August 4, 2006
1:30 p.m.
FINAL VERSION
Staff:
Keith Bergman
Others:
Pru Sowers, reporter from Banner
The meeting was called to order at 1:33 p.m.
Approve minutes from
previous meetings.
Motion: Approve the minutes of the June 6th
meeting.
Motion: Tom Thurston Seconded: Ed Gage Vote:
6-0-0.
Gary
Delius felt the July 12th meeting minutes needed work. Gary asked the members to please mark-up the
minutes and return the changes to him.
Review the proposal from
Mark Abrahams, financial consultant.
Ruth
Gilbert staed she had read Mr. Abrahams' proposal and feels he’s responding to
all the questions FinCom had requested.
Motion: Hire Mark Abrahams for phase 1 and phase 2
of his proposal as outlined in his correspondence of July 20, 2006 in the
amount of $5,000 and that the funds be transferred from the reserve funds. All extra costs need to be approved before
they occur. Also, when possible
FinCom's meetings with Mr. Abrahams will be coordinated with his other work in
Provincetown. Finally, a prospective
timeline should be provided.
Motion: Ruth Gilbert Seconded: Ed
Gage Vote: 8-0-0.
Discussion on above motion
before it was finalized:
Phase
1 is to provide us with an interpretation and training on the EOY reports that have been received from the State DOE. Phase 2 will analyze the data and contained in these reports and establish
baselines and analysis . He’ll analyze
2003, 4, 5, and 6 noting trends. At the
same time the Schools are doing their own studies.
Virginia
Ross asked for a clarification on schools.
She was told that Mark will develop a baseline so the town can see where
we are. Conversation followed about our
goal to understand the complex world of school finance.
Mr.
Bergman, in defense of the situation, said that the figures are difficult for
the professionals, much less for the laymen.
Grants, revolving funds, school lunch, transportation, etc. are all
options and/or expenditures that the school department has. It takes a lot of work to put all these
pieces together and they never really did that in the past.
Ms.
Gilbert feels it is time to hire someone and have the whole process explained
to the FinCom – thoroughly. Virginia
Ross said there has always been adversity between schools and FinComs. Robert Vetrick said the state has finally
looked at our great inbalance. Ruth
continued, saying that it would be negligent of the FinCom to ignore this. We have to have someone help us understand
school finance in order to make the proper decisions when we review the
School's budget.
At
the 2 day conference convened for the schools, the challenge was: what should we do that’s best for educating
Provincetown's children? Ultimately the
school committee's goal was to save the high school. What the FinCom is doing is consistent with that question: what
does the future look like? The FinCom
agrees - we want to get the best education we can afford for the children of
Provincetown.
Gary
said that we need to look at this problem.
We have a new administrator and she’s working very hard to include all
concerns and address them.
Virginia
Ross wants the FinCom’s concerns about the school's finances written down so
they can be discussed. Gary said that
we can ask for this.
Minutes of the May 31, 2006
meeting
Motion: Approve the minutes as written
Motion: Tom Thurston Seconded: Ed Gage Vote:
6 in favor and 2 abstentions (Fred Biddle and Virginia Ross)
Gary
received a letter dated July 25th from Jessica Waugh, Superintendent
of Schools thanking us for including her in the July 12 meeting. Gary contacted the state and MUNIS on
followingthe last meeting to inquire about the appropriateness of using MUNIS
as the School accounting system and was informed by DOE it is used in many
school districts and can be completely compatible with the DOE reporting
requirements if properly setup. The revision of the Chart of accounts now
underway includes this setup. Mr. Delius comunicated with Supt. Waugh and
informed her of the compatibility MUNIS – and it’s important to the taxpayers
to get everything under one system.
Ms. Waugh reported she has ordered Munis bridge software and the
installation and training services for it.
Gary further said that it will take a year to complete installation
and it is difficult but once it’s in
place, the whole thing makes life simpler for all departments and saves the
Town a considerable amount of money each year.
R.
Vetrick said the important thing that came out of the 2 day conference was a
recognition on the part of the community that the schools needed complete
reorganization with the emphasis on reorganizing the administration and
staff. Most wanted the teachers to have
more input into the changes that needed to be made. There certainly is not 100% support for "business as
usual." Ruth said the conference
would have been totally different if the state had come out with only $2M
support and not the $4M that was planned on prior to the conference. Dr. Vetrick feels that, in the future, the
state is going to mandate regionalization.
It is already suggesting regionalization of administrative staff.
Gary
communicated to Supt. Waugh that the FinCom is behind her and the mantra is
clear – we want the best education we can afford for the children of
Provincetown.
Discuss subcommittee
assignments for the upcoming Budget season.
Gary
suggested that maybe we can do a better job as we look at different committees
by having subcommittees specialize in departments. We all have areas of interest so maybe we can divide up the areas
of responsibility. We will not
interfere with the departments at all and will have no involvement with their
policies – just their budgets. Basically there are 6 areas of
interest. We'll discuss subcommittees
in the future.
Financial Model
Gary
also wants the group to study basic financial models that the different towns
work under. We should investigate other towns' financial models and what the
options are for Provincetown?
R.
Vetrick said we did a prop 2˝ override – when can we rescind that? The BoS will have to do it.
Gary
asked the group to look at our warrant and take a look at other warrants that
are out there. The goal is to be sure
we communicate all the key information voters need to make the best decisions
at Town Meeting.
Entertain any other business
which may legally come before the Committee
The
request for funding from our reserve fund requires a motion. The reserve fund has $35K in it.
Motion: Take $5,000 from the 2007 reserve budget for
the Abrahamson proposal.
Motion: Tom Thurston Seconded: Ed Gage Vote:
8-0-0.
Virginia
Ross asked about having the Assistant Town Manager take over KAB's position
when he leaves. Gary will e-mail
Cheryl Andrews and ask her about the Search Committee for Town Manager and when
it will be convened. Tom Thurston
wondered what we would pay the new Town Manager? Do we discuss this before we reach that point? What will the total package be? Gary will e-mail Cheryl and ask her about the
compensation package.
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn at 3:10
p.m.
Motion: Tom Thurston Seconded: Robert
Vetrick Vote: unanimous
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn
Rogers Gaudiano
Approved by ____________________________on
______________, 2005
Gary Delius, Chair