COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
MINUTES
June 25, 2013
A meeting of the Community Preservation Committee was held on Tuesday, June 5, 2013 at 6:00 pm at 120 Washington Street, Salem, MA. Present were John Boris, Kevin Cornacchio, Bart Hoskins, Joanne McCrea, Mickey Northcutt, Tim Shea, Helen Sides and Leslie Tuttle. Also present was Jane Guy and Elizabeth Rennard of the City of Salem. Mayor Kimberley Driscoll was also present for a portion of the meeting.
Review of open meeting law, public records lawn, quorum requirements and other rules of conduct
Ms. Rennard reviewed key points of the Open Meeting Law and the local Sunshine Ordinance. She stated that Ms. Guy will be the CPC’s staff person, taking minutes, keeping records and putting committee decisions into writing. Ms. Rennard stated that five is the minimum for a quorum and that five is the minimum of members needed to take a vote.
Review of CPA Ordinance and legislation and overview of Committee responsibilities
Ms. Rennard provided copies of the ballot question, which brought the CPA to the City of Salem. It allows for a surcharge to be added to tax bills. She noted that there are exceptions that can be applied for. The money will start to come in with the last quarterly tax bill of this calendar year. The Assessor has estimated that for the first year there may be up to $450,000 in revenue from this tax, but it does not take into account any exceptions that people might apply for. The Assessor is going to work on those numbers to give us a real budget for the first year. We won’t see the match from the State until 2014. The percentage is approximately 25%. She provided copy of the state law the created the CPA. She noted that on Page 16, B1 is what the CPC needs to do.
Each person representing a board needs to go back to their board and ask about needs. She stated that the CPC will need to figure out how we solicit ideas from boards and the general public, ideas for projects that are worthy of CPA funds. There needs to be at least one public hearing that this committee convenes each year when it puts its plan together. The CPC needs to determine a format (i.e. a form) of how to solicit and gather information, along with the public hearing. The CPC then puts together a plan of projects that it recommends with an estimated budget. The plan needs to be submitted to the City Council. She believes that it needs to be done for the first Council meeting in October. She stated that once the City Council gets the plan, they can cut projects or priorize them, but they can’t add to them. On Page 17, it indicates certain projects for which funding each year must be set aside - 10% on historic
resources, 10% on community housing, and 10% on open space. She stated that the funds can be carried over such as to fund larger projects. Ms. Rennard stated that the CPC will have a training on July 9th. She added that the Department of Revenue is putting out new guidelines on how municipalities are supposed to handle the funds.
Mayor Driscoll stated it is a cash flow issue to plan for FY14 initiatives. The revenue will come in quarterly on the tax bills. We will identify a budget for what we know we are going to collect and an expectation of what the state will match. We are one of the first communities to do the blended model, which means that any money we set aside as a community for these activites and put into the CPA fund, it will also qualify for the match. Therefore, if we set aside $50,000 each year for parks and playgrounds, we could put it in the CPA funds to get the match. She stated that we can adopt a budget based on what we think we will have. The good thing would be to have everything set up in the fall for spring implementation.
Ms. Rennard also provided a copy of the ordinance that created the CPC.
Mayor Driscall stated that she wanted to come out and thank everyone for their willingness to serve on this committee, particularly those who are already serving on other boards. She stated that she is excited about the opportunity to have some projects we can allocate funding for. She noted that this will be a board that members can actually see the fruits of their labor. She thanked everyone for their time.
Next Meeting Date
Tuesday, July 9, 2013, 6:00pm
Election of Officers – Chair and Vice Chair
Ms. Rennard stated that the Chair will act as the person to controll the meetings and in their absence, the Vice Chair will fill in.
Mr. Shea nominated Mr. Cornacchio for Chair.
Mr. Cornacchio accepted the nomination.
Mr. Boris seconded the motion.
Mr. Tuttle nominated Helen Sides as Chair.
Ms. McCrea seconded the motion.
Ms. Sides accepted the nomination.
On the nomination of Mr. Cornacchio for Chair, Mr. Shea, Mr. Boris and Mr. Hoskins voted in favor. The motion did not carry.
On the nomination of Ms. Sides for Chair, all were in favor and the motion so carried.
Ms. Sides nominated Mr. Hoskins for Vice Chair.
Mr. Hoskins declined the nomination.
Mr. Hoskins nominated Mr. Cornaccio for Vice Chair.
Mr. Cornacchio accepted the nomination.
Mr. Shea seconded the motion, all were in favor and the motion so carried.
Determine the CPC Meeting Frequency and Set a Schedule
Ms. Guy stated that there is a training on July 9th at 6:00.
Ms. Guy stated that the CPC could set specific meeting dates, such as the second and fourth Tuesday each month, or could set meetings based on need and availabiltiy. She stated that the CPC will have to get a survey out, provide time for it to come in, have a couple meetings to discuss, put the plan together and have a public hearing.
Ms. Rennard stated that the public hearing is needed to solicit needs prior to putting the plan out.
Mr. Boris stated that it all needs to be done within 8-10 weeks.
Ms. Rennard envisioned having the public hearing in September, and did not feel there should be a public hearing in August.
