HomeMy Public PortalAbout20120430 - Appropriations Committee - Meeting MinutesTown of Hopkinton Appropriation Committee (AC)
Minutes of Meeting on Monday, April 30, 2012
Room 211, Town Hall, Hopkinton, MA
In attendance:
Mike Manning
Pam Waxlax
Ron Eldridge
Jon Graziano
Norman Khumalo
Suzanne Marchand
Ken Driscoll
Tom Nealon
Chairman Manning called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM.
Tom Nealon, Chair, and Ken Driscoll, member, of the Downtown Initiative Steering Committee (DISC)
presented to the committee information on Article 39, Undergrounding Utilities on Main Street. At our
meeting on April 18, 2012, our committee voted to take no action on the article for reasons cited in
those minutes. Tom said the initial Main Street Corridor project moneys related to the actual roadway
between Ash and Wood streets was voted and approved at the 2011 ATM and that is now reaching the
"25 percent" mark, which sets into motion review by Massachusetts Department of Transportation and
placement in the queue with other jobs. There is no clear indication as to where this will be placed in the
queue as well as timing for the job to go out for bid. The project approved at 2011 ATM is separate from
Article 39, but DISC states the two projects should run parallel to one another in timing to take
advantage of the construction of the road to lay the needed conduits for the undergrounding of utilities
on this stretch of Main Street. NStar and Verizon require 10% of the total estimated cost of the job to
complete the engineering of the work and once the money is in hand, it will take 8-10 months to
engineer the project. DISC believes that the Appropriation Committee should recommend the project at
May ATM due to the operational timing of the survey process and that this article should not be
deferred to a Fall Special Town Meeting. Nothing can be done in terms of undergrounding the utilities
until special legislation is passed by the Commonwealth. DISC believes this will happen by the end of the
year, but only if the money has already been approved by the Town. No motions were made by the
committee with respect to this article and it stays as previously recommended.
The committee discussed the Chamber of Commerce State of the Town presentation Mike is making
tomorrow morning.
The committee discussed the needed contents of the letter the committee prepares for ATM.
The committee discussed the draft Financial Policy for the Town which the Selectmen are reviewing
tomorrow night. Comments were given to Norman and the committee suggested that the debt ceiling
cap should be 15% of the Annual Budget rather than 10%, especially due to the large capital needs
(school, library, DPW, undergrounding utilities) on the horizon.
Ron moved and Pam seconded a motion to approve the minutes of our 4/23/2012 regular and public
meeting as written. The motion passed by a vote of 3-0.
At 8:30 PM Ron moved and Pam seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously, 3-0.