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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-01-08 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date January 8, 2019 Meeting Location: Police Station Community Meeting Room Timothy Tschirhart, TT, Chairman X Ed MacMillian EM X Sasha Weinreich, SW, Vice Chair X Divya Bhatnagar, DB X Christine Allen CA X Charles Trafton CT Thomas Ringler, TR X Angela Ciofolo, AC X Liz Gerron, LG X Jennifer Goldman, JG X Note: All FINCOM votes are subject to a re-vote upon receipt of new information. Note: Documents used in this meeting are listed in Document Table, herein. Non Finance Committee Members in attendance Lyne Savage (LS), Town Accountant Meghan Jop (MJ), Deputy Town Manager Pledge of Allegiance Call to order and Opening Comments Discussion starts on or about 7:04 pm/00:00 on video time TT: We Have 2 major topics to discuss tonight plus other miscellaneous items. One is the Capital Improvement Plan(CIP) for 2020-2024 and the other topic is to discuss the School Superintendents recommendations for 2020. Town Manager Recommended Capital Improvement Plan 2020 —2024 Discussion starts on or about 7:05 pm/01:00 on video time Tonight we have LS and MJ to guide us thru the CIP to focus on what is going on in 2020 and the out years. LS: Stated that this year she did the criteria in prioritizing and rating the projects that need to get done. LS: Many of the projects are focused on facilities and with Steve Foster and the upkeep and maintenance of the infrastructure of the buildings in Town. We have increased his building Maintenance Budget. January 8, 2019 Page 1 LS: Spoke of how deferring a repair can become more costly and that it is better to be proactive. LS: Referred the Committee to go to pages 18, 19 and 20 of the CIP Book. These pages outline the various projects. LS: Spoke of the Facility Master Plan I for FY20 and that$750,000 is set aside for the Senior Center construction. The goal is to have the New Senior Center opened by 2020. MJ: Commented on the timeline of the future Senior Center. Various discussions and questions were asked of the new Senior Center such as; when will it go out to bid, when the construction would begin etc. LS: Then moved onto Facility Master Plan 11 and of the $50,000.00 funded for assessment costs, with such things that are associated with School Renovations, renovations to the Fire Station, at the Old Town Center, and also renovations to the Youth Center and the Library. LS: Spoke of the ongoing project of the playground, the roof replacements for the Town Hall and the old Senior Center. LS: Stated that once the new Senior Center is built that we will repurpose the Senior Center with moving some of the Town offices and departments there (possibly more of community services type offices may be located there). The Senior Center will not be torn down. LS: Went on to comment on money being spent for road repair(most of the money is being funded by the State) and sidewalks. MJ: Spoke in detail of the sidewalks and the sidewalk project, and what the State is doing with sidewalks and also the location of where the new sidewalks will be. LS: Also spoke of the increase for portable radios for the Fire Department. This was justified after the Columbia Gas explosions, they realized they did not have enough radios during this event. LS: That is just an overview of the General Fund. LS: Moved onto the Enterprise Fund and stated that not much has changed for both water and Sewer it remains pretty consistent. LS: Commented on the Stevens Estate and in the past it has had an improving financial situation, but that has now changed there are various reasons such as bookings, the structure is old and expenses are up. Unless this picks up there will not be any funding for the capital for the Steven's Estate. MJ: Spoke of various options that may happen with the Stevens Estate. TT: Encouraged the Committee to go thru the FY 2020-2024 CIP Book and look at the numbers. January 8, 2019 Page 2 SW: Asked if Columbia Gas would be taking care of the roadwork improvement and if this was taken into account. How would this impact the numbers (if at all), if Columbia Gas does pay for the Roadwork(in the impacted areas)? MJ: Responded back stated that whatever is agreed upon with Columbia Gas it will be anticipated that this will occur over a number of years. There will be a lot of analysis and evaluations, but this will be only on the affected streets. The Committee thanked LS and MJ for coming out tonight. School Superintendent Recommended 2020 School Budget—Briefing of the January 3, 2019 presentation to the School Committee. Sasha Weinreich, Chris Allen, Jennifer Goldman Discussion starts on or about 7:54 pm/50:00 on video time TT: Would like to talk a little bit of the School Budget. JG: Commented on the proposed Budget Increase of 3.75%, Cost of Level Services 2.99% and preferred increase .76%. JG: Stated that she was more comfortable talking about the overall message than summing up with numbers. CA: Explained the Stabilization Fund to the Committee. The Committee Members discussed and questioned the school budget, spoke of Level Services, and how there are things you can't control like people moving into our district, full day kindergarten and how the Town had to put the money in, staffing a principal verses a part time principal, class size, spoke of funding and application Grants for the Middle School, etc. TT: Spoke of the rising cost in the 2019 School Budget and that it does not make sense to him. I want to see the Budget and what it is being spent on. 8:30PM New Business; Next Meetinu Discussion starts on or about 8:25 pm/01:21 on video time TT: Commented to the Committee to have questions ready for the next meeting January 22nd regarding the School Budget and the CIP. TT: I did get feedback from Legal Counsel and the overall takeaway regarding The Policy and Procedures of the Finance Committee that was submitted for review, was more or less mentioned that we are just repeating what is already there, we are not creating anything new. CA: Asked about the Minority Report and if there was a change. TT: Was not sure. January 8, 2019 Page 3 Minutes from prior meeting: December 11, 2018 Discussion starts on or about 8:35 pm/01:31 on video time JG: Made a motion to approve the minutes as written from December 11, 2018 SW: Second the motion All in favor to approve the minutes. Adiournment at 8:40 SW: Made a motion to adjourn the meeting LG: Second the motion All were in favor to adjourn Document Table -Agenda Finance Committee Meeting for January 8, 2019 -Minutes from December 11, 2018 -North Andover School Committee FY19 Budget Status Report 12-20-2019 -Capital Improvement Plan 2020-2024 January 8, 2019 Page 4