Ms. McCrea stated that the CPC has a lot to do, but that she voted to not have meetings twice per month.
Ms. Guy stated that the CPC would have to meet a few times in September if it is to solicit and review projects and get a plan ready for the first Council meeting in October.
Ms. Rennard stated that the CPC can be soliciting projects over the summer.
Mr. Hoskins questioned the notion of having to have the plan ready so quickly, since we don’t know what the match will be. He questioned how this will work for projects that may need to be bonded. He stated that it seems odd to have an iron clad plan in such a short time frame, not knowing the funds available. He wondered if there is a seasonal cycle to which the moneys can be expended and ifwe can set aside funds in proportions and see where we stand six months from now.
Ms. Rennard stated that that is what the finance people are investigated and that we will know more after the training.
Ms. Sides questioned being able to achieve all this within the time frame.
Ms. Guy stated that her understanding is that there is something in the regs that says it has to be done before the tax rate is set.
Ms. Tuttle stated that $450,000 isn’t that hard to spend.
Ms. Guy stated that it may not even be that much.
Ms. Tuttle stated that there are some vital things in the city that we should just get done.
Ms. Rennard stated that the Mayor has some projects that she thinks are worthy and put them in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget earmarked for the CPA.
Mr. Northcutt stated that the worst case is we reserve it all for the first year to build it up.
Ms. Guy stated that there may be some small projects that we could get done and test it out.
Mr. Hoskins stated that it would be nice to get project signs up for a couple small projects. He stated that he was worried about the amount of public input we could get this time of year.
Ms. Tuttle was in agreement with Beth’s point to have it in September, rather than July or August, because of the kind of paranoia that surrounds this. She felt everyone is back in town by September.
Ms. Sides stated that it has to be very transparent and some room for applications outside of what has been earmarked.
Ms. Shea asked if regional projects are possible, such as the old lead mills area.
Ms. Rennard replied in the affirmative.
Ms. Tuttle stated that Essex County Greenbelt just raised a bunch of money in partnership with Marblehead and the City of Salem.
Mr. Hoskins stated that the City Council has probably been all over the CIP which includes a bunch of projects which have already been identified and prioritized. He suggested reviewing the CIP.
Ms. Rennard stated that she will request a copy for the members.
Ms. Guy stated that Wednesdays and Thursdays are pretty much out because several CPC members are already on boards on those nights, other than in August.
Ms. Sides suggested September 10th for the public hearing.
Ms. Guy stated that in between the training and the public hearing, members need to go to their boards and a survey or form needs to be issued. She indicated that CPC members can tell their boards that ideas will be solicited in a more formal manner, but that they should be thinking about ideas. She stated that the boards may not necessarily want to vote on the ideas yet.
Ms. Rennard suggested that CPC members send something in advance to their boards.
Mr. Hoskins stated that for the Conservation Commission, he put it as an agenda item for discussion and ask board members to bring their ideas. The board can then vote on the ideas as a board.
Ms. Sides stated that she felt she was on a learning curve and that, without a format for her board members to respond to, she did not feel she could answer the questions regarding the parameters.
Mr. Shea asked the charge for the CPC members who are not on other boards.
Ms. Rennard stated that those members can disseminate the forms that are created to their constiuencies and whoever they think might have ideas.
Mr. Hoskins suggested disseminating to places we know of that people look for news on Salem events, such as the new website recently started regarding Salem. He stated that he would be nervous about disseminating to anything with a political slant.
Ms. Guy stated that if the board indicates all the places where they would like the forms distributed, she will handle it on behalf of the board.
Ms. Sides stated that she did not want to open up to wide yet because she felt the CPC needs to understand the process. She felt if it was too wide a net, there will be people who feel that they were not heard.
Mr. Cornacchio agreed that the board needs to get is arms around it first.
Ms. Hoskins suggested having a page on the City website.
Ms. Guy stated that the webpage is already up under Boards and Commissions. It has the agendas, a couple of links and a copy of the ordinance and general information. She stated that it is a work in progress. Once there is a form for people to fill out, it will be uploaded. Ms. Guy stated that there is so much unknown until the 9th, she suggested a quick meeting the following week.
Ms. Sides stated that she would like to have a meeting soon after the 9th.
A meeting was scheduled for July 16th at 5:45pm.
Mr. Northcutt stated that he would like to find a way to push past September, noting he was concerned about people thinking that we did this in August.
Ms. Guy stated that the CPC will have to develop some criteria on how to judge the ideas.
Mr. Boris suggested finding out when other neighboring communities have their meetings, so interested members can sit in.
Ms. Guy will check into it and email it to the CPC.
Mr. Hoskins asked about someone who is representing a board and has solicited ideas from their board, but can’t attend a CPC meeting, if they can send letter to Ms. Guy to read.
Ms. Rennard replied in the affirmative.
Mr. Shea asked if the Planning Department will be responsible for vetting out the costs and timelines of the different proposals, after the list is narrowed down to a reasonable number.
Ms. Guy stated that that is a good question for the trainer.
There being no further business, Mr. Boris made a motion to adjourn and thanked the officers for accepting. Mr. Shea seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion so carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane A. Guy
Administrator
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