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Home My WebLink About2019-03-19 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date March 19, 2019 Meeting Location: School Administration Building 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 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 Lyric Savage (LS), Acting Town Manager, Finance Director/Town Accountant Chris McClure, (CM) IT—Director Stephen Foster, (SF),Facilities Manager Pledge of Alleiiance 7:02 Call to order and opening comments—Tim Discussion starts on or about 7:03 pm/0/:45 on video time TT: Tonight we have Steve Foster(SF), Chris McClure (CM), and Lyric Savage (LS). Facilities—Manager Stephen Foster Discussion starts on or about 7:05 pm/02:00 on video time SF: Introduced himself and his position as the Facilities Director and stated that he has been with the Town for about 7.5 years. SF: Spoke of Gregg Roberts, who has been with the Town for about 5.5 years and is part of the Facilities Management Department. Gregg is the building maintenance supervisor. SF: Gave a brief overview of all the town's buildings that they maintain, there are 24 buildings, most of them are schools (about 80%). Spoke of the square footage they maintain, the age range of all the buildings they maintain from the early 1800s to 2018. March 19, 2019 Page 1 SF: We respond through emails,phone calls etc., to take care of issues, we continually evaluate and follow up on any issues and also inspect in order to stay on top of things. Sometimes, things can surprise you,but we try to minimize those things if we can,by keeping them on our radar. My goal is not to replace things on an emergency basis. SF: Spoke of how they outsource a vast majority of repairs, such as plumbers, painters, electricians etc. Occasionally we may take on something ourselves. SF: Most of our expense in our department is mechanical, electrical (fire alarms included), and plumbing. SF: Spoke of the various projects that they have been involved in, such as, The Early Childhood Center(reconfiguration), things such as mechanical, ventilator replacements, air condition maintenance and replacements of dated systems, lighting upgrades (changing over to LED Lighting), etc. Questions were asked of SF on things such as solar panels, Stevens Estate maintenance, and outsourcing versus hiring in-house employees. Questions were also asked of the Facilities Department's database, software tools and what they use to help them manage all the resources that facilities are responsible for, and how their software helps them keep track of work orders and building maintenance. TR: Questioned insurance company inspections and safety audits on buildings. SF: Responded that insurance companies have not done building audits in a long time. TT and Finance Committee members Thanked SF IT—Director Chris McClure Discussion starts on or about 7:30 pm/029:00 on video time CM: Introduced himself as the IT Director and stated that he has been with the Town for 4 years. CM: Explained further to the committee the database that the Facility Management Department utilizes. CM: Spoke of the 50,000 dollars that they were awarded, for document scanning last year, and this year we put in for 2 Grants (from the State). CM: We are always looking to improve our system and keep focused to stay on top of safety and security. CM: Because of the Columbia Gas explosion in September we were able to implement RAVE alerts (it is industry standard). We now also have Smart 911, a public safety profile system (this was implemented after Columbia Gas). CM: Commented that they worked with the Town Clerk's Office in implementing electronic poll pads. They improved the efficiency in checking in voters. March 19, 2019 Page 2 CM: Spoke of how the IT Department served on the Cable Access Committee in negotiating the Verizon Cable Contract. CM: Commented on how they worked with the Clerk's Department and Planning Department in the codification of the Town Charter and Bylaws. Resulting in a standardized and continually updated online tool to make accessing these documents easier. CM: Spoke of security used during crisis, especially during the Columbia Gas explosion. This allows for priority access and prioritized processing of phone calls in time of an emergency. CM: Spoke of the social media communication during the time of the Columbia Gas explosions. CM: Commented on some of the future goals such as upgrading the phone systems, connecting with the new NACAM studio to the Town's fiber network. CM: Continued with saying that the big piece that they plan on implementing (rolling out) is a social engineering prescription training package for all of our employees on an ongoing basis CM: Went on to say this is regarding security, to make employees be able to recognize threats, and also to train our employees to be aware. Discussions and questions were asked of CM regarding safety, upgrading hardware,phishing, computer hardware updates, maintaining a common sense approach, risks,backups,using the cloud, etc. CM: Commented on his staff and stated that they are all do a good job. CM: But went on to say that the landscape in IT is so complex and so diverse, that we really need to future proof ourselves, it relies on having good relationships with vendors and good professional services to manage that. It is essential that you have good core boots on the ground. TT: I applaud you and it is veiy obvious by the way you approach your job on how much you love what you are doing. TT and the Committee thanked CM. Overall Budget-Lyne Savage Discussion starts on or about 8:11 pm/01:09 on video time LS: Started off saying that everything runs fairly smoothly and we have no issues with the Budget right now. As long as we stay with the projections put in place. 1 do not think we will have any major issues for the next 5-7 years as long as we stay with our conservative projections. LS: Explained to the Committee why Jean Enright could not attend tonight's meeting. Jean would be the best to speak on some of the Committees concerns and questions regarding Planning Board questions. The committee had various discussions, questions and concerns such as, how will we maintain the recreational complex and are we prepared, how does this impact the budget, LS explained we do not have all the details but stated that it was achievable. March 19, 2019 Page 3 CA: Questioned the Stevens Estate and asked, if any of the work that was planned/budgeted to be done on the Estate will happen. LS: Responded that this work that was planned/budgeted to be done on the Estate will be put on hold. They spoke of the next meeting scheduled for April 3rd and that they plan on voting on The CIP and the Warrant Articles. TT and the committee thanked LS for attending the meeting. Review of Finance Committee Draft Warrant Letter Sections Schools: Chris and Sasha General Municipal: Divya and Sasha Enterprise: Ed Reserves: Liz (Tim) Debt(including L-T obligations such as OPEB,health care, retirement): Chuck and Tim Capital Improvement and payment plan: Thomas Summary: Tim Discussion starts on or about 8:29 pm/01:27 on video time Some of the Finance Committee members took turns in reading, discussing and reviewing what they wrote up for their assigned sections of the Finance Committee's Warrant Letter before the due date on or before April 5tn Approval of minutes for March 5, 2019 Discussion starts on or about 9:07 pm/02:05 on video time SW: Made a motion to approve the meeting minutes as written for March 5, 2019. CA: Second the motion All in favor to approve the minutes. Adjournment 9:08 CA: Made a motion to adjourn the meeting SW: Second the motion All were in favor to adjourn Document Table -Agenda Finance Committee Meeting for March 19,2019 -Minutes from March 5,2019 -Capital Improvement Plan FY2020-FY2024 -FY20 Financial Plan and Operating Budget -IT Attachment pages for 2020 Budget Book -EM Draft on the Enterprise (for Warrant letter) March 19, 2019 Page 4