[Rich, 01:57]
Session 7 Notes

• Called to order at 20:02.
• Mr. Moderator explained in advance the procedure for an STM -- the ATM is opened, then recessed, then the STM is opened, then adjourned if not finished, and then the ATM is adjourned. He asked someone to remind him to adjourn the ATM should he forget.
• Mr. Tosti said the FinComm report to the STM would be available later tonight (turned out to be distributed during the recess).
• Ms. Mahon noted that the BoS report on its CDBG decisions were available and would be taken up on Wednesday if time allowed.
• Article 47 - Establish ITAC:
  • Mr. Berkowitz moved to amend the BoS recommendation to insert a new role for the committee, that being to support initiatives and activities to increase communication between governmental entities, between the government and residents, and between residents. He said it was consistent with the spirit of the article and that the ITAC should do more than advise the Town Manager. He said that research shows "connected" people tend to develop stronger bonds and to band together to solve their own problems which is both intrinsically good and could save the Town money.
  • Ms. Mahon said the BoS was highly supportive of the amendment.
  • Mr. Loreti said he supported the intent but said there should be people on ITAC with no technology expertise and asked how such people would be represented. Ms. Mahon said that the final decision on membership rests with the BoS and that people should show up at hearings and give input.
  • Ms. Harrington asked if the ex officio members would have a vote. Mr. Moderator said they would. Ms. Harrington asked, given that, why citizen members were not simply added to the DPAB. Ms. LaCourt said the DPAB's mission, set by by-law, was outdated and also that the proponents wanted to only have one committee so that members would not have yet another round of meetings to attend. Ms. Harrington asked what a "regular" member was. Ms. LaCourt and Mr. Maher said it was just a way to distinguish between citizen and ex officio members. Ms. Harrington why citizen members could not be Town employees and if that was a punitive measure. Mr. Maher said the reason was that the ITAC was already loaded up with Town employees and that the provision was to broaden input, not punish anyone.
  • Ms. LaCourt said the recommended vote was written in conjunction with the DPAB and was based on similar by-laws in other towns. She said the intent of the proponents was to have the citizen members essentially be consultants and so a high level of expertise was desired. She said the ITAC would be soliticing plenty of citizen input.
  • Motion on the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Berkowitz amendment approved unanimously.
  • BoS recommendation as amended approved unanimously.
• Article 25 - Bylaw Amendment/DPAB
  • BoS recommended a vote to repeal the DPAB by-law, as set forth in the BoS report.
  • Ms. Mahon said that with ITAC created the BoS recommendation should be approved.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Mr. Foskett moved to table Articles 48-56. Approved.
• Article 57 - Capital Budget:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report (identical to the recommendation in the CapComm's report).
  • Mr. Foskett introduced the members of CapComm. He recapped a number of charts and figures in the CapComm report and pointed out that for the past 18 years FinComm and CapComm have agreed to spend 5% of revenues on the capital budget. He said that while this year will be under that (4.43%), some future years will be over, so that the in total upcoming five year bloc will be at the 5% mark.
  • APS CFO Addelson said that last year CapComm felt it was too risky to put the Dallin on the capital plan but that due to competing similar plans from the Legislature and the Governor to clear the SBAP waiting list, CapComm has changed its mind and put Dallin on the plan this year. He said CapComm felt reimbursements for Pierce and Dallin would now begin no later than FY07 and that BANs could be used to bridge until then.
  • CapComm Member Fitzmaurice said another item on the capital plan is to upgrade the Town's 911 response center by installing a new antenna at Symmes to eliminate communications dead zones and installing a new console in the dispatch center.
  • Mr. Vitters said the plans for the Spy Pond shoreline work are done and are being reviewed by ConComm. He said they will fix stormwater and shoreline erosion, replace some trees and remove some invasive species, replace furniture, and improve emergency vehicle access. He said that being mindful of the Town's fiscal straits, the overall budget has been reduced from $1,400,000 to $900,000 and this year's request from $500,000 to $400,000. He said it is important to get all the funding in place and do the project in one phase.
