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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-01-29 Finance Committee Minutes TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date January 29, 2019 Meeting Location: School Administration Building Timothy Tschirhart, TT, Chairman X Ed MacMillian EM Sasha Weinreich, SW, Vice Chair X Divya Bhatnagar, DB X Christine Allen CA X Charles Trafton CT X Thomas Ringler, TR X Angela Ciofolo, AC X Liz Gerron, LG 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 Gregg Gilligan (GG), Superintendent James Mealey(JM), Asst. Superintendent, Finance & Operations Lyne Savage (LS), Acting Town Manager,Finance Director/Town Accountant Pledge of Allegiance Call to order and Opening Comments Discussion starts on or about 7:10 pm/00:00 on video time TT: Tonight at bat we have the School Budget (with JM and GG), but before we do that we will ask for any Public Comments. Public Comment Discussion starts on or about 7:11ym/01:00 on video time There was no Public Comment. SW: Asked that we should review the minutes next before we have the School Department Presentation. Approval of minutes for January 8, 2019 Discussion starts on or about 7:13 pm/03:00 on video time TT: Stated that it was brought to his attention that on page 2 of the January 8th Minutes, where January 29, 2019 Page 1 LS spoke of the Master Plan I1 (5th paragraph down) it should be amended to read "Renovations of the Fire Station's Department in the Old Town Center" and not read"Fire Department (out Country)". SW: Made a motion to approve the meeting minutes as amended for January 8, 2019. CA: Second the motion All in favor to approve the minutes. Recommended 2020 School Budget-Superintendent Gregg Gilligan and Jim Mealy Discussion starts on or about 7;14pm/04:00 on video time TT: I would like to introduce GG and JM who are here to present to us the School Budget for Fiscal Year 2020, and also to have an insight into the current state of the 2019 School Budget. GG: Thank you for having us, first and foremost I would like to congratulate Andrew Maylor, he has been a tremendous and strategic part of the schools. I am going to miss his creativity. The schools benefited from his leadership. Also, I want to congratulate Lyric Savage as the "Acting Town Manager". GG: Went on to say that LS, is an asset to the Town, and that I look forward to working with LS. GG: Passed out handouts to the Finance Committee of the Financial Planning Presentation, of the North Andover School Department. GG: Started with Page 1 of the presentation, "Budget Process Overview", stating that it is important to note that we have a Strategic Plan that is thoughtful and has been well thought out and covers three areas; -All Students -Professional Practice -A Consistent and Rigorous Curriculum. GG: Another thing we take into account with the Budget Process, is the School Committee Directives. GG: Spoke of how he met with 1136 people, 600 were by survey and the remainder in person. GG: Went on to say that he asked in the survey a series of 9 questions. This is how I was able to collect and gather information and data. GG: Stated that he used this gathered information and data for setting goals and benchmarks and also helped him to make a couple of changes or recommendations. GG: Commented on one of the objectives to ensure that All Students are provided equal access to an excellent education. Spoke of the various types of students and their unique needs. GG: Went on to speak of another objective, "Profession Practice", to hire, develop, and train excellent educators in order that they are able to meet the needs of all students. GG: Spoke of class sizes, guidelines, standards, and how class sizes are different at every grade level. January 29, 2019 Page 2 JM: Spoke of the various School Department Funding Sources and the anticipated FY20 amounts; -General Fund, Revolving Accounts (largest being Community Programs, Food Services, Athletics and others as well). -Grants (special education being the largest). -Circuit Breaker (we get reimbursed for Special Education cost the following year). -Capital Project (such as paving, drainage etc.). -Indirect Expenses (insurance unemployment), Shared Expenses (shared facilities and departments). -Medicaid Reimbursement and -Special Education Stabilization (See pages 5-6 of the presentation). GG: Stated that we were really transparent with any of the issues or deficits that we presented to the School Committee this past Fall. GG: Two things that contributed to some of the difficulties that we had was at the Bradstreet School and the unanticipated cost, such as parking and staffing, and also spoke of some substantial work had to be done in the kitchen. GG: Stated that we have