Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout20120118 - Appropriations Committee - Meeting MinutesTown of Hopkinton Appropriations Committee (AC) Minutes of Meeting on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Room 107, Town Hall, Hopkinton, MA In attendance: Mike Manning Norman Khumalo Pam Waxlax Troy Mick Jon Graziano John Ferrari Ron Eldridge Dave Daltorio Chairman Manning called the meeting to order at 6:02 PM. Ron moved and Jon seconded a motion to approve the minutes of our 12/12/2011 meeting. The motion passed by a vote of 4 – 0. Ron moved and Pam seconded a motion to approve the minutes of our 1/17/2012 meeting. The motion passed by a vote of 4 – 0. John Ferrari, Permanent Building Committee, and Dave Daltorio, Town Facilities Coordinator, presented a reserve fund transfer request for professional services related to a town-wide capital needs assessment for town buildings (9 are included in the project.) This was not budgeted in FY12 but identified early in the fiscal year by the Selectmen at an all hands meeting. The request is for $30,000. The study will provide a 5 year plan with life safety the number 1 priority and project life of the asset the second priority. The idea is to level set the projects. The schools completed studies in 2000 and 2006, the latter of which was updated in 2012 and paid within the school budget. The last report for the town was completed in 2000. No complete report has been found and it was more of a space-needs assessment rather than looking at the facilities (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc.) The proposed process will include an inventory of systems and what to build up for capital needs. It will identify issues in each building along with estimates to fix/replace items. Interdependencies will also be identified. Ron moved and Jon seconded a motion to transfer $25,000 from the reserve fund to Other Professional Services – 01-4-411-5380-07-1161 in accordance with MA General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 6. The motion passed by a vote of 4-0. Discussion prior to the approval of the motion noted that this was a gray area in relation to being sudden and unforeseen, but the needs to have an understanding of the town buildings, identify any safety issues and to have this completed prior to Annual Town Meeting were seen as imperative. Norman provided an update on the budget process to date. The town is projecting new growth at $700,000 related to permit fees. They are projecting $2.2M in capital pay as you go items for FY13. The Governor is holding a meeting next Friday for (hopefully) initial budget projections Norman updated the committee as to what was discussed at the recent Board of Selectmen meeting with regards to remote access and Open Meeting Law. They have added new verbiage and need to go back to town departments for comments. Per MA Law the remote member won’t count towards the quorum but will have voting rights. The towns do have to follow MA Law but can also add further restrictions. The Selectmen determined that all Town committees will need to use the same technology. Additionally, remote members may not use a speakerphone on their end and nobody may be in the room with the remote member interfering with participation. Remote members must have the ability to access anything new brought to the meeting and if the call is dropped, the remote member is considered to have left the meeting. Mike and Jon provided an update of the School budget process. Currently it stands at a 3.95% increase but this will change down. The current teacher contract expires June 30, 2012. $1.3M of the increase relates to contractual obligations. (Last year this was $700k.) Overall the student population is down 2%. They have asked if they can increase 2.5% over prior year as well as considering if they can tap into any of the unused levy the town has. At 8:05 PM Ron moved and Jon seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously, 4-0.