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AVON TOWN COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
June 26, 2008
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. at the Avon Senior Center, in the Community Room by Chairman Carlson. Members present: Mrs. Samul, Messrs. Zacchio, Pena and Shea.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE – Items not on this Agenda
Tim Cronin, Pine Trail, reported he thinks that the budget is ridiculous. It has been voted down three times and it should be cut by 20%. Chairman Carlson reported that item is on the agenda and is not up for discussion at this time.
V. OLD BUSINESS
07/08-12 FY 08/09 Budget: Review and Discussion, Budget and Tax Rate
Chairman Carlson called upon the Town Attorney to review the procedure to be followed. The Town Attorney stated Avon's Charter provides for up to three Referendums with respect to the proposed budget. The Charter does not provide for a fourth Referenda and does not specifically provide for what happens in the event that the budget is not adopted by Referendum. The Town Attorney did not work with the Town when the Charter was drafted but presumably that omission was deliberate and recognized the fact that state law does provide a mechanism in the event that a Town fails during the normal budgeting process to approve a budget. This is an issue that we have looked at a number of years, originally in 1998. We have updated our research periodically at the request of the Town Counci, most recently this
spring, to determine whether either the statutes had changed or court decisions had changed in a way that may change our opinion in the way we first provided it in 1998. That opinion, which has not changed, is that the Town Council, as the legislative body of the Town, has broad discretion to determine a budget when the normal budgeting process has failed. Court decisions have stated, in reviewing this issue that the legislature appropriately concluded that it is not in the interest of the Town to not have a budget, therefore they created this backup mechanism. One of those cases involved a budget that had been rejected four times by a municipality but the Supreme Court said, in 1991 and lower courts have also said, the Town Council or Board of Selectmen or its equivalent has broad discretion to determine what the appropriate budget is for their Town. The court decision has even gone as far as to say that discretion permits the Council to adopt a
budget which is higher than the budget that was previously rejected, lower than the budget that was previously rejected, or even the same budget that was previously rejected during the normal process for the budget adoption. Therefore, we find ourselves tonight with the Town Council in the position of having to make the determination of what is an appropriate budget for the Town.
Chairman Carlson questioned if there were any material changes that have come forward regarding the budget. The Town Manager reported we have one change that has come to our attention in the past few days. The bids for the replacement of the Roaring Brook School boiler came in a lot higher than what was budgeted for in the Capital Improvement Program; an additional $177,111 is what we are looking at. We have taken the liberty of including background information with the background information for this evening so you can get a feel for exactly what is involved with that item. The Assistant to the Town Manager, a member of the Board of Education staff, and the Engineer consultant are present tonight to answer questions. That is on the expenditure side. On the revenues side, the State
Legislature, in their special session, did pass an extension of the conveyance tax, which in Avon, we estimate, which is based on the number of sales of properties in the communities, will bring in an estimate of an additional $200,000 in revenues to Avon. We are, from a staffing standpoint, recommending that the additional $177,111 be included in the deliberations this evening as an additional expense and we are recommending that at least $177,111, of an estimated $200,000, be applied to the revenues side to offset the increase in the expenditures for the boiler. That would be our only staff recommendation at this point. There are no significant deviations on either the expense side or the revenues side that we need to get into this evening. We are all aware of the rate of inflation, and we are watching our projections for this coming year and it is possible we may have specific deficits in certain accounts such as the salt account, and the
fuels accounts.
Chairman Carlson clarified if the budget would have passed yesterday; we had a dollar amount in the
Capital Budget for a dollar amount of $250,000. The estimate came in $177,111 more than that. We probably would have gone back to the Board of Finance and asked for an allocation, a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $177,111. This would have come out of our reserves. On the other hand, the potential $200,000 in conveyance taxes would have gone into the surplus or reserves.