not sent one new student out of district since the beginning of this school year, although we may have one in the pipe line. Also, GG went on to say, that if we have the ability to keep and teach a student in North Andover we should. No child should be on a bus every day, that could end up to be hours on a bus each day. We do our best to keep students in district. GG: Spoke of Level Services and that it includes all of the current special education programs with the exception of a first year SEL Program at the elementary level. While this program has not produced anticipated cost savings, GG stated that he believes that this program will be beneficial to our students and will produce cost savings in the long run. For this reason, the Town Manager has agreed to fund this program for the FY20 School Year ($120,000). GG: Stated that we need to be creative to best educate our kids with all the challenges, needs, diversity and background with our various students. GG: Spoke of the various proposed increases, adding teachers, adding a nurse at the High School, adding a teacher to expand advanced courses in science and math, also spoke of the transient population that attend our schools, the increase of homelessness in North Andover, etc. GG: Commented that we are asking for 5.7 positions in total, for a cost of$370,800. JM: Reviewed with the Finance Committee the benefits of working together, such as consolidating operations, such as facilities, IT and Legal. GG and JM: Covered and answered the questions that the Finance Committee supplied to them ahead of the meeting. (See page and charts on pages 11-24 of the presentation for questions). January 29, 2019 Page 3 Questions, discussions and issues covered were; Special Education, Social and emotional Learning (SEL), High School Nursing Staffing, Curriculum Fund Increase, Class size, MSBA (Grant) Application for Middle School, Cost of buses, Elementary and Middle School, Class sizes and percentage, Renovations, Community Programs, Leadership Structures, indirect costs, revenue, etc. JM: Commented on Special Education costs and that they are extremely volatile from one year to the next. GG: Stated that applying for Grants can be a long process. As a community we need to raise up questions and suggestions and to start up a conversation. TT: Commented that the Strength in schools start with the community, the benefits are many and also helps with the property values of homes. GG: Spoke of Leadership Structures and also making plans for the future and stated that we are hopeful that we can make recommendations for future years. TR: Commented on how informational this presentation was, and also learned that with the diversity of students and how challenging and complicated this all can be. So many students with various backgrounds and needs. TR: Questioned GG and JM are we prepared for this, and do we have the resources? GG: Responded by stating that we need to provide our teachers with these skills and strategies by supplying the training needed to help these teachers help our students. GG: Also, commented on building and providing a relationship with students and their families, in order to best meet the needs of the students. TT: Acknowledged the letter received regarding a"Distinguished Budget Presentation Award" that was presented to Lyne Savage, Finance Director. TT: Kudos to Lyne Savage! The Finance Committee thanked GG and JM and all agreed that this was a very good presentation and very transparent. Thank you very much. GG and JM: We appreciate the thoughtful questions. Thank you for having us and giving us the opportunity to do so. We do want to be as transparent as possible. New Business; Next Meeting, OPEB appointment Discussion starts on or about8:56 pm/01:46 on video time TT: Commented that tomorrow we have the final meeting of the Revenue and Fixed Cost Meeting. TT: Commented that we need to vote on the CTP at the next meeting, Wednesday, February 13"' TT: Stated that the Budget will possibly be coming out on the 1 It" of February. January 29, 2019 Page 4 TT: Spoke of having Public Safety and Public Works come to our next meeting. OPEB was briefly spoken on. SW: Stated if you need a backup for OPEB, I will fill in, you can give me a call Adiournment at 9:04 LG: Made a motion to adjourn the meeting SW: Second the motion All were in favor to adjourn Document Table -Agenda Finance Committee Meeting for January 22, 2019 -Minutes from January 08, 2019 -Questions and Requested Topics to the Superintendent of Schools from Finance Committee -FY19 Budget Updates as of 1/07/2019 -Government Finance Officers Association letter dated 12-18-2018 -North Andover School Department, Financial Planning Presentation to FINCOM January 29, 2019 Page 5