Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
March 28, 2016, Finance Committee Meeting. Minutes
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Town of Canton Finance Committee Minutes voted on: 5/9/16
Meeting Minutes Vote: 9-0-1
Monday, March 28, 2016
Members Present:
Rob Barker, Sepp Bergschneider, Jim Casamento, Gerald Dorfman, Nichols Gallagher, Dianne
Gustafson, Tim McKenna (arrived at 7:35 p.m.), Barbara Saint Andre and Jim Sims.
Members Absent:
Stephanie Leach.
Guests Present:
Bob Golledge, Chair, School Committee
Jen Henderson, Interim Superintendent of Schools
Mike Loughran, School Committee Member
Barry Nectow, School Business Administrator
Jim Murgia, Finance Director
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary
Opening: A meeting of the Canton Finance Committee was called to order by Chair Saint Andre at
7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 28, 2016 in the Salah Meeting Room of Town Hall.
A. Approval of Agenda
Chair Saint Andre reviewed the items on the agenda which included a reconsideration of Article 44,
Article 15 and Article 19.
B. Announcements
There were no announcements made at the meeting.
C. New Business
Reconsideration -Article 15 —Insurance Proceeds Town Counsel recently requested that the Finance
Committee reconsider and revote Article 15 as two separate motions.
A motion made by Mr. Barker that Article 15 be reconsidered was seconded by Mr. Bergschneider.
Vote: 8-0-0.
The reason for voting Article 15 as two separate motions is because the Town may receive additional
insurance proceeds for the rink roof collapse prior to Town Meeting and it would be more beneficial to
have the rink proceeds separated from the Public Works proceeds. This will give the BOS the ability to
negotiate with the DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation) regarding repair or construction of
a new rink.
A motion made by Mr. Barker that $201,801.62 be appropriated to be spent by the Superintendent
of Public Works with the approval of the BOS in connection with losses suffered by the Town and
that $201,801.62 be transferred from Insurance Reimbursement Fund #173 to Fund #337(Local
Chapter 90 Match Account) and Fund #640(Water Enterprise Miscellaneous Revenue Account)
was seconded by Mr. Bergschneider. Vote: 8-0-0.
A motion made by Mr. Barker that $1,787,051.52 be appropriated to be spent by the Parks &
Recreation Director with the approval of the BOS in connection with losses suffered by the Town
and that $1,787,051.52 be transferred from Insurance Reimbursement Fund #173 to Fund #701
(Rink Enterprise Capital Account) and further more authorize the BOS to pay such proceeds to the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts DCR. Vote: 8-0-0
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Reconsideration -Article 19 —Vote to Approve Free Full Dav Kindergarten —Clustering of Article 19 &Article 45 Mr. Murgia stated that Town Counsel recently requested that Article 19 be bundled with the operating budget Article 45. Town Counsel had stated that it was not Town Meeting's authority to mandate a specific program under the School operating budget. Mr. Murgia further stated that Town Counsel advised us that once the budget Article 45 comes up at Town Meeting, Article 19 would be addressed at that time. Town Counsel had provided a draft motion for the Finance Committee. Essentially the School Department budget would be voted as one amount of $38,077,710 and then amended to include $495,000 for a new total of $38,572,710. Town Counsel's preference is to not have Article 19 at all and to have just one budget number for the School Department of $38,572,710. Chair Saint Andre stated that the issue of tuition free full day kindergarten has been discussed for two years, has been listed as a separate warrant article, and that it has been the consensus of the Finance Committee for this Town Meeting to have a separate Town Meeting article so that the issue could be discussed and debated rather than including it in the budget. Clarification was made at that the meeting that the $495,000 would be removed from the FY18 School Department operating budget at the beginning of the budget process. Mr. Sims stated his concerns that there was no guarantee that if the $495,000 was added to the School Budget that it was going to be used for the intended purpose of tuition free full day kindergarten. A motion made by Mr. Barker that Article 19 be reconsidered was seconded by Ms. Gustafson. Vote: 7-1-0. Mr. Sims voted in opposition to reconsidering Article 19. A motion made by Ms. Gustafson that the school operating budget as voted in line one of Motion 2 for Article 45 of this warrant be increased by the sum of $495,000 to a new total of $38,572,710; and to meet the appropriation, $495,000 be transferred from Free Cash (Undesignated Fund Balance) in the Treasury of the Town to be expended by the Canton School Committee