The Assistant to the Town Manager reported based on the estimates they had received from the consultants last fall we included in the budget $250,000 for asbestos removal, laundering of that, and replacement of the boilers. We put the project out to bid in two separate packages, one for asbestos and one for the actual boiler replacement. The asbestos bid came in fairly close to what was estimated but unfortunately the boilers did not. It was about $177,111 more than anticipated. Since those came in last week, the engineer and the Board of Education staff have been meeting with the vendor and they have been able to make some adjustments as to what would be required for the work and reduce it by about $35,000. That is positive news and we want to award it with a contingency for the
project. It is a 45 year old boiler there may be things that are undiscovered we may run into. We know from projects we have done in the past that asbestos is a difficult issue to deal with and we want to complete this work without having to come back another time. Those costs include a contingency and hopefully we won't spend it all and will turn it back to surplus. We are also working with the utility companies to try and obtain a rebate for putting in a high efficiency boiler. We are not able to tell you at this point what the amount is but it could be as much as $140,000 and that would go back into the General Fund.
Chairman Carlson stated he heard steel prices are going through the roof, and questioned if that is what drove this price increase. The Director of Facilities for the Board of Education stated some of the cost is the labor which is a fixed cost. Those figures we have no control over. If we do not replace these boilers, we are taking a chance of them failing and no one wants to guarantee them for the winter. There is the potential for a large rebate and we would be in jeopardy of losing that as well. We are probably running at a 60% efficiency and we all know how fuel costs are going right now. The new boilers will be running at a 97% / 98% efficiency, so there will be a substantial fuel savings as well.
Mr. Pena questioned if there was one item that make up the majority of the $177,111. The Director of Facilities reported it is a lot of money and we were conservative with our contingency and we only put in 10%. We had 10 people sign up and attend the pre-bid conference and eight of them as soon as they saw the boilers walked right out due to the size of the project. We were fortunate enough to have the low bid, All State Boiler, who come very highly recommended and worked hard to get the number down. We are always looking to cut costs and we were able to get that low bid down substantially without hurting the integrity of the project. It is all part of the energy management. Chairman Carlson questioned when the project would be complete. The Director of Facilities reported
it would be close to the start of school. By the time it was completed it would be a week or two before they would have to use the heat. It is a tight schedule. We are hoping this goes through quickly so we can put the order in for the boiler. To order the boiler it takes approximately five to eight weeks. That is the time frame we are nervous about but the asbestos abatement, and removal of the old boiler and site preparation can be done while we are waiting for the boilers to be delivered to site.
Chairman Carlson question what the likelihood was of the boiler not making it through the next year. Alan McIlveen, Walter McIlveen Associates, Inc., reported it is fifty-fifty. No one can determine this. It is showing signs of wear. Chairman Carlson reported if it was to fail, we have a five to eight week period in which to get it replaced. Does the Board of Education have a location for 700 kids for five to eight weeks? The Director of Facilities reported they should add two weeks to that for the abatement process and that needs to occur with no children on location.
Chairman Carlson reported the final numbers for the budget would be an adjusted $177,111 to the previous budget that was proposed. The Town Manager reported this is correct unless there are any other changes that the Council would like to make. Mr. Shea stated he felt the boiler project is a must. It is critical to add $177,111 to the budget and add it to the numbers. If it is added to the number of the Capital Improvement Program it goes to $2,063,117, so the total budget would go to $70,529,148.
A motion was moved by Mr. Shea and, seconded by Mr. Zacchio:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council adopt and Annual Budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2008, in the amount of $70,529,148, which would equate to a mill rate of 26.53 mills, as follows:
Town Operating Budget $18,244,946
School Operating Budget $ 43,017,182
Sewer Operating Budget $ 1,787,233
Capital Budget $ 2,063,117
Debt Service $ 5,416,670
Total $ 70,529,148
This figure was set forth in the budget as recommended by the Board of Finance to the June 25, 2008 Referendum subject to the increase in additional funds of $177,111 for the boiler project.
