[Rich, 02:39]

• Mr. Greeley read a proclamation honoring the Robbins Farm volunteers who organized the playground work and fundraising, saving the town around $100,000 by their efforts.
• Article 54 removed from the table.
• Article 54 - Budgets:
  • Mr. Greeley said that $1,000,000 has been "found" over the past week, consisting of an estimated $270,000 increase in state aid, Minuteman assessment coming in $200,000 less than anticipated, NESWC lowering our tip fees by $120,000, and reduced health insurance costs of $410,000 due to recalculation of unemployment requirements, and that the restored items being paid for from this money carry the majority support of the BoS and FinComm. He said that since the override wording says "...up to $4mil", the BoS will meet next Monday to vote on a policy statement about how much to recommend taxes be raised in light of these funds. He said that various boards plus interested citizens will be forming a group to work on ways to deal with future financial issues, and admitted "We could have done this better."
  • Mr. Tosti said that one of the tough parts for FinComm are constantly changing numbers, especially from the state.
  • Ms. Galkowski said she was thankful for the $440,000 but that it can be a chore to add it back, since one must consider all the sorts of things that are considered when cutting it in the first place.
  • Sub-Budget 1 - Finance Committee: Approved unanimously.
  • Sub-Budget 2 - Selectmen:
    • Mr. Daly asked about laid-off employees. The Moderator said that should be discussed under the relevant budgets. Mr. Daly said that if the Town is finding money, layoffs should be revisited.
    • Mr. Dohan asked if SchoolComm supported the allocation of the new money. The Moderator said that it should be asked during the school budget discussion.
    • Mr. Bloom asked why the BoS did not recommend cutting its own salaries and asked what the new "clerks" line item under "Elections and TM" was. Mr. Greeley said that topic had never come up, but that if he thought the combined $15,000 in BoS salaries would have meaningfully helped, he would have recommended they be cut. He said the in this year's budget the Election and TM line item was further split out to show more detail.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 3 - Town Manager: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 4 - Personnel/Payroll: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 5 - Comptroller: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 6 - Treasurer/Collector: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 7 - Postage:
    • Mr. Cleinman noted the budget was cut 21% and asked if there would be enough funds. Mr. Bilafer said he felt the Town could stay within the number and would cut back on "discretionary" mailings.
    • Mr. Dunn asked what a discretionary mailing was. Mr. Bilafer said it could be things like having students take home a notice instead of mailing them home.
    • Ms. Carlisle asked about the mailings TMM received about the meeting tonight and asked if the departments are looking into more email use. The Moderator said the mailing was required by law and that the clerk used to fill out postcards after each session ended. Mr. Bilafer said that the Town's systems are not "sophisticated" enough to handle what Ms. Carlisle was asking about.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 8 - Board of Assessors:
    • Mr. Burke asked why the Assessors' budget was not cut and asked what they do since the Town hires outside help. Mr. Tosti said the outside consultant was for the total revaluation, and that the rest of the time the BoA does things itself. He said that a separate warrant article is annually used to appropriate another slot of money for the BoA but that this year it is being recommended that it be zerod, so the BoA will be taking a significant cut.
    • Mr. McCabe asked where the Overlay Reserve was. The Moderator said it was in Article 79.
    • Mr. O'Connor asked what the final unlabled line was. Mr. Tosti said it was Longevity.
    • Approved
  • Sub-Budget 9 - Legal:
    • Ms. Harrington asked why some positions showed raises of over 3%. Mr. Tosti said it was because of step increases.
    • Ms. Scott asked why the workers' compensation expense was cut $100,000. Ms. Galkowski said that $100,000 was simply cut from the item. Ms. Scott asked what happened if we used it up. Ms. Galkowski said the overage would come out of reserves. The Workers' Comp Agent (WCA) said that the amount varies each year and that the town has been able to reduce it due to statutory fee decreases, attrition, great years, and town employees working hard to work safe.
    • Mr. Curro noted that many towns have no in-house counsel but that Arlington has both a Town Counsel and a benefits attorney. Mr. Maher said that Arlington is one of the only towns to self-insure on workers' comp and that this saves the town far more than the cost of having a benefits attorney/WCA.
    • Mr. Roselli asked if the Town has to follow the same rules even though it is self-insured. Mr. Maher said it does. Mr. Roselli asked why the Town has two layers. Mr. Maher said it would overburden him and pointed out that when a company "handles" workers' comp it is merely forwarding paperwork to the insurance company, which does most of the real administration and legal work that the town must do itself because it is self-insured.