  • Ms. Mayer said the Vision 2020 Reservoir Committee was formed to deal with the whole dam issue and that an independent consultant concurred with the Commonwealth that work had to be done. She said the capital plan funds placing I-beams into the dam, allowing the dam to be strengthened while minimizing tree loss. She said the Reservoir Committee endorsed the plan.
  • Mr. Moderator asked if the "keep any excess funds within the article" provision would be honored by the Comptroller. Mr. Foskett said as far as he knew, the Comproller always had. Mr. Moderator said last year the Comptroller took funds out of an article to pay some bills sent to the Town by the Commonwealth. Comptroller Lewis said that when an article segregates funds for a specific purpose, the money stays in the article, but for certain types of recurring expenditures state law requires excess money to go into the general fund.
  • Mr. Kohl (referring to item (3)(25)) asked why natural gas was chosen for the new Town Hall boiler given how expensive gas is. DPW Director Sanchez said that the move to gas is to avoid any problems with leakage as the Town has had many such problems and also that a gas system is easier to maintain and is more efficient, resulting in a better cost/benefits outcome.
  • Mr. Chaput asked why the "other" funding (see Figure 1 in the CapComm report) was so high in 2004. Mr. Foskett said it was because of the money paid to the Town via the Pierce Field agreement approved at the February STM. Mr. Chaput asked why there was no future projected uses of the antenna fund. Mr. Foskett said that because monies from that fund are restricted to being used on parks and fields, it was too hard to forecast when antenna fund monies could be slotted into the plan. Mr. Chaput asked why many similar purchases were in separate line items instead of being combined and bid in one shot. Mr. Foskett said the money to purchase them was coming from different places and so they had to be in different line items in different sub-votes, but that how they appeared in the vote did not mean the Town could not put a single large order out to bid. Mr. Chaput asked where the backup emergency reponse center was. Fire Chief Maimone said it was in the basement of the Park Circle station. Mr. Chaput asked if any toilet facilities were planned for Spy Pond. Mr. Foskett said there was not.
  • Mr. Ruderman asked why $130,000 was being spent on photcopiers. Mr. Foskett said the Town has many buildings, spread out over Town and that centralizing photocopiers would cost more in lost productivity than would be saved in direct costs. He said the photocopiers are typically on three to five year leases.
  • Ms. Scott asked if the bulletproof vests could be purchased with Homeland Security funds. Police Chief Ryan said that there is a first-come, first-served reimbursement-basis Department of Justice program. He said the Town seeks reimbursements for jackets purchased in excess of five. Ms. Scott asked if the 911 improvements involved personnel increases. Chief Ryan said that would not be in a capital budget. Ms. Scott asked which schools are getting gym re-marking, roof repairs, and pavement resurfacing. Superintendant Donovan said SchoolComm tries to do a certain amount of roof and pavement work at each school and that gym re-marking is done on a rotating basis with Brackett and the High School up this year. Ms. Scott asked about the small van, the 77-person bus, and the Thompson and Stratton improvements. Superintendant Donovan said the existing small van used to take small teams to practices and away games is old and needs to be replaced. She said the bus would be a new bus and that the school improvements are needed to keep those schools in good enough repair until they can be rebuilt.
  • Mr. Jamieson asked why the stabilization funds and the antenna fund were being used in the capital plan. Mr. Foskett said it was a logical place to put it, since a capital plan has a lot of one-time expenditures, but ultimately it did not make any real difference whether the stabilization funds were used in the capital budget or the operating budget. Mr. Jamieson asked about the Ottoson adjustment in some charts and tables. Mr. Foskett said that was because in an accounting and planning sense 37% of the reimbursement should go into the capital budget but the monies are actually paid into the general fund. Mr. Jamieson pointed out that the first year's debt service of a given project is generally lower than the ultimate annual debt service on the project and specifically noted that if all three fire stations are redone it would result in roughly an additional $1,000,000 of debt service for 20 years. Mr. Foskett said that was why CapComm does five-year plans and that the numbers in Exhibit V feed back into Table 3.