Mr. Shea reported he feels some very good things came out of this process. First thing, the presentations that were prepared by the Board of Education and the Town Council were outstanding. If you attended the Public Hearings, whether you were for the budget or against the budget, you had a wonderful opportunity to learn, be educated and be informed about what each budget had in it. He respects the people who voted yes and he respects the people who voted no but there comes a time where hopefully whatever motion passes, you take into consideration the presentation and the factor involved in putting together the presentations and we bring the Town together and put forth a budget that works. The budget that is in the motion is basically a 2.9% increase, plus the additional overhead for the high
school, plus the increase in utilities and energy and that brings you to a 3.84% tax increase. It respects the fact that there was a $2.2 million cut in the budget. The Board of Finance did an outstanding job in their deliberations in coming up with a budget that the Town would come together on. He felt the third budget was a unique opportunity for everyone and feel the motion has been made in the best interest of the Town. It is a compromised budget. There are some people who felt the Council would add to it and there are people who felt the Council might subtract from it. This is a time for the Town to come together. Not everyone is going to be happy but it is a budget that hopefully the Town and Board of Education can lead their organizations with.
Mr. Zacchio reported he concurs with Mr. Shea's comments. As he reflects back over the past several months, we put a budget in front of the residents that offered some new opportunities for Avon. It offered some new programs in the schools and some new Capital Improvement Projects that we felt, as well as the Board of Education, were important. We listened to the vote and it said that was too high and we couldn't afford those things at this time. The second budget on the hard work of the Board of Finance, taking into consideration all the comments, put a budget in front of us that really just met the needs of what our infrastructure needs and supports. Again, you came back and told us that was too high. The last budget, and really what it equates to is 3.1% when you consider that we have to
adopt the new cost for running the high school, it brings it up to a higher percentage, really offered no new programs and took away some programs that we really liked and enjoyed; programs in the school systems, as well as, Library hours being reduced. We eliminated a position within the Town and there has been some positions eliminated within the Board of Education. As a fiduciary to the Town, he feels that is what the Charter contemplated, that the Council would look at what the needs of the Town are, as a whole, and continue without emotion or prejudice or any other considerations. He further reported if the Town wants to increase programs and expand upon what we offer for services in years to come then we will have to look at this a bit differently than we have in the past. If we want to add new programs than we need to eliminate others, we need to show that we are making room within it. We can't keep expanding the base we need to say if you want
to add, then you need to show you are taking something away. He felt that was loud and clear and felt it made some sense. We need to talk about and institute some shared services within the Town and Board of Education. There are no silver bullets there in a dollar and cost perspective but we have roads to plow and we have the same number of roads to plow and the same number of miles to plow and it will take the same number of people. In the end it may find some small efficiencies but it will not find the silver bullets that will solve our problems.
Mr. Pena stated he feels it is time for the Town to come together. Many people may be shaking their heads but he feels this it a time that they should all come together and act as a town and together we can actually come up with a budget, something that would be agreeable with everyone. Twice the budget was turned down and we did listen to the voters, and the Board of Finance did address it with reductions. After the third time when the Council looked at it and we all looked at it together, we felt this was the best budget for today to go onto into the next fiscal year. He feels this is a good budget and feels this is the time we should come together. We need to put this behind us and move on to the next budget which will be here before we know it. We all should come together the next
time around with a book of empty pages, nothing written on it, no agendas, come and listen to what everyone has to offer and what are the needs of the Town. Don't come with notes and prejudices of what you feel needs to be cut but come with a blank page, blank pages and let's work up and find out what we need to do to work together.