    • Mr. Judd asked if SchoolComm has its own legal counsel. Mr. Maher said SchoolComm has the option of hiring outside counsel for labor relations and that it does. Mr. Maher said that places like Waltham, Newton, and Somerville have five or more in-house lawyers and none of them handle their own worker's comp. Mr. Judd asked if there is any duplication of legal effort between Town and school that could be consolidated. Ms. Owayda said SchoolComm uses outside counsel only for labor relations and uses Town Counsel for "many" issues.
    • Ms. Galkowski said she is "amazed" at the work in-house counsel does and that it would cost very much more to hire the work out.
    • Mr. Hollman asked if there were any numbers on actual workers' comp expenditures. The WCA said this year's projection is $228,000, or about $100,000 less than appropriated (which will be turned over to the general fund). Mr. Hollman asked why Legal Expenses has doubled over the past few years. Mr. Maher said it was due to the increases in court costs and because with some of the more important cases the Town has been involved in (East Arlington, Pierce field, etc.) the Town has had to hire out for specialized legal assistance.
    • Mr. Howard moved the previous question - debate terminated.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 10 - Town Clerk: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 11 - Board of Registrars:
    • Mr. Adams asked what the parenthesized numbers were next to titles. Mr. Tosti said it represents number of people with that title.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 12 - Parking: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 13 - Planning:
    • Mr. Bloom asked what the Central School $19,000 credit was. Mr. McClennan said that the clerk who handles short-term leases works half-time for the Planning Department and half-time for the ARB and so each one gets credit for half of the money she brings in.
    • Ms. DiBona asked why the proposed salary for planner remains the same even though Mr. McClennan will be retiring and presumably his replacement will not have 25-30 years of experience. Mr. Tosti said that with all the important projects coming up, we will want to hire a very good planner and it will likely cost at least as much as Mr. McClennan's current salary.
    • Mr. Curro asked how long the search would take and if the resultant temporary vacancy would lower the budgeted amount. Ms. Galkowski said that the retirement date has not been set and that Mr. McClennan will be receiving some deferred compensation when he leaves that would at least partially offset any savings due to temporary vacancy.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 14 - ARB:
    • Mr. Ford asked for personnel details. Mr. McClennan said there was only one person, a "building craftsman".
    • Mr. Judd asked what "purchases of services" was. Mr. McClennan said it was the costs for running the Crosby, the Centra, the Parmenter, etc.
    • Mr. Bernardin asked why the craftsman was getting 15% more. Ms. Galkowski said it was due to projected overtime.
    • Ms. Harrington asked why if the costs shown were "actual" as Mr. McClennan said earlier, that they have been identical for three years. Mr. McClennan said it was because FinComm had level-funded that item, and he had spent the item down to nothing each year.
    • Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 15 - ZBA: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 16 - Public Works:
    • FinComm recommends amending their budget by adding back six grounds maintenance workers and some seasonal laborers for a total additional expense of $174,426, partially offset by the $120,000 tip fee reduction. Mr. Tosti said this would eliminate field fees for this year but that FinComm continues to recommend the issue be considered in the future. He said the $120,000 tip fee reduction was due to NESWC reducing the fee from $145/ton to $140/ton.
    • Mr. Olsen said the original vote was due to lack of equity in fee coverage. He said that hockey and basketball players cover their programs' entire cost to the town while field users do not. He said that FinComm will be analyzing equity and cost recovery issues over the coming year and will be making an "in-depth" report next year.
    • Mr. Hallee pointed out an error in the subtotals which was corrected.
    • Mr. Carabollo, Park and Rec chair said that the commission found out in January that there might be user fees. Since they were concerned that current maintenance level might be lost, the commission reluctantly adopted user fees and are grateful they can be rescinded. He said that if there are to be fees in the future, they must be equitable.
    • Mr. Judd asked why we did not know more in advance about the tip fee cut since we are a NESWC member. Ms. Galkowski said that NESWC projects out its disposal costs, energy revenue, and debt service, and allocates that over the estimated tonnage and that this year it came out to $140/ton. Mr. Judd asked when the collection contract runs out. Ms. Galkowski said in June 2004.
    • Mr. Gilligan moved the previous question -- debate terminated.
    • Approved as amended by FinComm.
  • Sub-Budget 17(a) - Community Safety/Administration: Approved.
