Judge Welsh Hearing Room
Members
Present: David Bedard,
Thomas Coen, Gary Delius,
Edward Gage, Ruth Gilbert (arr.
Virginia Ross (arr.
and Walt Winnowski.
Members
Absent: Frederick
Biddle, Alice Foley, and Robert Vetrick.
Others: Tom Groux and Austin
Knight (arr.
The
meeting was called to order at
Benchmark
Packet:
A sample Benchmark packet was e-mailed to all
committee members this afternoon. The
cost for this packet would be about $5K – and will be reduced to $4,250 if we
join with
Information comes from the Cherry sheets and
other MA public data. They have an
interesting report and we are scheduling for them to come out sometime during
February.
Gary Delius asked that if we can get enough
information from their introductory presentation. Such as why are our DPW expenses are so much
higher than the peer group? These are
the kinds of questions we need to ask, then we can do our own math.
Gary Delius said that part of our goal is not
only being as economical as possible, but also to be provide financial planning
and management. The product could easily pay for itself.
Tom
Groux' Report on Town Manager's Search:
Ruth Gilbert arrived at the beginning of this
portion of the meeting (5:15p).
Mr. Groux said the search is proceeding along
very well. The search committee has
invited nine (9) candidates to come to
GaryDelius then wondered if any of the skill set
concerns he detailed in his feedback to the Search Committee had been
addressed? The skill sets he had given
to the TMSC follows:
1.
Deep background in Fund,
2.
Experience in creatively managing budgets and finances in the post
Prop-2-1/2 world.
3.
Demonstrated skills in managing volatile revenue environments with
commensurate budget and expense control experience.
4.
Demonstrated skills in long-term planning and implementation of a
town-wide financial plan.
5.
Significant experience with debt funding and bonding.
6.
Experience in working in a multi-union environment with a demonstrated
history of results beneficial to both the Town and its employees.
7.
Experience in a Munis-based environments.
8.
Excellent computer skills.
9.
Experience in working with school departments similar to ours and
working with those departments to achieve results.
10.
Experience with quasi-governmental organizations such as the Pier
Corporation.
11.
Skills in developing regional solutions to problems such as water,
housing and economic development.
12.
Experience as a 'turnaround agent'
Ruth Gilbert said she would like to make sure
the candidates have managed and would be a hands-on person. Ms. Gilbert also asked if all these people
are in the public sector? The answer
was: One is a mayor.
Gary Delius expressed that he would like the
candidate to understand the unique relationship between FinCom the BoS and the
Town Manager. Tom Groux will see to
it. Virginia Ross and Austin Knight
entered the meeting at
Mr. Knight said that we’re looking into each
candidate’s management style. Ruth
Gilbert asked, "What is the population of the candidates'
towns?" Austin Knight said he’s
looking into that.
Walt Winowski asked, "Were these 9 easy
picks or were they 9 difficult choices?"
Ed Gage asked - what about the salary – does
someone want to start where the salary is now?
There is a general level of salary that people are looking for. Tom Coen also cautioned that there were
additional transition costs.
Tom Groux has told the BoS that they may have to
go above what the current Town Manager is making. Mr. Groux advised, “You no
longer replace people at the same pay rate as their predecessor.”
Austin Knight
informed the group that the BoS will have an article about residency
requirement ready for Town Meeting but there was a clear opinion that they want
him to be a part of the town. Tom Groux
said there are ways to handle that.
Mr. Groux comment at length about the Assistant
Town Manager issue. The successful
candidates are individuals who are good communicators, personnel managers and
financial managers. He asked the FinCom to give serious thought to having a
strong assistant.
Mr. Delius agreed, “ We’ve had Assistant Town
Managers in the past but in recent years Mr. Bergman (kab) preferred using
consultants”. Austin Knight said BoS has
told him that they’d prefer an Assistant Town Manager. Mr. Knight said that some of the applicants
would be very qualified for an Assistant Town Manager's position.
The committee offered a heartfelt thank you to
both Tom Groux and Austin Knight for venturing out on such a cold, snowy and
dangerous night.
Mark
Abrahams Proposal:
Mr. Delius received a five-page letter from Mark
D. Abrahams with a comprehensive
explanation of his proposal for
continuing work with the schools. The
sections were labeled 1) Background and Objectives, 2) Approach and Work plan,
3) Staffing and Qualifications, 4) Timing, and 5) Fees. The overall purpose of his work will include
eventually getting the Schools and the Town Accountant entered into a smooth
transition to unify their separate accounting systems into one. It will begin with a MUNIS ‘bridge’ program
and eventually, after a year or two, both the Schools and the Town Accounting
Systems will be in sync. One of the
chores will be to scrub the vendor list; in the combined lists many vendors
have several names, i.e., the gas company which sometimes appears as F.A.Days,
F.A.Days & Sons, and Days. These
will be combined under one vendor name so that tracking will be easier and a
lot of duplication will be eliminated.
Tom Coen provided more explanation. The database will be MUNIS for the Town and Microbudget
for the Schools. The current system does not allow you to research
anything. The bridge will wash data and
transfer it into our MUNIS system. There
will be several tests before the system is actually up and running. A main part of this proposal is going back
and closing each part on a monthly basis and after this period is over – it
will be an annual happening. The School
Department doesn’t operate on the same calendar. We’ll have to have a year and a half of test
runs with Mark Abrahams overseeing the process.
The school budget for 2008 has already been
set. We have to make sure that when the
Superintendent runs into a problem, we give her all the help she needs.
