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Home My Public Portal About20140331 - Appropriations Committee - Meeting MinutesTown of Hopkinton Appropriation Committee (AC) Minutes of Meeting on Monday, March 31, 2014 3rd Floor Meeting Area, Town Hall, Hopkinton, MA In attendance: Mike Manning Pam Waxlax Wayne Pacheco Frank Sivo Pat Mahon Lt. Chuck Wallace John Westerling Suzanne Marchand John Mosher Chairman Manning called the meeting to order at 6:34 PM. There were no public comments at the meeting. Pat moved and Wayne seconded a motion to approve the minutes of our 3/26/2014 meeting as written. The motion passed by a vote of 5-0. Chuck Wallace, Lt. with the Hopkinton Police Department and interim Police Chief, met with the committee to discuss the department's capital article as well as the operating budget. Prior to the start of discussion Pat informed the committee that he needs to recuse himself from votes on Police budget and articles as he left the DA's office in May 2013 and has a conflict of interest for one year from date of leaving. The only capital article from Police this year is for the purchase of 2 replacement vehicles, including fitting one with an MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) and video system. The second vehicle will have the MDT and video transferred from the old car. It was noted that MDTs have a 5 year replacement cycle and videos have a 7 year cycle. On the operating side they are replacing one officer who retired and hiring one new officer. Chuck noted that within 5 years , one third of the staff will retire due to the mandatory retirement age of 65, losing a number of years experience within the department. He also noted the greatest financial challenges over the next decade will be fuel costs, maintaining the 10 year old building as it starts to age and young hires who will have STEP increases the first 5 years they work for the department. The committee continued the discussion of a possible underride tabled at the last meeting. Suzanne presented a revised spreadsheet (see attachment 1) with corrected numbers for Scenario 2 with the library funded via debt exclusion. Suzanne noted that the operating costs for the expanded library in FY17 and FY18 are included in the model at $221k per year. Additionally the committee was informed that the town and schools agreed that increases of 3% and 4% respectively in future years were attainable. Scenario 3, the library funding not passing, was not considered as we need to assume the library will pass before discussing the various underride amounts. Scenario 1, funding the library within the levy limit, was also not considered as we previously voted to request that the library be funded outside the levy limit at our 3/19/14 meeting. Discussion noted that underrides are very rare since proposition 2 1/2 was put in place. Some towns have excess levy because that's all the tax base can afford ( for example Marlborough) and other towns go to the levy limit each year and put the excess in stabilization funds (for example Pepperell). If the schools come in at 5% instead of 4% next year, the impact would be $373k in addition to the forecast. There is still the question of the full cost of Full Day Kindergarten is in the forecast for later years since this year's costs were offset by one-time charges. John Mosher also provided some insight from BOS meetings regarding this topic. Although the underride is a non -binding article at ATM, the BOS have requested the committee to propose an amount associated with the possible underride. 3 committee members said they would support a $1M underride, 1 committee member would support an $800K underride and 1 committee member supported no underride. John Westerling, DPW Director, joined us to discuss snow & ice removal budget as well as his capital articles. The town has overspent $150K beyond the $700K authorized and we're still waiting for a few invoices which will likely add up to another $100K prior to year end. Pam moved and Pat seconded to authorize the Town to incur liability and make expenditures in excess of available appropriations for snow and ice removal in accordance with MGL Chapter 44, section 31D in the amount of $250,000. The motion passed by a vote of 5-0. John presented the DPW's capital articles: • Hayden Rowe Traffic Calming (see attachment 2) for $400K. This is for the stretch of Hayden Rowe between the tennis courts in front of the middle school to the Hopkins driveway. The amount covers the design and construction. Both the Police and the Schools are in favor of it. • 5 Year Sidewalk Master Plan (see attachment 3) for $1,519K. This is based on input for community and links existing sidewalks as well as roadways that have need of sidewalks. • Vactor Truck (see attachment 4) for $395K. The current truck is 13 years old and has a typical life span of 15 years. The fan has been repaired in 2009 and 2012 and when it's out for repairs it's gone for 6 weeks. This was on the ten year equipment replacement plan for this year already and the lead time for the order is 9-10 months, so we won't get it until May 2015. This truck is underweight and has been used in each of the 12 water main breaks this year, along with frequent usage in other manners. • Pilot Program to remove iron and manganese from wells 4 & 5 for $50K. The program will determine if this is effective so the wells can be used throughout the year. If we're able to use wells 4 & 5 during peak, we would not need