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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020/5/12 Joint Meeting FinCom Minutes for May 12,2020,adopted June 2 Town of Nantucket 7� �9 Finance Committee ; 7IN C L F i= • Select Board o flA1!t�`~!'� Joint Meeting 2D28 JUN 12 AM 11: 35 www.nantucket-ma.gov Committee Members: Denice Kronau (Chair),Stephen Maury(Vice-chair),Joseph T. Grause Jr., Peter McEachern,Joanna Roche,Peter Schaeffer,Chris Glowacki,Jill Vieth MINUTES Tuesday,May 12,2020 This meeting was held via remote participation using ZOOM and YouTube, Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 Order Regarding Open Meeting Law Called to order at 2:10 p.m. by Ms. Kronau Staff in attendance: Libby Gibson, Town Manager; Brian Turbitt, Director of Finance; Erika Mooney, Assistant Administrator; Nancy Holmes, Town Clerk; Alexandria Penta, Financial Analyst Attending Members: Kronau,Maury, Grause, Roche, Schaeffer, Glowacki,Vieth Absent Members: McEachern Select Board attendees: Dawn Hill Holdgate (chair),Jason Bridges, Kristie Ferrantella,Matt Fee Speakers: Michael Cozort, Superintendent of Schools; Beth Hallett, Assistant Superintendent of Schools;Sarah Alger,Town Moderator Town Counsel: John Giorgio,K&P Law Documents used: 2020 Town Meeting Logistics;Memo Additional Allowance A•enda ado.ted by unanimous consent. I. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PUBLIC II. PUBLIC COMMENT 1. None III.APPROVAL OF PRIOR MEETING MINUTES I 01( IV. DISCUSSION RESCHEDULING THE 2020 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING(ATM) Discussion Gibson — This meeting is to try to figure out how and when to hold the 2020 ATM. She is asking the Select Board and FinCom to settle on a date; it will be preceded by outreach. One scenario is to accommodate an attendance of 300-500 people, the second is for 500 to 700; non-voters won't be permitted to attend. We can pare down the number of warrant articles to the those most critical and push off the rest into fall. We would have a "pre-Town Meeting" before the ATM. We would partner with the Civic League and other similar groups to go over what is intended for this ATM. The earliest date for ATM would be June 20t. COVID-19 complicates how to hold a Town meeting. Outstanding items also for discussion include: do we hold a Special Town Meeting (STM) in fall;what will be on November election ballot; and how to handle companion articles to ballot questions. FinCom will have to provide new motions for certain articles. Giorgio — Because Nantucket's warrant has been posted, it can only be postponed by declaration of recess by Ms. Alger, the moderator. That ability goes away 30 days after the governor lifts the declaration of emergency. When you decide the date, Ms. Alger can make the declarations of continuance. Under the law ATM would have to be held by June 30th; under Chapter 53 you can schedule ATM after June 30t. If you choose an August date, the law also allows the Town to submit a spending plan to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) to spend 1/12 of FY2020 allowance. DOR has issued guidance on how provisions will work. He will get together with Mr. Turbitt and Ms. Gibson to ensure Page 1 of 5 FinCom Minutes for May 12,2020,adopted June 2 everything is covered. Two scheduling options are: after June 30th or prior to June 30th with rescheduling the election to after ATM. If ATM is held after June 30th, the general election will occur before June 30th; that is the law. If the meeting is prior to June 30th, you would want to get in and out of ATM as quickly as possible due to the pandemic; after non-called articles are voted, take a short recess and move to pass over them in one vote. Recommend if you meet before June 30t, you should agree to place the citizen articles on the STM warrant as long as they are not called at ATM. Continuing citizen articles to STM prevents the sponsor from having to get 100 signatures to resubmit for the STM warrant. Turbitt—There is an issue with the Airport, a capital project for security;if we don't have the supplemental funding authorized by June 30th, the airport loses the FAA grant funding. They would still be required to complete the project but would be responsible for paying the full $4m. If the ATM is to be after June 30th, we would have to contact the FAA about accepting an authorization at a meeting which takes place shortly after June 30th. Kronau — Based upon the calendar, if we hold ATM June 27th with the election on June 30th, we could still get everything done in June. Gibson—Traditionally having ATYM and the elections back to back is extremely difficult. Holmes — Her concern would be if a subsequent day for ATM were needed and it fell after