HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-12-19Minutes for December 19, 2016, adopted June 14, 2017
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14 Town of Nantucket
Capital Program Committee 2011 JUti 14 QM 11: 49
www.nantucket-ma.gov
Members: Christy Kickham (Chair), Peter McEachem (vice chair), Richard Hussey (Secretary), Jim Kelly,
Nat Lowell, Pete Kaizer, Stephen Welch
MINUTES
Monday, December 19, 2016
4 Fairgrounds Road, Community Room — 3:30 pm
Called to order at 3:35 p.m.
Staff. Libby Gibson, Town Manager; Brian Turbitt, Director Finance; Julia Lindner, Financial
Analyst; Terry Norton, Town Minutes Taker
Attending Members: Kickham, McEachern, Hussey, Kelly, Kaizer, Welch
Absent Members: Lowell
Late arrival: Welch, 3:41 p.m.
Documents used: Recommendations for Finance Committee;
Finance Committee: David Worth, Stephen Maury, Cliff Williams, Joe Grause, Peter McEachern, Henry
Sanford, Chris Glowacki,
Discussion Kickham — To approve the report. Has a question: the $30,000 for upgrade to the Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP) lat has been eliminated.
Turbitt — It has been removed.
Kickham — Reviewed the report: summary page, CapCom recommendations, and funding
sources.
Turbitt — Added $2.4M for borrowing.
Kickham — Talked to school about Bachus Lane; Diane O'Neil is optimistic they can work
within the projected request; she said much of the work would be done in- house.
Gibson — Department of Public Works (DPW) Log books: she emailed copies of the 2013, 2014,
2015 bucket truck log books to commissioners; some bounced back as undeliverable because
they are big attachments.
Kickham — They are very rudimentary, basically a diary.
Hussey — It is clearly not what Mr. McEachern is looking for.
Welch — Confirmed that the WWTP lab has been moved to operating budget; it still shows in the
excel spreadsheet. Also moved to the Facilities Operating Budget, which still shows, was the 2
Fairgrounds Road Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvement. We looked at OIH draft
mitigation; in the excel report it is still trim and shingling. Under Wannacomet Water, there is
entry without funding.
Kickham — He left some of those items, which were moved to operating, just for discussion.
Kaizer — There is an updated documentary that includes all funding sources.
Kickham — For the OIH, we recommended $150,000, asked how that number had been arrived
at.
Kelly — There is expertise on the OIH committee that has experience with this type of work.
Action Motion to Approve the Recommendation Report. (made by: Welch) (seconded by: Kelly)
Vote Carried unanimously
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Minutes for December 19, 2016, adopted June 14, 2017
Discussion Kickham — Items in red on the report were discussed and moved to operations; WWTP lab
upgrade was also taken out and moved to operational budget Reviewed the format of the report
McEachern — CapCom took the request from $141M down to $17AM between the General and
Enterprise Funds. CapCom is looking ten years out. Something the committee did this year is
each member travelled to a department; that allowed us to see what they are talking about. In
January CapCom will meet to come up with procedures to ensure answers are provided before
the questions are asked. Going forward we will try to get more details without overburdening the
department heads.
Grause — In the past this has been put in the context of what went before as well as possible
trends over the next ten years.
McEachern — One exercise was to compare the FY2018 projections from two years ago with
this year's requests; FY2018 had twenty items two years ago and this year there were sixty; the
question becomes is there consistency in continuity or what happened. We are looking for a list
of Town buildings and their assessed value. Also, two years ago the Madaket sewer was $25M and
it jumped to $80M; OIH went from $15M to $37.5M
Grause — The sewer project in the 2014 capital plan and provided a prospective. He doesn't have
any perspective on these numbers as to how much more capital spending is from last year. It
would be helpful to look ten years in advance even with a guess.
McEachern — We have the 10 -years but the chances are the numbers won't equal the plan.
Worth — Asked if there is a category for depreciation.
Turbitt — It's part of the audit; we don't need to record; he'd have to look.
Worth — It might make good sense to the Town to fund capital to the extent assets are
depreciating. Another observation is for a budget charge to be given in the beginning for the
capital spending.
McEachern — It would have been helpful to know what funding is available prior to the first
meeting; we didn't have that number until two weeks ago and then it jumped up last week.
Worth — Asked if the Board of Selectmen (BOS) would be willing to specify a target capital
budget.
Kelly — The process used is to have Town Administration come up with the capital expenditure
requests; one source for that is free cash. The BOS hasn't been doing that recently; the BOS can
make changes going forward and will consider it for next year.
Maury — Asked how much scrutiny was put into that two -year difference.
McEachern —That is one of the procedure changes to be discussed by CapCom; one way might
be, if the item number changes by ten percent, CapCom will require and explanation. If that
detail isn't provided, it won't be included in the recommendations.
Kickham — CapCom is hoping to create accountability on numbers for out -year projects.
Maury — Equally troubling was the increase of line items: from twenty to sixty.
Kickham — One of our improvements is to be more aware of that and request accountability.
Next year, CapCom will have a better sense of past years and years going out
McEachern — CapCom tried asking why something went from $20M to $60M and why it wasn't
there; reaction went both ways. Sometimes we ask if the requested amount is sufficient to
complete the project. We need to take away the "crutch" of the Nantucket Factor and asking for
that thirty -five percent after the fact; that should already be built into budget and the number be
within ten percent of the final cost.
Kelly — One challenge Ms Gibson had of doing a capital budget, in the absence of a strategic
plan, she had to make assumptions about capital dollars.
Kickham — He doesn't think there is structure in place for accountability by the department
heads. He doesn't know where that would come from. There will be more questions in the future
on the number.
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Minutes for December 19, 2016, adopted June 14, 2017
McEachern — Cited an example of one provider having backed up to the numbers by line items
for the request; that was a big help. It should be a simple thing to do.
Worth — FinCom has had trouble getting the accountability; it's frustrating that there isn't a good
mechanism in place to get that. We are constantly facing the pressure of override and increased
taxes.
Kickham — The consequence for lack of accountability for the current year is it won't be
recommended; it is hard to put accountability on the out years. We trust the departments that
their requests are needed; it is up to CapCom to apply criteria.
Williams — Police cars come out of the General Fund; asked if Ambulances should be in the
Operating Budget.
Turbitt — The funding source is the Ambulance Fund. Police cars are in the Article 8 budget.
Maury — Under facilities the Americans with Disabilities Act upgrade for 2 Fairground Road, the
narrative seems to contradict the recommendation.
Turbitt — Most Facilities requests stay in their Operating Budget and will be funded out of free
cash because each was under $10,000 and is a one -time expenditures. CapCom felt it was more
appropriate for those to come from the Operating Budget.
Worth — In regards to OIH, asked if the new facility obviates the repairs.
Kickham — The equipment could be moved to the new facility and is vital to operation of the
home. The shingling, we feel the draft mitigation is better suited based on the building's unknown
future; we also did not recommend the shingling based upon the excessive costs.
Worth — Asked Mr. Turbitt to address where money is coming from.
Turbitt — Referred to Page 36 of the report. There will be no override; except possibly for OIH.
11. DATE OF
TBD
Adjourned at 5:08 p.m.
Submitted by:
Terry L. Norton
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