Tom Coen, Ruth Gilbert, Virginia Ross and Robert
Vetrick have worked very hard on this transition. The goal right now is to make this transition
work. Ms. Gilbert said the 2nd
problem is that the schools aren’t going to pay for this transition. They’ve given enough with their $500K budget
cuts this year. We have to pay for it if
we want to get them to do it. The cost
is $25K for the consultant. Gary Delius
doesn’t want to strip out the reserve fund prior to the end of 2007 fiscal
year. Mr. Abrahams has agreed to space
his billings to accommodate the availability of funds. Tom Coen wants someone personally
responsible to Ms. Waugh. That will be
Mr. Abrahams and he has won their
confidence.
A discussion ensued about how best to provide
project management to insure the project stays on track and on budget.
It was agreed this could best be provided by The
Superintendent, the chair and vice Chair of the Finance Committee, the School’s
Business manager, The Town Accountant and Mr. Abrahams.
Motion: Inform Mark Abrahams that we want to accept
his proposal for $25K and to cap it at that amount.
Motion: Ruth Gilbert Seconded:
Ed Gage Vote 8-0-0.
Memo to members of the FinCom on:
Reserve,
Stabilization, and Free Cash Accounts:
The following discussion was on finance policies
for the upcoming budget cycle. The
startling statistics are that 310 of the 350 town in the Commonwealth have
passed at least one override since this legislation was put in place. It will take a year-long effort to implement
but the plan follows:
Gary Delius proposes having a policy to create
three accounts - the reserve, stabilization and free cash accounts with
policies to control their use.
Maintenance of Stabilization fund has been an
ongoing problem. We should only use that
money for unforeseen capital expenses and to expand the distance between the
Levy limit and the required Levy to avoid another 2 ½ override in the short
term. Ruth says it sounds great in
theory but maintaining the stabilization fund has proven difficult in the past.
The FinCom needs to send a message to taxpayers
that we are not just cutting costs but are also using Financial Management to
prevent a Prop 2 1/2 override.
Tom Coen wondered if other towns were doing
this? Amesbury and
Motion: Present this proposal about the Reserve,
Stabilization, and Free Cash Account to the BoS at their next meeting.
Motion: Virginia Ross Seconded: David Bedard Vote:
8-0-0.
Report
of 2008 Budget Meeting that Ruth Gilbert attended (moments before!)
Ms. Gilbert attended a 2008 School’s budget
hearing at the
Virginia Ross says they may glean a lot of
entrepreneurial grants from this shift.
Instead of a secretarial program it will become economics. Ms. Gilbert said, “… in concept it’s all great
– poets from FAWC, etc.”. Ms. Gilbert
said, “Burt Wolfman said that it’ll take us at least a year to get the academy
up and running.”
Tom Thurston asked - if you didn’t take state
money – would we be required to focus on the MCAS? But it would be impossible today to operate
the schools without the State and Federal funds tied to MCAS performance.
Tom Coen feels that they have a very difficult
problem. Virginia Ross said that people
are not happy with the public schools and the trend is for private schools. Gary Delius said the probability of success
is greater than it’s ever been. Ruth
Gilbert said they’re trying to attract kids from the upper
David Bedard wondered who had conceived the
Academy concept? Numerous people
commented it had grown out of the approach used for Charter schools which are
tightly controlled county by county. This concept allowed for a new form of
Charter-like creative and community education alternatives.
Affordable/Community
Housing Staffing Plan:
Walt Winnoski, the FinCom's representative to the working group formed to
implement the ACHAP, reported that the group had, for the most part, finished
their work. Their results would be
presented to the BoS at a future meeting.
It was explained that after researching various options, the best way to
illustrate the priority the community & the town placed on this issue was
to create a town staff position with supporting consultants over an initial
three-year commitment period. A spreadsheet
was passed out illustrating the funding requirements involved and the fact that
no funding was required from the General Fund and that all funding would be
shared by the 75/25 split between the CPA and the AHTF with the position
reporting directly to the Town Manager.
A huge amount of work has gone into this and Mr. Winnowski and the other
members of FinCom who had participated in the affordable housing summits were
thanked for their contributions.
PBG
Offer to Buy and Man Firehouse #2.
The PBG has expressed an interest in buying
Firehouse #2. This suggestion was not
met with overwhelming enthusiasm. One of
the FinCom members asked, "What if PBG folds? - Who pays for the restroom
help?" The plan is for the PBG to
buy and resurrect Firehouse #2 and have the first floor housing tourist
restrooms and informational pamphlets while the 2nd floor would
house their offices.
Ruth Gilbert suggested to Marcene Marcoux of the
Historical District Commission that the fine for the demolition of
The Town once had a buyer for the
Firehouse. Ed Gage said the girls who
are his neighbors will sue the Town if the Town sells Firehouse #2. They were the original people who wanted to
buy the Firehouse.
David Bedard said that he feels the Town should
be supplying the toilets. He has a big
issue with a private organization taking over what should be the Town's
responsibility.
Report
on MMA Seminar
Gary Delius reported that the MMA was a
wonderful conference and Gov. Patrick had discussed some of his new initiatives
to reduce the property tax burden on the Tax payers.. The new Governor announced that the state is
$1.2B in debt; Mr. Delius also said that the Governor wants municipalities to
participate in the GIC health program sanctioned by the state. It would be a big savings for this group but
there are high hurdles with the unions.
The Governor has also signaled his support of the MMA’s 40-10
reimbursement of local aid. If these and
other initiatives the Governor discussed are implemented Our Financial horizon may look a little brighter.
Other
There is no calendar for meeting dates. Pam Hudson, the Town Manager’s Secretary,
said KAB went home sick again today (
The meeting adjourned during an unpredicted snowstorm at
Respectfully
submitted,
Approved by ____________________________on
______________, 2007
Gary Delius, Chair