  • Sub-Budget 17(b) - Community Safety/Police:
    • FinComm recommended amending their budget by adding $90,000 of overtime (this was the same as Mr. Greeley's amendment in the previous session).
    • Ms. LaCourt said we need the overtime even if the override passes because it takes over a year to hire a patrolman. She asked Police Chief Ryan what takes so long. Mr. Ryan said that the background checks take 4 months, then 6 months at the academy, and 3 months of local field training. Ms. LaCourt asked if we could hire laid-off policement from other towns, saving the 6 months of academy. Mr. Ryan said we must hire from whatever list the state give us.
    • Mr. Roselli said the Town is facing "very severe" safety issues and moved to increase the Patrolmen line item to $2,367,360 (FY02's appropriation).
    • Ms. Harrington said she was not thrilled with OT and tired officers and asked if the extra money could be used for new hiring or if it was locked into overtime. Mr. Tosti said TM only appropriates the bottom line for personnel and department heads can move the money around within personnel as needed.
    • Mr. Tosti said that crime stats have dropped sharply over the past 20 years and even over the past 5. He said Arlington has some of the highest officers per square mile and officers per 100 crimes numbers of any MA municipalities its size and urged the Roselli amendment be voted down.
    • Mr. Norton asked if minimum manning related to Homeland Security at all. Mr. Ryan said it did not. He said there were 23,000 calls for service last year, but that many of them (motor vehicle incidents, some domestic violence and juvenile incidents) do not count in crime stats.
    • Mr. Hughes said he agreed with Mr. Roselli's points about manning but that now was not the time for that kind of increase.
    • Mr. Daly moved the previous question -- debate terminated.
    • Roselli amendment defeated.
    • FinComm amendment approved.
    • FinComm recommendation as amended approved.
  • Sub-Budget 17(c) - Community Safety/Fire:
    • FinComm recommended amending their budget by adding $70,000 of overtime (this was the same as the handout Mr. Greeley gave at the last session, though he never got to formally present the amendment).
    • Mr. Roselli moved to increase the Firefighters line item to $2,480,166 (FY02's appropriation). He reiterated his earlier point about safety issues, said that Engine 1 and Ladder 2 are out of service and said that to get mutual aid you have to give mutual aid.
    • Mr. Tosti said he believes FinComm and the BoS have tried to maintain public safety. He said that police and fire were only cut 5% and 7% compared to much higher percentage cuts elsewhere in town. He said that fire runs are down signficantly and that 80-90% of runs are accompanying ambulances. Mr. Tosti said that the Town assists other communities two to three times more often than they assist us. He said he does not think the Town needs 12 captains and chief officers and perhaps there should be fewer of them and more firefighters. He said the Town needs to look at more regional cooperation.
    • Mr. Bloom asked how we can hire in a hiring freeze. Mr. Greeley said Ms. Galkowski can come before the BoS and ask for an exception. Mr. Bloom asked what will happen now that Lexington will be closing its eastern fire station. Fire Chief Maimone said that we will stick to our aid agreement but will not supplement Lexington. Mr. Bloom asked if the OT money would get us the necessary people. Mr. Maimone said it would ensure that 15 men would be on duty at all times. Mr. Bloom asked if the fire department has as long a lead time to hire as the police. Mr. Maimone said that the lead time is only about 4 months (3 months for background checks, 1 month of training).
    • Mr. Bernardin asked what the numbers per position were over the years. Mr. Tosti pointed out his memo from last time which corrected the missing numbers in the main report. He said that the current proposal funded 49 firefighter positions.
    • Ms. LaCourt asked how many shifts were below minimum manning, how many calls there were, and how many were fires. Mr. Maimone said that there were 4,000 calls, the majority of which were medical. He said that 34% of overnight shifts and 20% of day shifts last year were below minimum manning.
    • Mr. Jefferson said that 15 men are needed to deal with structure fires and that medical incidents and vehicle extractions can be very labor-intensive. He said that adding back positions would provide flexibility. He thanked Mr. Roselli but said that at this time he would support FinComm's recommendation.
    • Mr. Daly moved the previous question -- debate terminated.
    • Roselli amendment defeated.
    • FinComm amendment approved.
    • FinComm recommendation as amended approved.
  • Mr. Tosti, Ms. Harrington, Mr. Judd, and Mr. Gilligan served notices of reconsideration on all the items acted on.
  • Meeting adjourned to 20:00 on Monday, 9 June, 2003.