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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20090427 - Appropriations Committee - Meeting MinutesTown of Hopkinton Appropriation Committee (AC) Minutes of Meeting on Monday, April 27, 2009 Town Hall, Selectman’s Room, Main St., Hopkinton, MA In attendance: Stuart Cowart Ron Eldridge Mary Lou Haroian Joe Karner Joe Lavin Heidi Kriger Chairman Karner called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. J.T. Gaucher, P.E. Director of the Highway Department, was present to request some fund transfers in the fiscal year 2009 budget. Ron moved and Stuart seconded a motion to transfer $65,000 from Department #433, Waste Collection and Disposal, line #1074, to Department #421, Highway Department, line # 1084 for the following three items: 1. Storm water Management Permit NOI $22,000 2. Storm water mapping $13,000 3. Snow dump improvements $30,000 in conformance with Article # 12 of the May, 2009 Annual Town Meeting. This is a transfer for FY 2009. The motion passed unanimously. Ron moved and Stuart seconded a motion to approve Article # 3 of the Special Town Meeting (STM) as written in the STM Warrant to transfer $10,000 from Article # 13 of the May 2008 Annual Town Meeting to fund the replacement of the sign shed roof. The motion passed unanimously. Ron moved and Stuart seconded a motion to take no action on Article # 4 of the May 2009 STM warrant. The motion passed unanimously. J.T. discussed his planned requests as part of Article # 5 on the Special Town Meeting warrant for 1. connecting to the Town of Milford sewage treatment facility, 2. upgrading the Wood Street pumping station to accommodate a 350,000 gallon capacity at the Fruit Street sewage treatment facility and 3. designing and constructing an upgrade to the current plan for the Fruit Street sewage treatment plant from a 100,000 gallon per day capacity to a 350,000 gallon per day capacity. It is the intention of the DPW to have all of the above items paid for by federal stimulus money. By the time of our next meeting (04/29) J.T. hopes to have the dollar value of the requests for money to finance the aforementioned projects, at which time the AC will vote on Article #5. J. T. presented the Committee with an unpaid bill from fiscal year 2008 for $255 for a plumbing service call to repair the furnace at the Highway Department garage in February 2008. Ron moved and Stuart seconded a motion to approve the payment of $225 in accordance with Article # 13 on the Annual Town Meeting warrant. The motion passed unanimously. Ron moved and Stuart seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the 4/21/09 and 4/22/09 AC minutes. The motion passed by a vote of 5 – 0. Stuart requested that Joe contact the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to determine why they did not vote in favor of the improvements to the snow dump. Joe will follow up on this. A brief discussion ensued as to the position of the AC with respect to recent challenges to the FY 2010 budget by the Assessors Office and the Planning Board. Joe will be in touch with Ray Miyares to clarify his position with respect to the issue. The Committee discussed Article # 1 on the STM warrant for the purchase of street lights. The BOS has tabled this article. No action was taken by the AC. Article # 2 of the STM, to transfer $250,000 from free cash to the stabilization fund was discussed. Chairman Karner was requested to ask the BOS why the balance of free cash of $534,223 ($996,223 – $462,000 already transferred to the FY 2010 budget) wasn’t being transferred into the stabilization fund. The AC would prefer to see the entire balance transferred to stabilization. Stuart moved and Ron seconded a motion to support the Parks and Recreation Department in their request to extend the allowable time frame for use of CPA monies to finance the Fruit Street soccer fields in accordance with Article # 8 of the STM. The motion passed with a vote of 3 – 2 (JK, MLH). The presentation of the AC to Annual Town Meeting was reviewed and discussed. The slides highlighting payroll increases from FY 2009 to 2010 will be ready for review at our next meeting. Ron excused himself at approximately 8:30PM. Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 04/29/2009 to discuss the STM warrant and to learn the results of Chairman Karner’s inquiries to the BOS and Ray Miyares. Stuart moved and Joe L seconded a motion to adjourn at 8:50 pm. The motion was approved unanimously.