to buy water from Ashland. The full implementation depends if the pilot is successful and would cost hundreds of thousands if that is the case. • Hayden Rowe Drainage for $80K. Issue is south on 85 on the left just before Milford. This is a result of mediation. A catch basin is draining onto the property and this will create an easement through the owner's property and extend the drainage. John further noted that there were originally three 1 -ton vehicles on the 10 year replacement plan which the DPW is not doing. Instead they have built into their operating budget the $33K cost to replace the dump bodies of these trucks since the chassis are still in good condition and they expect to be able to extend the lives 5-7 years. At 9:23 PM Pat moved and Frank seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0. ezi-i tch ov n i- Town of Hopkinton Impact Scenari os on Ta x Levy Worksh eets Library Construction/Operating & Underrides Fiscal 2015 Fiscal 2016 Fiscal 2017 Fiscal 2018 Scenario 1 Library P&I Inside Levy Limit Library Operating 2017-2018 1,672,554 1,146,234 880,159 1,714,250 Scenario 1A Scenario 1 + $500K Underride 1,160,054 620,921 341,714 1,162,344 Scenario 1B Scenario 1 + $800K Underride 852,554 305,734 18,646 831,200 Scenario 1C Scenario 1 + $1M Underride 647,554 95,609 (196,731) 610,437 Scenario 1D Scenario 1 + $1.2M Underride 442,554 (114,516) (412,109) 389,675 Scenario 1E Scenario 1 + $1.6M Underride 32,554 (534,766) (842,866) (51,850) Scenario 2 Library P&I Outside Levy Limit -Debt Excluded Library Operating 2017-2018 1,672,554 1,146,234 1,443,109 2,264,690 Scenario 2A Scenario 2 + $500K Underride 1,160,054 620,921 904,664 1,712,784 Scenario 2B Scenario 2 + $800K Underride 852,554 305,734 581,597 1,381,640 Scenario 2C Scenario 2 + $1M Underride 647,554 95,609 366,219 1,160,877 Scenario 2D Scenario 2 + $1.2M Underride 442,554 (114,516) 150,854 940,115 Scenario 2E Scenario 2 + $1.6M Underride 32,554 (534,766) (279,916) 498,590 Scenario 3 Exclusive of Library P&I Either not passed at ATM and/or Ballot for DE 1,672,554 1,146,234 1,666,035 2,492,074 Scenario 3A Scenario 3 + $500K Underride 1,160,054 620,921 1,127,589 1,940,168 Scenario 3B Scen ario 3 + $800K Underride 852,554 305,734 804,522 1,609,024 Scenario 3C Scenario 3 + $1M Underride 647,554 95,609 589,144 • 1,388,261 Scenario 3D Scenario 3+ $1.2M Underride 442,554 (114,516) 373,766 1,167,499 Scenario 3E Scen ario 3 + $1.6M Underride 32,554 (534,766) (56,990)1 725,973 3/31/2014 6:26 PM S:\Library\Financial Model FY15 v.19 (TMR) Scenarios 1_2_3 v.3 (1) Cl iettil e g kt,t a Article XX - Hayden Rowe Traffic Calming $400,000 for the survey, design, and construction of traffic calming measures (berm bumpouts, islands, and striping ) to calm the traffic flow through the school campus area. 5 Year Sidewalk Plan 5 Year Sidewalk Plan Goals: • Increasing pedestrian safety, • In creasing the walkability of the community, • Linking neighborhoods to o ne another, schools, and downtown Developed usin g • Sidewalk survey conducted by Plannin g Board • Citizen satisfactio n survey • D iscu ssion with Town Staff, including schools a Mcidm'DGP* 3 Priorities established by Plan ning Board were to construct sidewalks: •Within 2 miles of schools •Downtown area •Co ntin uous sidewalk on West Main Street from Wood Street to 495 •Continuous sidewalk on East Main Street from Clinton Street to Ray Street •Elm Street near High Street co nnecti ng to L umber Street E xte nsion Plan i ncl udes: •Updating the sidewalk i nventory •$50,000 in DPW operating budget for maintena nce and repair of existing sidewalks •Construction of new sidewalk segments: $150 / foot estimate used for bitumino us concrete berm and wearing surface (granite curb w/ concrete sidewalk= $200/foot) covers Sur vey, Design, Tree removal, Ledge removal, Environme ntal permitti ng, Installation of drainage & walls, & Easements 3l 3 \ \4 5 Year Sidewalk Plan Segment Street Length Cost Segment Connecti vity �E prr la { a . I Ash St 110' $35,000 Center School New ., 2 Ash St 1,700' $255,000 Pike -Carriage Hill Extend Existing ! I. iF i h galit diE a f '.. r.:��... I it $149,000 ! Carriage Hill- Blueberry Extend New .I 5 Year Sidewalk Plan Segment Street Length Cost Segment Connectivity 4 Wood St 1,500' $ $225,000 Elm -Proctor Extend Existing 5 West Main St 2,500' $375,000 Whalen -Lumber Connect Existing .............. .. ... ... ._...... ....... .... 6 .: I : Elm St 500' $75,000 =� Ext , - umber �; sa Connect Existing 5 Year Sidewalk Plan Segment Street Length Cost Segment Connectivity 7 East M ain St 2,700' $405,000 Legacy -Clinton Extend Existing * Ea st Main St 4,800' Legacy Farms Ray -Legacy Extend Existing Id l }} � 1f { l' vlA.u'jj;13:. .....0 •1:.: d �x" +':F�.. . <•.I., ::,..:. . ,.�.:.. : �r,.7v ;d•. �:1-:�'':v{' ti's I .0 i.,.. .."'s,. :tIt—}i { Y 4r IG� 8 rla2 V. � t Ti4iyly.. rl, 4M 1�' �" 1'a� ''. iµ: .*+. �+ 14 �i ^Q,000't .. .:::i{; �rl .: ..:..:" :r :._ f I:3L 1y 1 , w:n mi: �y�y■ �JJp ,� :: .: ,' : I'::s ,: I'": . .: k: � , : Y L li 444 iiii �� r. 1. � ._:i,a :+�. ( 1,j��]{ : ' E! � � 1::1.1. ,!� IW � L.^. .__G: e5 ,. F, . ,7'.' 1 i= ::}I.,::: ��;- ;� :: .I. I Current New aii-ctormat 4 Vactor Truck •$395,000 for the replacement of a 2002 Vactor truck •Most critical piece of eq uipment duri ng emergency repairs to Highway, Water, and Sewer infrastructure •Replaces Town's current Vactor with 17,500 miles and $78k worth of repairs on it (Fu ndi ng split equally between three divisio ns) 3) 3iJt4