  • Ms. Fiore asked if the Reservoir work was on the dam or the swimming berm or both. Mr. Foskett said it was only on the dam. Ms. Fiore said that there used to be a public path around Spy Pond that was improperly encroached on by property owners. Mr. Moderator said that was folklore. Ms. Fiore asked what the Spy Pond work covers. Mr. Foskett said it was the shoreline from the apartments to the Boys' & Girls' Club.
  • Mr. Leone said he was upset about the photocopiers and asked what the payments were for. Mr. Foskett said they were the annual lease payments. Mr. Leone asked if the Town could buy the copiers instead. Mr. Foskett said CapComm has looked into it and that leasing is cheaper. Mr. Leone asked what happened to the Locke Playground money. Mr. Foskett said it was reserved and is invested. Mr. Leone asked if the water and sewer rehabilitation would ever finish. Mr. Foskett said probably not for 20 to 30 more years. Mr. Leone said he hoped the vehicle being purchased for the inspectors would be fuel efficient. Mr. Sanchez said it would be but that he could not say what brand it would be.
  • Ms. Weaver said that just changing the boiler from oil to gas would not increase efficiency if the overall system was inefficient and pointed out that natural gas prices are very high. Mr. Sanchez said that only the boiler is being replaced and that the replacement is not about savings, but about getting an old boiler replaced. Ms. Weaver claimed that in her experience owning a photocopier outright is cheaper than leasing.
  • Mr. Trembly asked how many pick-ups the Town owned. Mr. Sanchez said around 12. Mr. Trembly asked what snow plow was being replaced. Mr. Sanchez said a 1979 model was being replaced but that he could not say what the replacement brand would be as that it determined by bidding.
  • Mr. Leonard asked why a pickup being purchased by SchoolComm was $5,000 less than a pickup being purchased by DPW. Mr. Sanchez said that one would have to ask what equipment SchoolComm wants on their truck, but that for the truck DPW wants, $35,000 is what it would cost. Mr. Leonard asked what "cost of financing" is. Mr. Foskett said it was the bond underwriters' fees. Mr. Leonard asked why it started in 2002. Mr. Foskett said it used to be there all the time, but for a stretch in the late 1990s and into this decade, competition pushed brokers to eat the fees but that starting in 2001 they stopped doing so.
  • Mr. Abbott moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Mr. Moderator decided to take four separate votes.
  • FinComm recommendation on sub-vote (1) approved unanimously.
  • FinComm recommendation on sub-vote (2) approved unanimously.
  • FinComm recommendation on sub-vote (3) approved unanimously.
  • FinComm recommendation on sub-votes (4) and (5) approved unanimously.
• Mr. Foskett moved to take Articles 48-56 from the table. Approved
• Article 48 - Committee/Town Budgets:
  • BoS recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Ms. Mahon said the BoS vote for no action was 3-1 with her in the negative and Mr. Greeley absent.
  • Ms. Mann moved to substitute a vote to create a committee to study how Town Meeting votes the budgets and establishes revenue, with one member to be picked by the BoS, one by SchoolComm, one by FinComm, the Town Manager or his designee, and one by the Moderator, with applicants' municipal finance and business or management experience to be considered by the appointing authorities. Ms. Mann said that the current boards and committees make great efforts but should be able to harness residents' expertise. She said she wanted to see budgets come before the meeting in a way that is open to in-depth discussion and to put a Town Meeting policy stamp on the approved budgets. She said the way Town Meeting currently votes the budgets prevents money from being moved between sub-budgets and that TMMs should have more say in the process.
  • Mr. Ford moved to amend the substitute motion to also have the committee study how FinComm presents the budgets.
  • Mr. Carreiro said he had originally planned to ask about the committee make-up as the subtitute motion left on people's seats did not specify that. He said that while he was keeping an open mind until he could hear opponents, he was in favor of the substitute motion.
  • Ms. Fiore said she opposed the substitute motion and that it would just create more meetings for people to attend. She said it would weaken Town Meeting and FinComm and was undemocratic because of the expertise requirement.
  • Mr. Fischer said he agreed with Ms. Fiore and asked if the Arlington Coalition had found any great waste. He said he wished more people would take advantage of the Vision 2020 committees and that no matter how much people discussed process, it would not make any more money appear.