Mrs. Samul reported the Council did listen and that is why we had the three Public Hearings and the three Referendums. She feels they did listen, they did cut, we then went back and said "now what?," there are some "now what's" we just can not ignore. We can not ignore the leaky roof at the middle school. We can not ignore the boiler at Roaring Brook School. We can postpone the drainage on Chidsey Road for the third or fourth year. There are some things we just can not ignore. We are increasing the budget more than some people want. We are not increasing as much as other people want. We received numerous emails stating "I am voting yes but I really mean no," and "I am voting no but I really mean yes," and "I am not voting at all because
I don't like the whole scenario." She does not know what the 175 votes meant because it was so confusing. The 175 votes represent 6% of the voters. That is a significant amount, but it is not 50% and it is not 10%, and because I do not know what "they" meant she has to look at what she feels is best for the Town. She would like for the Council to go forward with the next meeting and look at ways we can start reorganizing and start thinking long-term so we can reduce future expenditures. Fix things before they get to a catastrophe level. The Town Council has looked at reorganizing people and eliminating jobs, a number of people have mentioned the salaries, the Board of Education should look at a way to reorganize the management and be just as effective in the education. No one in the room wants to affect the educational level of anyone. It is important to everyone in the Town and everyone in the state that every child get educated. We need to maximize our dollars and starting
in August we need to start looking at ways where we can work together with the Board of Finance and the Board of Education to do that.
Chairman Carlson reported supports the motion that was proposed tonight. It will require cuts to programs and there are cuts that all people will feel and unfortunately, our children will feel. For those who wrote to me over the past few days, thank you. You said we need to raise the budget up to the first or second referendum or a number in between; we can not ignore the no votes that came out in the first two Referendum. To do so would not be fair to those who voted. Some have argued we should not be governed by a small group of voters that voted in the three Referendums. He disagrees with this. He can not say why people did not vote and why they supported or didn't support the programs. "They" don't count since they did not vote. Others are calling for us to cut the budget. We
have a fiduciary responsibility to the Town. He, along with the other Council members, have spent hundreds of hours looking at the budgets. To cut them further would harm programs, on both sides, the Town and Board of Education, which we would feel for years to come. He asks that we move away from the name calling, accusations, and innuendos. He hopes the citizens will take the energy they used responding to the budget process over the past few months and use it to help them find solutions. The Council does not have the answers but we have the answers as a community. The budget decision encompasses more than questions about class size and teachers salaries and brush pickup, it is about who we want to be as a community. Are we a collection of special interest groups who only vote if we get something, or are we a community? He feels we are a community and we put the interest of the community first, even though we may not get anything out of
it. To the town's people who took the time to vote, speak out, and come to all the meetings, he says thank you and he appreciates it. These individuals help to shape the process. To those who didn't vote, he asks "why?" and will continue to ask this for a longtime. Why do you diminish a right that some in this room have fought for. You diminish a right that we spend money educating our children about. Finally, he expressed his gratitude to the Board of Finance, Board of Education, his fellow Council members and the Town employees who spent so much time on this. It has been an arduous process, one that was much longer than he wanted, and to think in November we start it all over again. So he looks forward to having a full room in November when we start looking at the Capital Items, we would like that input if not before.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
Chairman Carlson reported they have to sign the tax warrant and set a date for the tax collection. The Town Manager reported July 15th is when taxes will be due and the residents have 30 days to pay them.
On a motion made by Mr. Zacchio, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council set the tax due date as of July 15, 2008 to be paid within thirty days, and the Town Council members signed the Tax Warrant.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
07/08-86 Bid Award Phase II: Department of Public Works Re-roofing and Related Work, $102,800
The Assistant to the Town Manager reported this item is in the budget and it is to continue the work to replace the roof at the Public Works building. The project was budgeted over two years and we were able to move forward, after negotiations with the contractor, with part of the work started in the 07/08 Funds and this request is to complete the work that was bid out, for an additional $102,800, and finish that work beginning on July 1st.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mr. Zacchio, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council award the remainder of the contract to the apparent low bidder, MDM Engineering, in the amount of $102,800, to complete the work on the roof at Public Works building that was commenced in the FY 07/08 budget.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
07/08-102 Bid Award: Senior Center Roof Replacement, $135,000
The Assistant to the Town Manager reported this is in the budget and it was also funded over two years. We bid the project out in March in anticipation of this year's budget to get the figures in so we could complete the budget process. The low bid was $155,000 and we were not able to award the contract because we only budgeted a small amount in the FY 07/08. Although the bid period of 90 days has expired in mid-June the contractor met with us and was willing to reduce the price to $135,000, and has been willing to hold it ever since. They are prepared to begin work in July to complete the re-roofing of this building. She recommended that the Town Council award the contract to Allen Construction.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council award the contract to the apparent low bidder, Allen Construction, in the amount of $135,000, to complete the work on the Senior Center roof replacement.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
Chairman Carlson questioned if this work includes the complete roof at the Senior Center. The Assistant to the Town Manager reported it is the complete roof as well as the flashing around the chimney. They are stripping away the older roof.
