Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
October 15, 2024, Finance Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting. Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 1/22/25 801 Washington Street Vote: 6-0-1 Canton, MA 02021 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 15, 2024 Virtual Meeting Finance Committee Members Present: Dave Clough, Dan Cole, John Leonetti, Emilio Mauro, Maureen Menconi, Kristin Mirliani and Cindy Thomas. Finance Committee Members absent: Anne Lang and Reuki Schutt. Guests Present: Ellen Jones, Recording Secretary Randy Scollins III, Finance Director TJ Torres, Town Planner Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Mauro called the virtual meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Mauro introduced the Finance Committee members that were present. New Business: Mr. Mauro reviewed the various Special Town Meeting (STM) articles that the Finance Committee would be discussing. Town By-Laws Section Regarding the Finance Committee Polling Members — Article Vil, Part B, Section 6 Shared on the Zoom Screen was the following language from the Town’s General By-Laws (2022 edition) Part B — Finance Committee: Section 6. Polls of Members The recommendations of the Finance Committee with reference to the various Articles of the Town Warrants shall include a poll of the votes taken at the meetings of the Finance Committee, said poil to show only the number of Committee members voting in favor of or against the actions recommended by the full Committee. Mr. Mauro returned to the order of the Agenda since Mr. Torres was now in attendance at the meeting. Discussion and Vote of the following Zoning Articles of the STM No. 2 Mr. Mauro welcomed Town Planner, TJ Torres, to the meeting. Mr. Torres explained the reason for having five zoning articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant. One article is a housekeeping article related to a zoning map amendment, while the other four articles are related to the zoning of accessory dwelling units (ADU) (aka in-law apartments). A law was passed by the State Legislature in the summer of 2024 and later signed by Governor Healey in August that amended the state’s Zoning Act Chapter 40A with regard to accessory dwelling units and a municipality's ability to regulate them. The Town would have to change its zoning by-laws in order to meet the new framework of the new state law. If the Town did not make any amendments to its by- laws the new law would take effect in February and would supersede the Town’s local zoning by-laws. Waiting until the May 2025 Town Meeting would be too late. Discussion - Article 6 — Amend Zoning By-Law Section 11.0 Article 6 would change four definitions regarding accessory dwelling units under the Town's by-laws: 1) Accessory Apartment, 2) Accessory Building, 3) Lot Coverage and 4) Accessory Dwelling Unit. FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 1 of 7 11/14/24
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Vote — Article 6 — Amend Zoning By-Law Section 11.0 A motion made by Ms. Mirliani that the Finance Committee recommends that the motion presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Special Town Meeting No. 2 Article 6 be adopted as printed in the warrant was seconded by Ms. Thomas. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Cindy Thomas Aye Dave Clough Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye Emilio Mauro Aye John Leonetti Aye Vote: 7-0-0. Mr. Mauro stated that he had drafted some discussions for the zoning articles for the Finance Committee to review later. Discussion - Article 7 — Zoning By-Law Section 4 Mr. Torres explained that Article 7 would update dimensional requirements for accessory dwelling units. Vote - Article 7 — Zoning By-Law Section 4 A motion made by Ms. Thomas that the Finance Committee recommends that the motion presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Special Town Meeting No. 2 Article 7 be adopted as printed in the warrant was seconded by Ms. Mirliani. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Dave Clough Aye Cindy Thomas Aye John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 7-0-0. Discussion - Article 8 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 8.1 Mr. Torres explained that Section 8.1 is the section that defines accessory apartments. Because there were so many changes to the Section it was decided by the Planning Board to delete the entire Section 8.1 Accessory Apartment in Single Family Dwelling and replace with a new Section 8.1 called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). Language was used from the Town of Dartmouth who recently passed Accessory Dwelling Units at their town meeting last year. The state law states that the Town has allowed an accessory dwelling unit that is up to 900 sq. ft. or one-half the size of the principle dwelling unit (allowed by a building permit issued by the Building Department instead of seeking permission for a special building permit from the Zoning Board). Mr. Torres mentioned that there was some ambiguity around the state legislation. He wrote the article change to address that the Town would have to allow the first unit as of right, but if someone wanted to build 2 or 3 accessory dwelling units, he interpreted that the Town would have to have a special permitting process in place so that if someone wanted additional units, they would be able to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and receive approval, or denial by the ZBA. Mr. Torres stated that Barbara Saint Andre spoke at the Planning Board hearing on October 11. Ms. Sant Andre, a resident of Canton, is the Director of Community and Economic Development