  • Mr. Rosselli said he was opposed to the substitute motion. He tried to discuss the Arlington Coalition handout but Mr. Moderator shot him down.
  • Mr. Lyons said the committee "transects" the democratic process and that a "supercommittee" was not needed.
  • Ms. LaCourt said Mr. Lyons mischaracterized the committee. She said its goal is to study how the budget is presented to Town Meeting, not to "get in the face" of FinComm.
  • Mr. Kohl moved the previous question. Approved, challenged, approved 113-39 - debate terminated.
  • Ford amendment defeated.
  • Mann substitute motion defeated.
  • BoS recommendation of no action approved.
• Article 49 - Committee/Retiree Medical Benefits Committee:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • Town Treasurer Bilafer said accounting standards will soon require the Town to put its retiree medical benefits liability (between $70,000,000 and $220,000,000) on the balance sheet, which could jeopardize the Town's credit rating. He said he wanted this committee to investigate how best to comply with the regulation and safeguard the Town's rating.
  • Mr. Tosti said rating agencies are looking at these liabilities more and more and that FinComm supported the BoS recommendation.
  • Mr. Judd asked if all communities would not be in the same boat. Mr. Bilafer said they would, but that communities with high credit ratings have more to lose. Mr. Judd said he was against reducing retirees' benefits. Mr. Bilafer said that if the problem is not addressed, that may well happen someday.
  • Mr. Rosselli moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 50 - Committee/Reserve Fund Policies:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Bilafer moved to table since he did not want a detailed explanation to be followed with an immediate adjournment.
  • Motion to table approved.
• Article 51 - Committee/Trust Fund Policies:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Bilafer said he received many calls asking about the potential use of trust funds. He said that many are restricted in many ways and that there is no Town policy on how to use them. He said the committee would recommend some uniform approach that various funds' trustees could consider adopting.
  • Mr. Jamieson said he was in favor of the recommended vote and suggested that the trust fund balances be printed in the Annual Report as other towns do.
  • Mr. Rosselli moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 52 - Appropriation/Town Budgets:
  • Mr. Tosti moved to table, saying that FinComm was still trying to close a $1.2mil gap.
  • Motion to table approved.
• Article 53 - Appropriation/Minuteman:
  • Mr. Tosti moved to postpone to 24 May so the Minuteman superintendant could attend.
  • Motion to postpone approved.
• Article 54 - Appropriation/Town Celebrations:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 55 - Appropriation/Committees and Commissions:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 56 - Appropriation/Misc:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 58 - Rescind Authorization to Borrow:
  • FinComm recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 59 - Appropriation/Hardy School:
  • FinComm changed its recommendation to no action, as the Special Town Meeting will address the issue.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 60 - Appropriation/Dallin School:
  • FinComm recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 61 - Rebuild Program Alternatived:
  • FinComm recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Bilafer said he agreed with no action, but wished to have the Meeting consider a resolution saying that the Town still intends to rebuild Stratton and Thompson, and moved to postpone to 24 May.
  • Motion to postpone approved.
• Article 62 - Appropriation/Water and Sewer:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 63 - Appropriation/Water and Sewer:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Streitfeld asked if the $700,000 being appropriated under this vote comes from the water and sewer debt service moved onto the property tax. Mr. Tosti said it did.
  • Mr. Abbott asked if there was a double appropriation between this vote and item (2)(8) of the capital budget vote. Mr. Foskett said it was not an additional $700,000 and was to put into the relevant enterprise fund the money being spent under item (2)(8) of the capital budget.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 64 - Appropriation/Pension Adjustment:
  • FinComm recommended a vote as set forth in its report.
  • FinComm recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 65 - Collective Bargaining/Local 680:
  • Mr. Tosti said he hears there has been "movement" in negotiations and moved to table Articles 65-73.
  • Motion to table approved.
• Mr. Judd announced the Scoppettuolo 5K fundraiser on Sunday.
• Motion to adjourn approved.
• Adjourned at 22:57 to 19 May at 20:00.