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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-06 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date March 6th, 2018 Meeting Location: School Administration Building, 566 Main Street Timothy Tschirhart, TT, Chairman X Ed MacMillian EM X Jennifer Goldman, JG,Vice Chair X Divya Bhatnagar, DB X Karin Blake, KB X Charles Trafton CT X Thomas Ringler, TR Angela Ciofolo, AC X Liz Gerron, LG 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. Non Finance Committee Members in attendance Christopher McClure (CM), IT Director James Stanford(JM), Public Works Director Tim Willet (TW), Division Operations Manager Glen Alt (GA), Superintendent of the Water Treatment Plant John Borgesi, (JB) Assistant Director Town Engineer Rick Gorman (RG), Youth Services Executive Director Ray Santilli (RS), Assistant Town Manager Lyne Savage (LS), Town Accountant Call to order 6:47 TT: Tonight we will be discussing mostly the infrastructure of our operating budget for FYI 9. Review of Operating Budget Part I Information Technology—Christopher McClure Discussion starts on or about 6:49 pm/:00:01:37 on video time (Reference pages 191-193 of the FY19 Budget Book) CM: Introduced himself as the IT Director, commented that this is his third year with North Andover. 1 March 6,2018 CM: Spoke of one of the biggest accomplishments in the past 3 years in the IT Department was significant staff restructuring, this sets us up to be in a stronger position. CM: Stated that initially when he started as the IT Director, there were 2 full time technicians, and no administrative technician. CM: Commented that he found himself doing about 40-50% of the administrative tasks, such as paying bills, ordering etc. Not a good effective use of his time. CM: Stated that now they have a technician and have consolidated and created an administrative technician, who does the administrative type of work. CM: This has helped me make the best possible use of my time, freeing me from the administrative tasks. CM: Spoke of the prior year accomplishments and of the $50,000 that was awarded to them from the Massachusetts Community Compact Grant. We were able to use it for document scanning. We were able to do $50,000 worth of land record scanning, and this will be accessible to the website (about 67% complete). CM: Continued to speak of the accomplishments of the IT Department. CM: Stated that the newly renovated Public Works building just opened and that they managed the technology planning. From an IT stand point it went smoothly. And we helped police and fire migrate to a new public safety software. CM: Commented that there is usually growing pains when introducing new software. The Finance Committee Members made comments and asked various questions to CM, such as who maintains servers, staff responsibilities, cross training, helpful tools on the website, and what security measures are being taken to protect our servers from being hacked. CM: Commented that you always try and add services on the Town's web page and be more transparent TT and the Finance Committee members thanked CM for coming tonight and for keeping us all up and running. Public Works—James Stanford Discussion starts on or about 7:10 pm/00:21:34 on video time (Reference pages 164-171 of the FY19 Budget Book) JS: Introduced himself to the Committee as the Public Work Director and also introduced the rest of his staff. JS: Named each one of his staff members and stated that they are here tonight, and will also be able to answer questions. JS: Commented that we are here for infrastructure, Public Works is responsible for a big segment of the infrastructure in town. JS: Anything you see such as streets, we oversee the parks maintenance, winter maintenance, 2 March 6,2018 such as salting roads, plowing, clearing sidewalks, and all that goes along with winter maintenance. JS: Stated that his overall budget is $4,775,727.00 and it represents 1.53%. There is no staffing change. JS: Spoke of the major Sidewalk project that will be on Route 125. The project will be on both sides of the road. It will take place this summer. Spoke of also completing projects on High, Water and Elm Street as the weather allows. JS: Also spoke of two initiatives going on, one is the town wide tree replacement program and the other is the side walk initiative. JS: Also spoke of the continuation to improve drainage structures in road. The Finance Committee Members discussed and asked various questions to JS, such as costs, construction, material and supply cost fluctuations, grant opportunities, recycling fees, trash costs, and locations of sidewalk project on