Minutes of BoWC meeting 9-14-09
Steve Gazzano called the meeting to order at 6:34.
Those members in attendance were Dan Wexman, Steve Gazzano, Jean Schaffer, Lori Vanderschmidt and Emily Beebe. Mark Abrahams, Fiscal Consultant was also present.(until 7:30).
Abrahams Contract
The Board heard of an overview of the proposed contract from Mr. Abrahams. A couple of new services were itemized on the revised proposal that require discussion with Paul Sieloff. EB will discuss these items w/Mr. Sieloff prior to the next BoWC meeting and report back at that time.
Mr. Abrahams discussed the existing accounting practice for the water system, which is done within the general fund. As the costs are mixed within other departments it appears that there is less information to access about the actual finances in regard to municipal water.
He discussed the merits of a special revenue fund and the enterprise fund method of accounting for the water system operations. We have determined that the Town approved MGL ch 40 sec 39A as article 13 at the ATM of 1987. This allows the BoWC to set up a special revenue fund without any further Town meeting action.
The benefit of going forward to the special town meeting to set up an enterprise fund was discussed. The board seemed in agreement about pursuing the Special revenue fund RATHER than an enterprise fund. This matter will be discussed at the next BoWC meeting.
Regardless of the nature of an accounting practice (SRF vs. ENT Fund) the issue of past water project debt needs to be discussed and resolved. Mr. Abrahams outlined a couple of options for the board:
Option 1-
Keep existing debt (past projects) in the General fund, and use Spec RF to handle new capital expenses with operating expenses.
Option 2-
Keep all debt in the general fund and operations handled with Spec RF
But the question outstanding is where the connex fees would go.
Dan Wexman suggested that a single accounting system should be developed to see all the expenses associated with the water system, and this would put all capital costs and connection fees into the same SRF system.
Mr. Abrahams stated that a quite large and visible subsidy from the general fund would need to be made to the SRF under this scenario. Mr. Abrahams will set up the SRF accounting procedures and the BoWC will have to make several decisions about how it is done.
Connex Fees
Jean Schaeffer provided Mr. Abrahams with a synopsis of the BoWC progress with connex fee’s since May. The Boar has determined that a fee schedule based on title 5 is too cumbersome, and it led Jean to review alternatives found in a Tighe and Bond study of municipal fees. She found that most towns index connection fees to service pipe size. Based on this approach Jean presented a schedule to the board using the $10,000 multiplier.
Mr. Abrahahams will review our current options for a fee schedule as part of his contract with the Town.
USDA
Discussion on the USDA and State Revolving fund loan/grant programs led to a discussion about our short-term borrowing strategy. Mr. Abrahams asked to review the letter regarding SRF and USDA loans. He also asked Steve Gazzano to investigate how fast we could access the SRF monies. Mr. Abrahams concluded his time with the board at approximately 8 pm.
The Board discussed the proposed change orders from the fire department, which had been estimated by R.B. Our.
MOTION D.Wexman moved to approve the requests #1-9, 11 and 13.
S. Gazzano, seconder.
VOTED in favor 5-0. E. Beebe will check with Chief Silverman about items 10 and 12 and report back to the board at the next meeting.
Steve Gazzano will be walking the BSC area on Wednesday, and asked members who wanted to join him to meet at the Great Pond parking lot at 10 a.m.
Steve Gazzano reported to the Board that the DPW had cleaned up the BSC of dumped items that had been in the woods for years.
Steve Gazzano moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:10.
[Minutes submitted by Emily Beebe]
The Water Commissioners approved these minutes at the meeting held 10/20/09.
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