for the Town of Medway. Ms. Saint Andre interpreted the state law that a town does not have to allow more than one ADU to be built, even by special permit. Her suggestion was to remove Section 8.1.3 and not allow more than one ADU to be built. He further stated that the Planning Board voted 4-1 to strike Section 8.1.3 and voted to change the text of Section 8.1.3 to be “Not Used”. Mr. Clough inquired about the two different votes for the Planning Board. Mr. Torres explained that the Planning Board voted 4- 1 in opposition to the motion at their hearing but that a vote of 5-0 was the final vote for the Planning Board’s motion to senda positive/favorable recommendation to Special Town Meeting. Mr. Clough stated that he would abstain from the vote. Mr. Mauro stated that the Finance Committee was not allowed to include an abstained vote in their vote for the STM recommendation and this would be discussed later in the meeting. Vote — Article 8 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 8.1 A motion made by Ms. Thomas that the Finance Committee recommends that the motion presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Special Town Meeting No. 2 Article 8 (with Section 8.1.3 being deleted and replaced with “Not Used” be adopted as printed in the warrant was seconded by Ms. Mirliani. Roll Call Vote: FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 2 of 7 11/14/24
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Dan Cole Aye Dave Clough Abstained Cindy Thomas Aye John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 6-0-1. Discussion - Article 9 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 8.5 Mr. Torres stated that Zoning By-Law Section 8.5, Carriage House would be deleted in its entirety and labeled as “Not Used”. This section allowed accessory buildings such as barns or carriage houses, built before 1937 to be converted into separate dwelling units by special permit. This language is no longer required in the Zoning By-Laws and will be address by the ADU language being added throughout Planning Board articles at the Special Town Meeting. Vote — Article 9 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 8.5 A motion made by Ms. Mirliani that the Finance Committee recommends that the motion presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Special Town Meeting No. 2 Article 9 be adopted as printed in the warrant was seconded by Ms. Thomas. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Dave Clough Abstained Cindy Thomas Aye John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 6-0-1. Discussion - Article 10 —- Amend Zoning Map Mr. Torres explained that Article 10 is a housekeeping amendment to the Town’s Zoning Map to include the Canton Junction Overlay District created at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting (Article 32) in compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities Law zoning mandate. When a change is made to a zoning map, unbeknownst to Mr. Torres the Town needed to have a separate Town Meeting article to amend the map and adopt the change. There are no changes to the overlay district itself. Vote — Article 10 - Amend Zoning Map A motion made by Ms. Thomas that the Finance Committee recommends that the motion presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Special Town Meeting No. 2 Article 10 be adopted as printed in the warrant was seconded by Ms. Mirliani. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Dave Clough Aye Cindy Thomas Aye John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 7-0-0. Motions and Discussions for the STM Recommendations — to Town Counsel Oct. 16 Town Counsel has recommended that the Recommendations should include references to the two Special Town Meetings, for example, STM No. 1 and STM No. 2. The Massachusetts School Building Authority required that the Town have the Galvin Middle School article as a separate Special Town Meeting from the other articles. Mr. Scollins showed on the Zoom screen the discussions for the various STM articles. In response to Mr. Clough’s concern that discussions were drafted and placed in the STM document prior to the Finance Committee deliberating on the article for reviewing the discussion, Mr. Mauro explained that discussions were placed in the STM document prior to tonight's discussion because of the extremely tight deadline for having the Recommendations to Town Counsel for his review by October 16. The discussions presented on the screen are for the Finance Committee members to consider and amend for the final Recommendations document. Mr. Mauro stressed that members should never be obligated to support an article because the Chair supports an article and that the Finance Committee is a nine-member committee. While Ms. Thomas commented that she understands Mr. Clough’s point of view she appreciated that Mr. Mauro drafted these discussions in an effort to get ahead of the deadline and that the discussions did not have any impact on how FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 3 of 7 11/14/24