VII. TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT/MISCELLANEOUS
The Assistant to the Town Manager reported one of the last items to be completed for the Avon High School Renovation /Additions Project is the purchase of a number of technology items out of the Capital Projects, these are items with a long life, for both data and video. The total of the project is approximately $240,000 and is included in the original appropriation. The reason it is being brought up is the project is out to bid and the bids are due on July 16th in anticipation for the next meeting in August. However, that gives us a very short amount of time to award the contract and have the vendors bring the equipment in before the start of school. There is a server, smart boards, and video presentation equipment, projectors and the like. Unfortunately, we did not receive the
specifications from the consultant in a timely manner to get this out to bid sooner. We are not asking you to act on this tonight but just consider some possibilities to move this process along a little more quickly. One would be to allow the Town Manager to award the contract if it is within budget. That would be a departure from the purchasing rules and regulations. The second would be to have a special meeting, which may not be as popular. We had a request from the Board of Education to see if we could move it along a bit faster. The bids come in on July 16th and we have had some interest so far. Mr. Shea stated he is concerned with the timing issue. A special meeting is not out of the questions, or is it anybody wouldn't want to do but it is going to take time and in this situation would be in favor of having the Town Manager award the contract if it is within budget. The Assistant to the Town Manager reported she is not sure if there
will be any substitutions that take time to analyze. We may not even be ready until August 7th, it is hard to say. Mr. Shea reported if the sentiment of the Council is to have a special meeting then he is fine with that, we just need to move quickly. Chairman Carlson said he is fine with allowing the Town Manager to award the contract as long as all of the normal bidding procedures have been followed. The Town Manager reported the options that have been outlined by the Assistant to the Town Manager are good options. If you authorize the Manager to sign on behalf of the Council, assuming all the bid processes have been followed in accordance with the procedures, then the final bids are at or below the budgeted amount, we can move ahead. We would give you results of it at the next meeting anyways. If for some reason the results are above, then it is going to have to come back to the Council. There is also a period of
bid evaluation afterwards in terms of analyzing, and making sure what is in the bid is what we want and if that delays that to within a week or so of the August meeting, then we will put it on the August agenda. The Superintendent of Schools reported if there are issues with the bid process, it is our procedure to follow up and make sure things are done correctly. Chairman Carlson reported if it comes in at $248,000 instead of $247,000 then we should call a quick meeting and discuss it.
On a motion made by Mrs. Samul, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to award the bid for the Avon High School Renovations/Additions Technology project if the bids come in at or below the project budget of $240,000.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
Chairman Carlson reported the Town Council needs to add to the agenda item #07/08-107 Contract Award: Roaring Brook School Boiler Replacement.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council add Item 07/08-107 Contract Award: Roaring Brook School Boiler to the agenda to address the additional cost of the Roaring Brook School Boiler.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
07/08-107 Contract Award: Roaring Brook School Boiler Replacement
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council award the bid to the apparent low bidder, All State Boiler and Construction in the amount of $426,230.68 to replace the boiler at Roaring Brook School.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs Carlson, Zacchio, Shea and Pena voted in favor.
IX. ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 p.m.
Attest:
Caroline B. LaMonica
Clerk
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