as part of its Fiscal Year 2017 operating budget was seconded by Mr. Bergschneider. Mr. Casamento cautioned that if the $495,000 were to be lumped in with the budget and the budget is voted on at midnight and few town meeting voters remained at the meeting, there would be a reduced amount of discussion about the topic. The motion before the Finance Committee does not call for bundling Article 19 with Article 45. Vote: 4-4-0. The motion suggested by Town Counsel failed. Ms. Gallagher, Mr. Barker, Mr. Sims and Mr. Dorfman voted in opposition to the new motion. Ms. Gallagher proposed making a motion as printed in the warrant which was based off of the original Article 19 language. Mr. Murgia stated that the motion was not legal. Mr. Casamento inquired as to why the language in the original warrant Article was not legal, given that Town Counsel had approved the original Article language. A motion made by Ms. Gallagher that the motion as printed in the warrant as follows that the sum of $495,000 be transferred from Free Cash (Undesignated Fund Balance) in the Treasury of the Town to be expended by the School Committee in Fiscal Year 2017 was seconded by Mr. Barker. Vote: 6-2-0. Mr. Bergschneider and Mr. Dorfman voted in opposition to this motion. Reconsideration —Article 44 —Canton School Department Office Building Construction Chair Saint Andre announced that the School Committee had requested that Article 44 be reconsidered. The School Committee presented a modified motion (see meeting handout) that Town Counsel had d rafted. This motion included the transfer of $250,000 from Free Cash to the School Department to engage professional engineers to study the school building needs of the Town. 20160328 FINCOM MINUTES Page 2 of6 04/28/16
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The Finance Committee had previously voted that the subject matter of Article 44 be postponed i ndefinitely due to lack of information. A motion made by Ms. Gustafson that Article 44 be reconsidered was seconded by Mr. Barker. Vote: 4-4-0. The motion to reconsider Article 44 failed. Mr. Bergschneider, Mr. Sims, Mr. Dorfman and M r. Casamento voted in opposition to reconsidering Article 44. Chair Saint Andre allowed members of the School Committee and School Department to speak on the matter of Article 44. Mr. Golledge stated that Mr. Nectow had received additional information regarding a Comprehensive Facilities Assessment and Master Plan and provided afive-page memo (see meeting handout). The new price estimate for the assessment would be $250,000 to $300,000 which is higher than originally estimated. However, Mr. Golledge shared with the Finance Committee information that last year's Town Meeting had approved $155,000 for a building needs study for 19 municipal buildings and six school buildings. Of this $155,000 there is $95,000 (see memorandum for breakdown of $95,000) that had been earmarked for the six school buildings. The School Committee would like to reserve the $95,000 to be added to the amount requested under Article 44 so that one firm could oversee the facilities assessment. Therefore, the School Committee would be asking the Finance Committee to consider approving $250,000 under Article 44. The memo provided by Mr. Nectow defined the major components of the proposed study as follows: 1. Facilities Overview 2. Enrollment 3. Space Needs Assessment 4. Educational Visioning 5. Capital lmprovements 6. Conceptual Options 7. Cost Estimate Summary M r. McKenna arrived to the meeting at 7:35 p.m Ms. Gustafson spoke on the merits and the necessity of having this study done, especially the educational visioning piece of the study. Ms. Gustafson stated that she thought the High School would not be a significant part of this study, given that it was done 10 years ago. M r. Golledge stated that the underlying premise of the School Building Study Committee was to prolong the need in the future for another school. He also stated that there is a growing population, there are space needs and that they are trying to address the short term and long term needs for the school district with this comprehensive study. Mr. Sims spoke against the motion before the Finance Committee because there was not enough definition to the scope and that the motion was being too rushed prior to Town Meeting. He stated that the four classrooms at the Kennedy School were rushed and the School Committee had to return the following the year for additional funding. Mr. Loughran commented that the School Committee was "reactive" in regards to the space needs at the Kennedy School but that they are trying to be "proactive" with this study. Because there were now nine members at the meeting, Mr. Golledge asked the Finance Committee to once again reconsider Article 44. It was uncertain if the Board of Selectmen had voted a position on the new motion for Article 44. ~~ motion made by Ms. Gal~~~~er to reconsider Article 4~ was seconded by Mr. McKenna. ~~~e: 6-3-0. Mr. Sims, Mr. Dorfman and Mr. Casamento voted in opposition to reconsidering Article 44. Mr. Casamento's understanding of motions in the warrant was that the motions had to be related to the original warrant article. By allowing this motion it would be setting a precedent for the future for anyone at 20160328 FINCOM MINUTES Page 3 of'6 04/28/16