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she voted on the motion. Ms. Mirliani found the discussions helpful in guiding her through the context of the articles and that she would have no problem objecting if she was in disagreement with the discussion as written. Ms. Mirliani did raise a concern that if Town Counsel were to edit the discussions the Finance Committee would not have a chance to review these edits prior to the document being sent to the printer and presented to the voters. Mr. Scollins will take direction from the Committee if any changes to the discussions are made by Town Counsel. Town Counsel's focus is on the legality of the motions. If there appears to be any factually inaccurate information in the discussions Mr. Scollins would share these with the Committee and take direction from the Committee. Ms. Mirliani suggested for the future that if the Finance Committee has a motion with language that might prove to be challenging that it would be beneficial to reach out to Town Counsel early on in the process to have him review the legality of the motion or possibly have Town Counsel attend a Finance Committee meeting to give his opinion. Mr. Mauro explained that having the discussions available prior to voting had no intent of leading Committee members but was intended to be democratic and to make sure all the member had the opportunity to review them prior to the deadiine.. The Finance Committee discussed a particular sentence on Page 13 in the third paragraph under the “Finances” section of the discussion for the Galvin Middle School Project with regarding to value engineering that read: “While this increased the cost of some elements of the process, it demonstrates that the project will not suffer from a harmful over-emphasis on value engineering that might lower the cost of the project up front but lead to costly errors that the town would spend the next fifty years paying for through needed corrections.” Mr. Scollins gave an example of a capital project in another Town in which the cost of steel escalated by 75% overnight when another country was buying up all the steel which spiked the total project cost by 50%. He further stated that there can be these “force majeure” events that can cause a project to come in higher than expected. Without a “force majeure event the contractor will be locked into the price and will be required to deliver the project within that price with a caveat that if something very very drastic changes then the project would have to be revisited. Mr. Leonetti appreciated the conversation but there is more than an assumption of value engineering, more than an assumption of inflation, more than an assumption of Mr. Scollins suggested use of other funds to reduce payments, there is more than an assumption of labor costs, more than an assumption of no more pandemics and that it becomes an endless list of assumptions. There could be a solution whereby the assumptions are laid out on which the conversation is based. There may not be another hyper-inflation which was a once in a generation event, won't have increased extraordinary of labor and materials costs or won’t have labor shortages. Mr. Leonetti did not want to generalize but stated that life would continue with the extremes of COVID behind us. Mr. Leonetti appreciated Mr. Cough’s concern that value engineering would be an issue but Mr. Leonetti stated that in the context of the paragraph, he interpreted that the discussion was explaining how the Construction Manager at Risk was chosen and how it would avoid some of the likely consequences of low bid work in the instance where value engineering was forced into that price point. Mr. Leonetti’s conclusion was that the Town did not go with the lowest bid so the Town would not end up with a poor quality product as a result of quality engineering, not that value engineering would not have consequences. After discussion the Committee agreed to change “"the project will not suffer from a harmful over-emphasis on value engineering” to “the project will be less prone to suffer from a harmful over-emphasis on value engineering”. There was no objection to the discussions for STM No. 2 Article 2 or Article 3. Ms. Mirliani inquired if the discussion for STM No. Article 2 (the GMS project) had to note that there was a quorum at the meeting. Mr. Scollins would reach out to Town Counsel on how best to indicate that there was a Finance Committee's quorum present at the time the vote was taken. Mr. Clough spoke in support of including his abstained vote for the GMS article and that to not include it for such an important article is the wrong timing for something that has been past practice for a long time. Ms. Mirliani referenced something that has been past practice as compared to the language in the Finance Committee's By-Laws that is very clear. She argued that at this point in time the Finance Committee should be following the law and because the By-Law is very clear and for the Finance Committee to record yeahs and nays, to not follow it would be concerning to her, regardless of past practice. Ms. Mirliani further stated that if Finance Committee discussions are not prohibited by the By-Laws then the Committee should continue to provide discussions. The Finance Committee did not have any objection to the discussion for STM No. 2 Article 5 (Increase to SPED Reserve Fund) nor did the Committee have any objection to the discussions for the five Planning Board articles (STM No. 2 Articles 6-10). With regard to STM No. 2 Article 9 (Carriage House) Ms. Thomas suggested removing the word “largely” from the phrase “in this largely obsolete section”. Mr. Leonetti pointed out to remove the second “largely” in another sentence as well. Ms. Thomas made a suggestion for STM No. 2 Article 10 to reference that updating a map is required FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 4 of 7 11/14/24
