FINANCE COMMITTEE – PUBLIC SESSION
Town Hall – Conference Room 1 – 6:30 PM
Minutes from the Meeting of Thursday, January 10, 2013
Committee Members Present: Also Present:
George Schmidt, Chairman Joyce Mason, Town Manager
Charles Gasior, Vice Chairman Mike Richardson, BOS Liaison
Mark Davini, Clerk
Christopher Avis
Oskar Klenert
Theresa Cook
Sal DiBuono
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman George Schmidt called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Recited.
PUBLIC COMMENTS – None.
REVIEW OF MINUTES
Theresa Cook made a motion that the minutes from the Finance Committee meeting held on 12/06/12 be approved as presented. Mark Davini seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a vote of 6-0 (George Schmidt abstained).
NEW BUSINESS
1. Comments from BOS Liaison - Mike Richardson
Mike Richardson reported on continued work with a number of organizations regarding the issue of trash, keeping the 2015 renewal contract date with Semass in mind. A number of options are available. Mr. Richardson stated that the town of Falmouth is now taking its trash to Bourne, but still has a 2-year commitment to their contract with Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station and SeMass.
Charles Gasior asked Mr. Richardson about the status of the bidding process for work on Santuit Pond. Joyce Mason responded that the federal deadline of Jan. 4th for receipt of the bids had been extended. Mr. Gasior also asked about the role of the Municipal Hearing Officer. Mr. Richardson stated that back in 2004, it was decided that any town that wished to institute a fine for a fire violation must have a Municipal Hearing Officer who was responsible for instituting the fine. Mashpee never assigned a Municipal Hearing Officer because of staffing issues as well as the apparent lack of a need for such a position. Tom Mayo has been trained to carry out the responsibilities of a Municipal Hearing Officer, should the need arise.
NEW BUSINESS (cont’d)
2. Transfer Requests.
Joyce Mason had no transfer requests, but had a request for a voucher approval for the audit by Sullivan & Rogers in the amount of $22,000.
Chris Avis made a motion that the Finance Committee approve the $22,000 voucher request for the audit by Sullivan & Rogers. Mark Davini seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.
3. Liaison Reports.
School Committee. Mark Davini reported that the School Committee is in the process of reviewing applicants for the School Superintendent position, the process to be finalized in the month of February 2013. The final applicants will be interviewed by the Search Committee members for their ultimate decision.
DPW. Charles Gasior distributed a chart on transfer station tonnages and recyclables, noting that transfer tonnage went down again by 275 tons from the prior year. On the recycle side, when the Town went to single stream, the tonnage went up by 125 tons, this year being the same as last year. Further discussion on Pay-As-You-Throw will come before the Board down the road.
4. Review of December 2012 Departmental Budget Meetings.
- Human Services, 12/19/12 – George Schmidt reported his attendance at the meeting. Their budget is lower than last year’s as a result of the elimination of rent expense for the department’s headquarters.
- Library, 12/19/12 – George Schmidt stated that in addition to two new staff members previously approved at the October 2012 Town Meeting, the library is now requesting two new staff positions to be created. George Schmidt invited the library representative (s) to attend the 1/24/13 Finance Committee meeting to explain and justify this request. Finance Committee members are asked to familiarize themselves with the Library justification for this additional staff personnel in advance of the meeting. Any new staff positions recommended would need to be approved by the Town Meeting.
- Selectmen, Accounting, Assessing, Human Resources, 12/19/12 – Charles Gasior attended these meetings and reported all were fairly routine presentations. Marilyn Farren, Director of Human Resources, will be retiring at the end of February, 2013.
- Senior Center – Oskar Klenert stated that he had been unable to attend the department budget meetings assigned to him, but had followed up with Jim Long, Director of the Senior Center. Mr. Long is retiring at the end of January, 2013, but has included a request in the 2014 budget for an increase in funding for additional drivers.
- Police/Fire - Mark Davini reported equipment requests from both departments, and will invite both Chiefs to attend the next Finance Committee meeting to explain their requests.
- School Committee – Mark Davini reported that a preliminary budget draft had been prepared by Ann Bradshaw and provided to the School Committee just 24 hours before the budget meeting. There were line item questions raised. Ann Bradshaw reminded the committee of the option to extract salary budgets from the rest of the budget to be voted on as a separate budget item by the Town Meeting. Ann Bradshaw added that School Counsel has always advised against this practice. Mark Davini stated that the preliminary budget had been presented using the Munis system.
NEW BUSINESS (cont’d)
- Sal DiBuono – Mr. DiBuono reported his attendance at nine departmental budget meetings with Joyce Mason, for his own edification, but had no specific reports to make. Mr. DiBuono raised the question as to whether any studies had ever been conducted by Mashpee comparing departmental budgets with other similar municipalities, with statistics for example, as to the cost per fire/police department call. Mr. DiBuono asked why we compare our 2014 budget against the 2013 budget instead of comparing the 2014 budget against 2013 forecast (6 months actual plus 6 months forecast). The answer given by Ms. Mason was that there is a 2014 budget limit which all departments must meet – no wiggle room unless in the case of an extreme emergency situation. Ms. Mason stated that she will begin to forward
monthly department reports to the Finance Committee members, for their information.
George Schmidt recommended, and the committee members agreed, that the Library, Police, Fire, DPW department representatives should be invited to attend a Finance Committee meeting to review their requested budgets after having been reviewed by Joyce Mason. The next Finance Committee meeting should be scheduled after Ms. Mason has met with department heads for budget reviews.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS
- Solar Update – Joyce Mason reported that necessary upgrading will be happening soon – March is the projected target date.
- Capital Improvements Committee – Theresa Cook volunteered to liaison to the Capital Improvements Committee.
- Town Charter Review Committee - It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved that Ms. Cook and Mr. Gasior serve as Finance Committee representatives on the Town Charter Review Committee.
NEXT MEETINGS
- Thursday, January 31, 2013, at 6:30 PM, Selectmen’s Meeting Room 1.
- Thursday, February 7, 2013, at 6:30 PM, Selectmen’s Meeting Room 1, with department representatives invited to attend for review of their budget requests.
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ina G. Schlobohm
Recording Secretary
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