reduce the elementary class size by vacating the kindergarten giving more physical space. Price: Spoke of the second phase for Option 3, and that is for the renovations for Atkinson, Kittredge and Franklin (the biggest project is at the Franklin because we need to do something about the gym) with the possibility to add new classrooms and to do something about the portables. Price: My own rough analysis' is, that if you take all the kids in elementary school and divide it by the state's average we would need an additional 18 classrooms. Price: The biggest concern is traffic and playgrounds. Price: If you look at the cost estimates on the handout we decided to go with Option 3A (this is what KBA estimated for us). This is the modular construction of the kindergarten. They do not construct on site. The construction is done off site and shipped to the site. This is a less expensive and a faster way to get it done. BC: Commented as a Finance Committee we are happy that they are going with the lower cost option. BC: Questioned why not a slower process that would get the Mass State Building Authority (MSBA) involved, rather than a faster process. Price: The reality is that we need to get classroom sizes done sooner rather than later, there is an urgency there. This is what made the most sense educationally. Price Stated that MSBA could be a 10 year project. Last year 90 projects were submitted to the MSBA and they funded 16. BC: Commented that the MSBA does not work with this project. 3 January 24,2017 SW: Can you speak specifically when this will take place. Price: responded we have a very aggressive timeline (after approval of town meeting). We will go out to bid in July and August, have plans ready by the fall and installation by the spring. Finance Committee thanked Price and Mealey Public Comment Discussion starts on or about 7:54nm/68:45 on video time Stan Limpert of 43 Stonecleave Road and a member of the School Committee. This process all started with the Building of the Early Childhood Center that started the space relief. The closing of the Bradstreet school created the space problem. The Bradstreet School was a wonderful experience for anyone who went to the school or had any of their children or students go to The Bradstreet School. We can have this again with the newly proposed kindergarten. Limpert: This is a wonderful project and I am very supportive of this project. New Business Discussion starts on or about 7:58um/72:35 on video time BC: Asked the Committee to look at the revised FYI Budget Calendar and they reviewed specific meeting dates. BC: Also spoke of upcoming meetings for the Finance Committee and possible meeting date changes and/or additions. BC: Spoke of his concerns with the landfill space and cost. Stating that possibly in the future the Finance Committee could reach out to the Sustainability Committee and invite them to a Finance Committee Meeting. BC Spoke of the possibility and consideration of recycling trash. Santilli: Spoke of the pros and cons of a 1 day trash pickup in North Andover. Adjournment Discussion starts on or about8:19pm/94:00 on video time KG: Made a motion to adjourn LG: Second the motion All in Favor Document Table *Capital Improvement Plan FY 2018-2022 * Revised FY18 Budget Calendar * Hand out from School Department (adoption for a new strategic plan for North Andover Public Schools). --------------------------------------------------------------- * Hard copy 4 January 24,2017