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when zoning changes are made. Mr. Scollins would edit the discussion for STM No. 2 Article 10 and will forward it to Mr. Mauro. Town By-Laws Section Regarding the Finance Committee Polling Members — Article Vil, Part B, Section 6 Mr. Scollins shared on the Zoom Screen again the following language from the Town’s General By-Laws (2022 edition) Part B — Finance Committee: Section 6. Polls of Members The recommendations of the Finance Committee with reference to the various Articles of the Town Warrants shall include a poll of the votes taken at the meetings of the Finance Committee, said poll to show only the number of Committee members voting in favor of or against the actions recommended by the full Committee. Mr. Mauro made reference to the fact that Finance Committee members take an oath at the Town Clerk’s office to uphold the by-laws and the By-Law clearly states that the Committee should make a decision and make a recommendation to Town Meeting. He further stated that even though the Committee has been recording abstained votes, they Committee has not been consistent with the by-laws While the By-Law does not prohibit members from abstaining, if a member does abstain it is not shown in the poll that is printed in the Finance Committee’s report. Ms. Thomas recollected from a prior Town Meeting in which a request was made by a Town Meeting attendee that the Finance Committee call out their position on an article individually. As a result of this request the By-Law was reviewed and it was made clear that the poll was a collective count and that it was not appropriate for Finance Committee members to have to be accounted for individually on the vote. Ms. Thomas' interpretation is that this By-Law was not intended to disallow the polling of individual members and intended only to allow a count of the vote. Mr. Mauro’s interpretation of the By-Law is that it does not say that members have to or must take a vote on the article. His interpretation is that a member can vote to abstain, but that it will not be printed in the Finance Committee’s Recommendations booklet. This By-Law will most likely be addressed by the Modernization Committee. Mr. Clough spoke in support of having the votes represented with yeahs, nays and abstentions, especially if the report was going to indicate an asterisk that the Committee had a quorum in attendance. Mr. Mauro stated that the By-Law does not specifically state the inclusion or exclusion of the quorum information but that is an acknowledgment and a clarification that the Committee had a quorum present at the time of the vote and that the vote was lawful as per the By-Law Section 2 Quorum. Mr. Scollins stated that 32 years ago he was a member of the Finance Committee in the Town he lived in and annually the Moderator would attend the first meeting of every Finance Committee session and explain the rules and review the authorities and responsibilities of the Finance Committee and the by-laws and other laws that applied to them such as ethics of the committee members. Mr. Scollins noted that his Moderator emphasized that the Finance Committee was the recommending body to Town Meeting and there is no other recommending body between all of the people and other recommending bodies of the Town and Town Meeting. It was impressed upon them the seriousness of the responsibility as Finance Committee members to take a position because that was what the constituents were expecting. Mr. Clough pointed out that the Capital Planning Committee vote for the STM No. 2 Article 2 included a vote for, against, and abstention. Mr. Scollins reviewed the By-Laws of all of the other committees and boards and he saw no reference on how the poll of the voters should be shown. He suspects that it is included in the Finance Committee By-Law because their recommendation is the final recommendation to Town Meeting. Mr. Mauro asked Mr. Scollins if in the future the Finance Committee could have an update regarding the Modernization Committee at their future meetings since the Finance Committee was the sponsor of the article to establish the Modernization Committee. Mr. Scollins stated the Modernization Committee is progressing with identifying liaisons to the various departments that are associated with the various by-laws. He has requested to be the liaison to the Finance Committee and for finance-related issues. He would be presenting agenda items to any and all sections that relate to the Finance Committee or relate to the Town's finances. Mr. Clough requested that the Capital Planning Committee vote be included for the Galvin Middle School project. Resident Ms. Barbara Saint Andre recalled when the Finance Committee Section 6 Poll of Members was revised several years ago she believes that it could have been an oversight that the number of abstained votes was not included when the By-Law was amended. It was her recollection that when she was a member of the Finance Committee the abstention votes were always included in the poll. Ms. Saint Andre thanked the members of the Finance Committee for all of the work that they do and the number of hours that are served on the Committee. FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 5 of 7 11/14/24
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Mr. Mauro requested Mr. Scollins to obtain the legal interpretation from Town Counsel of the By-Law with regard to the poll of votes. Approval of Minutes The September 25, 2024 minutes were still under review. A motion made by Ms. Mirliani to approve the October 7, 2024 meeting minutes as written was seconded by Ms. Menconi. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Dave Clough Aye Cindy Thomas Abstained John Leonetti Abstained Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 5-0-2. The October 7, 2024 minutes were approved as written. A motion made by Ms. Mirliani to approve the October 9, 2024 meeting minutes as written was seconded by Ms. Menconi. 