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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_01.28.10 TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: January 2010 28 Meeting Location: Town Hall, Second Floor Meeting Called to order: 6:38 PM Main Conference Room Joint Meeting of FINCOM, BOS and Department Heads I. FinCom Members in Attendance Mark Rodgers-MR, Chairman Ramsey Barely-RB X X Peter Besen-PB, Vice Chairman Bonnie Wilkinson-BW X X Ben Osgood-BO Carlos Bielicki-CB X X Jean Sullivan-JS Thom Dugan-TD X X Alan Lebovidge-AL Herb Cunha-HC, Minutes X X Non FinCom Members in Attendance OTHERS: Mark Rees, MRees-Town Mgr Richard Nardella, RN-BOS Rosemary Connolly Smedile, RS-BOS Town Department Heads Note: All FINCOM votes are subject to change upon receipt of new information. II. Previous Minutes Approved DATE: 21 Jan 2010 Approved, Unanimous III. New Business AGENDA ITEM: A. Finalize quest speaker schedules and topics Discussion -Department of Public Works, Bruce D Thibodeau, Director -He spoke of Road Improvement, Sidewalk Improvement, Sr. Center Roof, Sutton St. Sewer, Water Meters and small dump truck for tree department. He also has a Five-year planning budget. -Road Improvement: -DT: All roads are inspected and rated (0-100). Routes 114 and 125 are State roads. Two sources of funding are Chapter 90 and $580k has been approved. Our average rating is 70. AGENDA ITEM: A. Finalize quest speaker schedules and topics, continued Discussion: -FINCOM members asked about use of road miles, what would be required to bring roads up to 90%, use of software for rating, whether repairs are curb to curb, whatÈs required to flat line and setting of priorities, -DT: To reach score of 90 would cost about $25M, could reach 80 with annual spending of $5M, uses 3 year contracts for projects, software is used with a database, reference to $100k refers to not only town roads but also country roads and drainage, DPW works with utilities about their projects to dig up roads, if expenditure is limited to $580k then he will have to redo the improvements, and priorities are set by scoring, input from DPW members and citizen calls. -Sidewalk Improvement: -DT: Reconstruction used $50k from last year, included schools and down town. -Dump Truck: -RN: Asked about funds. -MRees: Associated with planning fund for sidewalks, approximately $30k. -DT: He can use $50k plus $30k, is not grant money. -Sr. Center Roof: -DT: Roof is now leaking and needs replacement. -FINCOM asked about pricing available, roof life and possibility to leverage State programs, energy, etc. -DT: Pricing has been obtained for roof, roof life 25-30 years, mentioned $100k into solar for high school. -Sutton St Sewer: -Sewer is surcharging, cannot handle more flow, there are sulfide odors and length of line is 1000 feet. -FINCOM asked about project timing and now paying interest on $3.2M since 3 years ago, -DT: Project timing Spring 2011.Project has been held off due to upstream work that has impacted Waverly Road. -Water Meters: -DT: Meter replacement due to age, slowness in operating and indication of low readings. -FINCOM asked about meter monitoring, meter life, question about debt ratio and contingency. AGENDA ITEM: A. Finalize quest speaker schedules and topics, continued Discussion: -DT: Mentioned that lots has been done relative to water tanks and water treatment. He uses 10% for his contingency. -MRees: Regarding debt, mentioned 4%-5% net revenues not calculated in water and sewer. BOS said new only if betterment or grants, so they wonÈt come up, donÈt anticipate large projects. -School Department: Superintendent Chris Hottel-CH, Chair School Committee Stan Limpert-SL and Business Administrator James Mealy-JM Also IT Director Matthew Killen: -RN: Asked about completion of modular classrooms. -Response was 2012 provided if started now, would know about start 12 Feb 2010. If Modular is not approved, then structure will be detached, meaning 15 feet away from main building. -FINCOM members asked about reason sprinklers were required, whether legislature could extend grace period for Kittredge modular. -JM: Law changed about sprinklers being required for combined area greater than 7500 feet. Efforts were attempted several ways about modular. -RN/BW: Money sits in School Budget for modular. -Fire Chief: Indicated law for sprinklers was 19 Jan 2009; fact that matter was not brought to Town Meeting was a slip on his part. -FINCOM members asked about bringing $900k forward and do all schools in one year, possibly push out IT projects, could school rethink this and what is the thought process considering sprinklers versus safety, IT, parents concerns, etc. -Discussion followed: MRees mentioned regulations change, MR spoke of $140k, total debt ratio 3-5%, RN mentioned need for modular, if