HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_11.03.05 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes �Ek
November 3, 2005 '
Attendants: Chairman Keith Mitchell, Vice Chairman("VC")Mike Batsimm, Paul Stewart, Steve Dawe, Jack
Watkins, Mike Giarratano,Eva HamorL Mark Nichols and Melinda Coppa. Also present from the Town was
Town Manager, Mark Rees (arriving at 6:41), Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Harry Harutunian(arriving at
6:56) and Finance Director,Linda Casey. Additional attendees included Citizen"B" Fink., Orit Goldstein,
President of Ozzy Properties Inc. ("OPI") and GPI's two consultants, John Connery of Connery Associates and
John T. Smolak of Smolak& Vaughan.
Call to Order: Chairman Mitchell called the meeting to order at 6:31 PM.
Approval of Minutes: Steve Dawe made the motion to approve the October 13, minutes as provided in the
handout, with a second from Jack Watkins. Mark Nichols, VC Batsimm, and Paul Stewart abstained from
voting. Paul Stewart noted he did not receive a copy of the minutes prior to our meeting. All other members
voted unanimously in favor of the motion(6-0-3).
Old Business:
A) Special Town Meeting: JFinCovm Articles: Chairman Mitchell announced the Board of Selectmen C BoS")
voted to include the article transferring funds to the Stabilization fund on the Special Town Meeting ("STM")
warrant. The BoS appears reluctant to add the article on health insurance for elected officials; the final vote to
add this article to the warrant is Monday, November 7. The Chairman then discussed whether the Committee
should put it on as a Citizen's Petition, which would require 100 signatures by Monday, or wait to see what the
BoS vote to do. The Town Manager offered up compromising language that would extend the health insurance
plan for those currently serving on a Board as a measure to get the article on the warrant. Preliminary
discussions did not favor the language change. The Committee opted to wait and see how the BoS vote.
: MGLA ch. 40R Rezoning: Chairman Mitchell announced that the Town's peer
review is still not available for our perusal. VC Batsimm, Jack Watkins and the Chairman will attend the Peer
Review meeting next week. Orit Goldstein gave a brief overview of the project and site pian. John Smolak
gave an overview of the 40R process. He did note that the State is still working with them on the terminology
for Affordable.blousing("AIY). John Connery then summarized the results of the Financial Impact Analysis he
prepared. Benefits to the Town include meeting the 10% AH threshold and the State would pay the town a total
of$2.55 million. OPI and their consultants are confident that this money will be available since the State
currently holds a $5.5 million trust fund set aside for any Smart Growth. This project is the first in line to
receive the money provided the BoS, following the November 14 Public Hearing, submit a Smart Growth
Application to the State. Once the State approves the application, then the Citizen's must vote to approve the
zoning change at STM Mr. Connery continued to go over his estimates of increased revenues offset by
additional town services. In all he estimates that the residential and commercial portions of the project will
provide the Town with a net fiscal gain. He also estimated that the Town would see approximately$1.5 million
in permit fees. The Committee members had a good question and answer session throughout the discussion.
Dr. Harutunian expressed concern over the echo effect from senior citizen's selling their existing homes, to
move into this project, and those homes then turning over to families with pre-school aged children. He does
not believe he can accurately measure this effect but he firmly believes it will dramatically impact the schools,
especially if Foster Farm is not built. Questions regarding the Town's ability to maintain the 10%threshold are
still unresolved. A number of the Finance Committee members expressed concern with the lack of review time
given to the Committee. This is a result of the information coming to members just prior to the joint meeting
(October 27). This last minute sharing of information from OPI now forces the Committee to set an aggressive
-- due diligence schedule to meet the STM deadline; the Committee has only three scheduled meeting to discuss
the financial impacts of this article and is uncertain whether they can do a thorough.job.