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Town Meeting to set placeholders in the warrant and make a motion of any nature for an article. The original article was for the construction of a new School Department 12,000 square foot office building. Mr. Casamento questioned the appropriateness of this new motion within the original language of Article 44. Mr. Murgia had stated that Town Counsel had ruled that this new motion for a school building study was within the scope of the article. Chair Saint Andre stated that because the $155,000 approved at last year's Town Meeting for the m unicipal and school building study had not yet been spent, the School portion of $95,000 could be used to pay for the Comprehensive Facilities Assessment and Master Plan study being proposed this year. She did not feel a need to do a transfer from the prior year's article. Ms. Gustafson asked the School members if there was $250,000 in their FY17 operating budget to cover the cost of this study possibly with revolving accounts, given that the School Department has bottom line authority. A motion made by Ms. Gallagher that $155,000 be appropriated from Free Cash to be expended by the Canton School Committee to engage professional engineers or other consultants to study the school building needs of the Town and as per the motion drafted by Town Counsel was seconded by Mr. Barker. Vote: 6-3-0. Mr. Sims, Mr. Dorfman and Mr. Casamento voted in opposition to this motion. After this motion the Free Cash balance at approximately $250,000. Free Cash would be certified again in the fall. Ms. Gustafson stated that an important piece to this whole buildings assessment study is the use of the Rodman Building. There needs to be definitive answers as to if the Rodman Building could be renovated for use as a functioning building for either eighth grade or an elementary building or other use. Before it is determined that the Town may be in need of a brand new additional school the Rodman Building needs to be examined. Review of the Finance Committee Discussions The Finance Committee reviewed their discussions that would appear in the Recommendations of the Finance Committee to the Voters of Canton. Article 12 discussions would be written by Gene Manning and the members of the Capital Planning Committee. Article 15 Motion 2(Rink insurance proceeds) — Ms. Gustafson stated that Town Meeting would most likely be looking for an update on the progress of the Rink. Ms. Gustafson suggested that the Finance Committee be prepared with a list of what projects could be paid out of mitigation funds for traffic studies. Reconsideration —Article 34 —Amend Zoning By-Laws —Size of Accessory Structures The Finance Committee had originally voted 5-5-0 on Article 34, which motion failed. A motion made by Mr. Casamento to reconsider Article 34 was seconded by Ms. Gallagher. Vote: 4-5-0. The motion to reconsider Article 34 failed. D. Other Business/Open Issues Liaison Reports —There were no liaison reports given at the meeting E. Approval of Minutes 20160328 FINCOM MINUTES Page 4 of6 04/28/16
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There were no minutes approved at the meeting. F. Next Meeting Date: The next meeting will take place on Monday, May 9th at 6:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria of the Canton High School prior to the start of Annual Town Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Adjournment: A motion made by Mr. Bergschneider to adjourn the meeting at 8:27 p.m. was seconded by Mr. Dorfman. Vote: 9-0-0. Minutes reviewed by: Nichols Gallagher Respectfully submitted, ~ar ar aint Andre Chair, anton Finance Committee 20160328 FINCOM MINUTES Page 5 of6 04/28/16
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Town of Canton
Finance Committee Meeting —Monday, March 28, 2016
List of Meeting Handouts
Please note: These meeting handouts may also be found on the Town's website under the Posted
Minutes section (Laser Fiche).
Agenda (1 page).
Article 19 —Draft Motion —Vote to Approve Free Full Day Kindergarten, dated 3/28/16 (1 pages).
Memorandum from Jennifer Henderson, Interim Superintendent of Schools, and Barry Nectow, Business
Administrator regarding Comprehensive Facilities Assessment and Master Plan, dated March 28, 2016
(5 pages).
Estimated Cash Reserves provided by Jim Murgia, dated Mach 28, 2016 (1 page).
Email from Paul DeRensis, Town Counsel, to Jim Murgia regarding Article 44 motion, dated March 23,
2016 (1 page).
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