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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-08 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date May 8th, 2018 Meeting Location: North Andover Police Station Community Room, 1475 Osgood Street Timothy Tschirhart, TT, Chairman X Ed MacMillian EM Jennifer Goldman, JG,Vice Chair X Divya Bhatnagar, DB X Karin Blake, KB Charles Trafton CT X Thomas Ringler, TR X Angela Ciofolo, AC X Liz Gerron, LG X Sasha Weinreich, SW 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. Call to order 6:47 Pre-Town Meeting Prep Discussion starts on or about 6:47 pm/00:0:10 on video time TT: I want to give credit to JG for suggesting a pre Town Meeting, meeting. TT: Went on to say, that if you want to speak out at Town Meeting, speak out as a private citizen,you have your 3 minutes to speak on your concern(s), go for it. The Committee, continued to discuss,raise questions,ideas,issues and concerns on a variety of topics, such as the money spent on the Recreational Complex, Articles on the Warrant, OPEB, some Committee members felt there was not enough emphasis on the school and school renovations, free cash flow, CPC money and where it can be spent,budgets, appropriate uses of funds, operating funds, social media concerns and public forums, and also spoke of the mission of the Finance Committee. They also discussed what is appropriate for the Finance Committee to get involved with and what is their responsibilities as a Committee,they also spoke of the past when the Finance Committee did not have transparency with the budget. The Finance Committee also spoke of how they can attract residents to the Town Meeting and to future Finance Committee Meetings. Warrant Article 20 and Article 21 were discussed because of concerns with OPEB. The Finance Committee also spoke of creative ways to push information to the public. The Finance Committee, discussed the Kindergarten, schools, teachers and classroom sizes and amount of students in each class. 1 May 8,2018 TT: Stated that he received a lot of good feedback tonight from the Finance Committee members regarding the upcoming Town Meeting and TT went on to say that hopefully there will not be any surprises. TT: Spoke of an email that went out to all of the Finance Committee Members a couple weeks ago inviting them to sign up for a workshop (from the Massachusetts Municipal Association), on May 16"H (from 5-7 pm)in the Billerica Library and they will focus on OPEB. Looking Forward Discussion starts on or about 7:36 pm/00:00:49 on video time TT: Spoke of having a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen to have a meeting of the minds (sometime early this September)relative to getting a policy statement. But before we meet with them we need to schedule a prep meeting to formulate ideas and what we could suggest to the Board of Selectmen for the policy statement and to request a multi-year school forecast. JG: Spoke of having a Meeting in June to recap the year, discuss what we want from certain committees and maybe get an update from Gregg Gilligan from the School Department and this would wrap up the year. JG: Went on to speak of the next meeting in August, stating that it would be to kick off the new year and to discuss what we would like to tall{about and present such as our major initiative and points of focus for the September joint Meeting. The Committee expressed their concerns, discussed and questioned what they expected to get out of these meetings and also expressed pros and cons, and also not stepping over boundaries. They also spoke of doing right by the citizens and by maintaining transparency. The Finance Committee meeting requested meetings for the second Tuesday in June and also August (tentative). Approval of Minutes Discussion starts on or about 8:17 pm/00:01:30 on video time April 3,2018 LG: made a motion to approve minutes as written for April 3, 2018 JG: Second All were in favor to approve the Minutes as written April 3,2018 (Public Hearing) LG: made a motion to approve minutes as written for April 3, 2018 JG: Second All were in favor to approve the Minutes as written March 26,2018 LG: made a motion to approve minutes as written for March 26, 2018 SW: Second All were in favor to approve the Minutes as written The next meeting will be next Tuesday at May 15t"at the School before the scheduled Town Meeting New Business and Public Comment There was no new Business and also there was no Public Comments at this meeting 2 May 8,2018 Ad'ournment 8:23 PM JG: made a motion to adjourn LG: Second the motion All in favor to adjourn Document Table -Agenda Finance Committee Meeting for May 8,2018 -Finance Committee Minutes for April 3,2018(Public Hearing), Finance Committee Minutes for Regular April 3rd 2018 and Finance Committee Minutes for March 26,2018 -Town Manager's Recommended Budget Book for FY19 Budget Book -2018 Annual Town Meeting Warrant 3 May 8,2018