Route 125, underground utilities. JS: Spoke of Grants, they are out there, they take a lot of time and effort,but you have to be aggressive, they are available. RS: Spoke of the recycling contract with Northside and that they bring the recycling to JRM in Peabody. They then pay us a set fee,per ton. TT: We will move on to Water and Sewer Water & Sewer Enterprise Funds - Tim Willet, Glen Alt, James Stanford Discussion starts on or about 7:35 pm/00:46:00 on video time (Reference pages 214-218 of the FY19 Budget Book) JS: This is with the Water Department and stated that it is broken up into Treatment and Distribution. JS: Stated that GA over sees the treatment and booster pumps. JS: Went on to say that TW oversees the actual water main network and the water mains. JS: Spoke of all the responsibilities and accomplishments. They do a fair amount of repairs (aging infrastructure) and flushing of hydrants JM: Commented on all of the replacements of the old cast iron pipe. JM: Commented on the cleanliness of the water, it is a high priority TT: Questioned the Seada System, what is it? GA: Responded that this is what the operators use to run the entire plant. It is a computer program, a software system that can stop and start pumps. We do not have to have as much personnel watching. In the long run it saves us money. If we did not have this we would need twice as much personnel. Finance Committee Members continued to discuss and ask various questions to JS such as water mains, main build ups, flushing, chemical treatments, tanks, and the cleanliness of water and 3 March 6,2018 how it compares to other communities, contractors and outside services used. TT: Stated that it is time to go on to the Sewer Department. Discussion starts on or about 7:46 pm/00:57:00 on video time JS: Stated that it is important to identify that rates have remained steady. JS: Commented that the overall budget is $4,741,484.00 with an increase of 1.7%. JS: Stated that we have 22 pump stations and spoke of all the cost associated with it. TT: Thank you for keeping us up and running, and now we will move onto Youth Services. Youth Services -Rick Gorman, James Stanford Discussion starts on or about 7:50 pm/01:01:00 on video time (Reference pages 179-182 of the FY19 Budget Book) RG: Commented that he celebrated 30 years as a Youth Service Director and the youth center has been opened for 18 years. RS: Stated that they have had a number of accomplishments in the past year. RG: Went on to say that he supervises 4 full time employees. We work very closely with the schools. RG: Spoke of the skate board equipment that they gifted to Andover. RG: Commented on the accomplishment of the Holiday Drive and that it was the biggest year ever. TT: Commented on the Significant Changes mentioned on page 179, it says a lot; "Collaborating with North Andover School Department to include Special Education students in NAYRS Summer Programming". This is impressive TT: Spoke of how teen anxiety is a big thing among teens. RG: Spoke of the future music and arts program that is planned. RG: Unless it is ridiculously crazy we do try and entertain what the kids want. RS: Spoke of the potential expansion of the youth center. TT and the Finance Committee Members thanked JS. GA, TW and RG 4 March 6,2018 Approval of Minute February 13, 2018 Discussion starts on or about 8:10 pm/01:22:00 on video time JG: made a motion to approve minutes as written KB: Second All were in favor Public Comment There was no Public Comment at the meeting New Business Discussion starts on or about 8:12 pm/01:23:00 on video time JG: Asked of what was going on with doing the joint meeting with the Selectmen. TT: Responded it is not going to happen. JG: Stated then we will meet with the selectmen next year (Fall of 2018). TT: Agreed that we will meet with the Selectmen. TT: Also spoke of the possibilities of having a joined meeting relative to OPEB with the Selectmen and the OPEB Committee. JG: Asked of seeing the School's 5 year Budget. TT: Stated that they do not have a 5 year Budget, but I will ask and reach out to Jim Mealey with our concerns. TT: Commented on the upcoming scheduled meetings, and topics. The next meetings are on March 20th, March 26th, and April 3`d. TT: Informed the members that the deadline for our letter is April 6th, and that is when it needs to be in the Town's hand. Ad'ournment 8:37 PM CT: made a motion to adjourn JG: Second the motion All in favor to adjourn Document Table Agenda Finance Committee Meeting for March 6, 2018 Minutes for February 131h, 2018 Finance Committee Schedule (Remaining) Town Manager's Recommended Budget Report for Fiscal Year 2019 5 March 6,2018