ruling is such need to do this year, would detach. MR spoke of $1.8M to $1M for network infrastructure, lose teacher time, etc. without network. -MK: Stated that last purchase was end of 2003 installed 2004, not the most advanced technically. Meanwhile fiber optic arrived. He assessed School Department and noted age of equipment, type, and hubs at Middle School of 1990Ès vintage, get cross talk, chatter and reduced bandwidth. Also equipment is at end of life according to Manufacturer who doesnÈt plan to service anymore. There will not be any support as of spring next year. -Discussion about equipment pricing, can be lower, what have others done about this, Cisco is top of the line, support will be 10-12 years, there is potential to get less expensive equipment. Questions about who did network assessment, was done by an outside firm and MK. State of MA gets 45% discount on Cisco equipment. -MR: Raised question as to how to handle CIP project if performed for less, also we are paying interest. AGENDA ITEM A. Finalize quest speaker schedules and topics, continued Discussion: -MRees: Monies get turned back. We can bond what we want, can schedule bonding based upon completion of bidding. If July 1 has level funds, then borrow by Jun 30 of next year. -Discussion about security of system, has a firewall, question raised about High School being double. MK indicated there is lots of information on students and currently donÈt have sufficient security, etc. High School has larger infrastructure, equipment has been transferred to a data room that is ventilated at the High School. Municipal email system with School Dept, email was outsourced, now on our own server. All rooms are wired; there is no plan for wireless. $1.8M technical needs in schools for network infrastructure, $450k computers, 20, and $225k supplies. Federal provides discounts on data connections and larger projects, based upon lunch count and weather urban or rural setting, then set reimbursement, ranking, etc. This year we have reimbursement. Our ranking is low at about 80 or below. Some computers have been purchased through the School PTO. MK would like a 24 student to 1 computer ratio. Treasurer/Collector: Jennifer Yarid-JY -Spoke of changing the billing software since we have stand-alone products, and to alleviate language barrier since vendor is in Canada (Govern/Unifund). Process is currently very cumbersome and manual. Change would allow reallocation of resources and assist in reconciliation. New vendor is in New Hampshire, easier for training versus going to Canada, which is not possible due to expense. -MRees: Indicated that State Law for software can only borrow for 5 years, for hardware 10 years. -JY: Regarding timing, Town meeting would have to approve, which will delay project until next year. Vendor wants to go July 1. Police/Fire: Police Chief Richard Stanley-RS, Fire Chief William Martineau- WM: -MRees open discussion regarding radio equipment, another $100k required, for police $305k to $405k, pull back from 2012. Fire Chief mentioned antenna on water tank. One tower is needed with multiple antennas. Fire and police will be able to communicate. -RS: spoke of bulletproof vests, 50, at $800 each. Current vests expire January 2011, well for 5 years. Police now carry new weapons. Possible to get vests through the Feds if he hits funding cycle, also some support possible from the State. The New Police Station to be completed September 11, 2010. Plan has been established to upgrade when moving in. Spoke of $295k for bay station equipment. Equipment does work although today one station went out and he was able to get some parts from Lowell Police who have old equipment. A Grant for $45k has been put in for console furniture, which has been purchased and held. Each police officer has a UHF radio and has satellite receivers to assist. Fire has 55 members, have 800Mhz and will go to UHF. Police Station is coming within budget. -RS and WM agreed to attend FINCOM meeting to discuss regionalization. B. CIP Review and Public meeting AGENDA ITEM: Discussion: III. Old Business/Non-Agenda Items NON-AGENDA ITEM: Discussion: IV. Next Meetings Thursday, 4 Feb 2010 Town Hall, 6:30 PM V. Adjournment Motion: JS Unanimous Seconded: RB Time: 9:15 PM C=Complete ACTION ITEMS ITEM # ACTION ITEM INDIVID. COMPL. STATUS DATE 1 Send out financial assumptions model, update with MR 19 Nov C actuals, 2009 model 2 Contact Art. and Wellesley for their financial modelsMR 19 Nov 3 Check on website for financial forecasting documents PB 19 Nov 4 Contact M. Rees to invite Andover Facility Manager to MR 19 Nov C come to North Andover 5 Email Rick Nardella, BOS, about vacant Bradstreet MR 19 Nov C School for planned action Revise forecast and CIP in analysis 6 MR/TD 7 Jan C Bring binder with budget for BW to review 7 MR 7 Jan C