4 Roll Call Vote: Dan Coie Abstained Dave Clough Aye Cindy Thomas Abstained John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye EmilioMauro Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 5-0-2. The October 9, 2024 minutes were approved as written. Next Meeting Date Mr. Mauro announced that the next Finance Committee meeting would take place on Monday, November 18, 2024 prior to the Special Town Meeting in the Teacher's Break Room located next to the Canton High Schoo! cafeteria. The Finance Committee Secretary stated that she has spoken twice to the Manager of the postal carriers at the Canton Post Office to apprise him of the importance of the Special Town Meeting mailing. Adjournment A motion made by Ms. Thomas to adjourn the meeting at approximately 9:08 p.m. was seconded by Ms. Mirliani. Roll Call Vote: Dan Cole Aye Cindy Thomas Aye Emilio Mauro Aye John Leonetti Aye Kristin Mirliani Aye Dave Clough Aye Maureen Menconi Aye Vote: 7-0-0. Minutes reviewed by: Mr. John Leonetti Respectfully submitted, Emubur €. Maw, ' Emilio E. Mauro, Jr. Chair, Canton Finance Committee FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 6 of 7 11/14/24
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Finance Committee Meeting Documents October 15, 2024 Please note: Some meeting documents may be found on the Town’s website under the Posted Minutes section (Laser Fiche). Agenda — October 15, 2024. Draft - Recommendations of the Finance Committee to the Voters of Canton, Massachusetts Part B — Finance Committee By-Law as per Revised General By-Laws 2022 edition (2 pages). FINCOM 20241015 Minutes JL CT.docx Page 7 of 7 11/14/24
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REVISED General By-Laws (2022 edition) PART B - FINANCE COMMITTEE 7® Section 1. Composition of Committee; Limitations There shall be a Finance Committee which shall consider any and all municipal operations involving an appropriation by the Town, for the purpose of making reports and recommendations thereon to the Town. Such Committee shall consist of nine voters, who shall serve without pay, none of whom, during their service on such Committee, shall hold any regular elective Town office or be a paid employee of the town. Section 2. Quorum Five members of the Finance Committee shall constitute a quorum thereof. Section 3. Method of Appointment; Terms of Office; Organization; Filling of Vacancies The Moderator shall after the dissolution of each Annual Town Meeting, for the transaction of business, and prior to June thirtieth, appoint three members of the Finance Committee to serve for three years. If there is a vacancy in the Finance Committee whether caused by death, resignation or otherwise, the Finance Committee shall immediately notify the Town Moderator in writing and the Moderator shall thereupon fill such vacancy for the unexpired term. If any member is absent from eight consecutive meetings of the Finance Committee, except in case of illness, their position shall be deemed to be vacant and the remainder of the unexpired term shall be filled by appointment of the Moderator as provided in herein. Said committee shall choose its own officers at its first meeting following the dissolution of the annual town meeting. Section 4. Duty of Committee, In General It shall be the duty of the Finance Committee to study the financial affairs of the town and to advise town meeting as to expenditures and recommendations for appropriations to be made by it. To this Committee shall be referred all articles of the Warrants calling for appropriations. Section 5. Right of Access The Committee shall have access to all facts, figures, records and other information relating to all fiscal affairs of Town Departments, Boards, Committees or Officers and the same shall be furnished forthwith by any Department, Board, Committee, Officer, or employee whenever so requested by the Committee. Section 6. Poll of Members The recommendations of the Finance Committee with reference to the various Articles of the Town Warrants shall include a poll of the votes taken at the meetings of the Finance Committee, said poll to show only the number of Committee members voting in favor of or against the actions recommended by the full Committee. 78 Part B deleted in its entirety and replaced by a new Part B under article 18 ATM May 8, 2017 25
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REVISED General By-Laws (2022 edition) Section 7. Procedures The Finance Committee shall consider the various articles in the Warrants for all the Town Meetings held during the period for which they are appointed including the Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting next after their appointment and they shall report in print at all Town Meetings their estimates and recommendations for action of the Town. Section 8. Reports by Town agencies to Provide Certain Information All Departments, Boards, Committees, or Officers authorized by law to expend money shall furnish to the Finance Committee, on or before the second Monday in September of each year, detailed reports of the expenditures for the previous fiscal year; and, for the ensuing fiscal year, detailed estimates of the amounts necessary for the proper maintenance and administration of the departments shall be submitted on or before the third Friday in January. Section 9. Transition The members of the Finance Committee in office at the time of the adoption of the amendment to this By-law reducing the number of members of the Finance Committee from twelve to nine shall remain in office until the term of their appointment expires or they otherwise vacate their office, notwithstanding the reduction in the number of members, such that the reduction in the number of members from twelve to nine shall be accomplished over the course of a three year period by the appointment each year of three members by the Moderator. 26