Back to Advisory Committee Minutes
Hingham Town Hall
Present: Committee Members Lauter, Seelen, Asher, Dwyer, Ellison, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Johnson, Manning, Marwill, Mooradian, O’Meara
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1. Call to order
Chair Irma Lauter called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:05 PM.
2. Approval of minutes for November 18, 2008
The Committee reviewed and approved minutes from the meeting on November 18, 2008.
3. Beal Street Fields Update
Tom Hoffman, Brian O’Hearne, Tony Viola, and Elliot Sherman jointly provided an update on the status of the Beal Street fields (aka the Lynch fields).
These fields, controlled by the Board of Selectmen, are ‘not in the best of condition,’ having been privately constructed by the developer with no specifications for soil composition. As a result, there are drainage and other issues, the remediation of which is being borne by the tackle-football and Little League baseball organizations at their own expense and outside the scope of their agreement with the Board of Selectmen.
The presenters noted that there is a lack of overall coordination and budgeting for recreation field maintenance in the Town. They suggested that an ad hoc committee be chartered to update a field study conducted in 2002, with an eye towards assembling a field master plan.
4. Zoning Warrant Articles Preview
Jerry Seelen walked the Committee through summaries of fourteen proposed amendments to the Hingham Zoning By-Law which will be the subject of a public hearing on January 5, 2009.
Nine of the proposed changes have been submitted by the Hingham Planning Board, four by petition, and one by the Board of Selectmen.
5. South Shore Country Club
Matt Havens, Paul Casey, Bill Friend, and Kerry Ryan of the Country Club Management Committee and Jay McGrail, SSCC Interim Director of Operations, reviewed the highlights of the recently-developed South Shore Country Club Business Plan.
Jay characterized that this year has been one of ‘stabilization.’
• Expenditure of capital authorized for maintenance facility relocation has been deferred. However, over $100K of the $330,500 authorized for capital outlay was re-directed to cover unanticipated expenses (lightening-strike repair of the irrigation system, well replacement, and underground tank removal).
• The $500K claim by the irrigation contractor has been successfully mitigated to a $162,500 settlement due in FY10 and $55K in legal fees due in FY09.
The SSCC’s current main focus is to retain and grow the pool of adult golf permit-holders, currently numbering 279 @ $1,857/permit. Permit fees are due in February, enabling an early-season validation of that major revenue component.
6. Financial and Budget Update
Ted Alexiades, Town Accountant/Finance Director, reviewed the latest Five-Year Forecast of Sources and Uses with the Committee, signaling that there is currently a $4.5M budget deficit even without incorporating $1.6M for the new elementary school and $352K for full-day kindergarten.
Ted characterized the budget issue as ‘systemic,’ citing the fact that the FY10 School Department level-services budget increase ($1.7M) alone exceeds the Town’s entire FY10 Proposition 2 ½ tax levy limit increase ($1.3M).
Ted further indicated that the annual OPEB payment should be $2.9M in order to be current. The FY09 budget included a $300K OPEB payment, but that payment was funded from Free Cash rather than from a recurring revenue source (i.e., the tax levy). The FY10 OPEB contribution is currently budgeted to be $800K.
Finally, Ted indicated that a budget ‘level-funded’ from FY09 for FY10 would, by definition, be in balance, given the FY10 Proposition 2 ½ increase.
A lively discussion amongst Committee members ensued, with particular emphasis on the need—in concert with the Board of Selectmen—to provide timely guidance to Ted as he prepares an approach to a balanced budget during the next two weeks.
7. Project Updates
a. DPW. Andy Mooradian, DPW Building Committee liaison, brought the Committee up to date on the completion of various construction tasks at the DPW building site. The project has currently expended $6.03M of the $7.78M authorized.
b. School Building Project. Dennis Friedman informed the Committee that it appeared the project’s financial contingency could accommodate the cost of accessibility-issue remediation at Plymouth River and Foster elementary schools.
The new elementary school construction is on-schedule and on-budget.
c. School Department Budgets. Amy Farrell outlined the January schedule of School Department budget line-item reviews.
8. General Business
a. Elder Services Budget. Amy Farrell indicated that Elder Services will exceed its FY09 van repair and maintenance budget of $2,451 by approximately $1,400.
Since it does not appear that the overage can be covered from elsewhere in the budget, the Department head anticipates requesting a Reserve Fund transfer in the January/February timeframe.
b. Harbor Development. Dan Dwyer informed the Committee that the Harbor Development Committee has abandoned, for the time being, the idea of a pedestrian bridge and is returning the unused portion of the authorized engineering-study funds.
The Chair indicated that the Committee will meet each Tuesday in January.
9. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Asher, Secretary