June 30`h Hill Holdgate —Asked if the COVID-19 situation could change between now and June 30t. She believes it will be worse with the increase of people coming on the Island Glowacki—Asked if ATM is exempt from the Governor's prohibition of large gatherings. Giorgio—The 10-person limit exempts all municipal legislative bodies. Glowacki — He would equate ATM to a sporting event, which is rated Category 4; he can't imagine putting 500 to 700 people together in a room in July. Giorgio —As of today, most towns are sticking with having a June town meeting, some as late as June 231d; except Provincetown which is going with Sept 24th. He would not be surprised if there is further postponement on all of those June town meetings. Grause — Asked if the meeting could be attended via video. Asked about the possibility of using an outside space like the football field. Giorgio — There is a pending bill that allows remote participation but only if it is a representative meeting. Holmes —Anything we use has to be Americans with Disabilities Act approved; we could do it in a tent but would still have to have power for WIFI and video recording. The Boys & Girls Club's gym is larger than the Nantucket High School (NHS) auditorium; at the high school, we'd have to use assorted rooms. Her preference is to hold ATM in the fall; however, students should not be present. Vieth — She understands Ms. Holmes points. It is important to get the election done since some people holding seats pass their term limits. We can't keep pushing this off indefinitely. Hill Holdgate — She doesn't want to postpone the election further; we will have to deal with articles not being on the ballot. The most critical thing is the Airport; but the whole Town budget is critical as well. Bridges —Asked the minimum number of articles to be passed the Town needs to function. Giorgio — It's obviously General Fund Operations Budget, all Enterprise Fund Operations Budgets, any critical Community Preservation Act (CPA) articles, and capital General and Enterprise Enter Funds. Hill Holdgate—Approval of the CPA articles are critical to Human Services. Gibson— Critical Articles include 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14. There are 15 to 20 articles, the majority of which are routine. We could come up with a list of what articles are critical for the Town to operate in FY2021. Page 2 of 5 FinCom Minutes for May 12,2020,adopted June 2 Turbitt—Articles 6 & 17,which are budget transfers. If we meet prior to June 30th,we'd need to deal with the revolving accounts. The Airport would like the fuel revolver substantially lowered. Giorgio—That is true. The maximum would be 20 articles. Bridges — He'd like them categorized and explained so the public doesn't think we are trying to sneak something through. He wants to go forward with a June ATM. Kronau— She questions stopping the 50 citizen warrant articles and getting sponsors to agree to their articles not being brought forward at this time. Giorgio — You would vote to pass everything not called and then vote to pass over all other articles including citizen warrant articles. Those passed-over articles would then go on another Town Meeting warrant. Even if they are called, there can still be a motion to pass over the citizen articles;it requires a majority vote. Gibson—The sponsors would all be contacted prior to the meeting and it would be explained at the pre-meeting that we are trying to deal with the most critical articles. She thinks they will go along with it knowing they don't have to get signatures again. Roche — This should happen sooner or later. Asked if ZOOM could handle more than 100 people. Gibson—Chatham had a zoom webinar on COVID-19. We can handle over 100 people. Hill Holdgate—We have an October 14th date set aside for STM. Gibson—We might not be able to hold STM in the fall; these articles might have to wait for 2021 ATM. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, the pandemic won't be over by the fall. Holmes — She is very concerned about the October 14th date because the Secretary of State has a bill going forward to expand early voting by 18 days, including weekends and in person; all Town Clerks are against the way he promoted this expansion and this bill and will speak against it. Gibson—There was also talk about meeting September 26th. It becomes 10 times for difficult to hold the ATM after school starts. There are no quorum requirements for ATM but there are for STM. Giorgio — There is a bill, which hasn't been signed, that would allow the Select Board to reduce the Town Meeting quorum requirement by 10%. It would limit voting on articles pertaining to the budget. We are getting lots of questions about how the crowd at ATM could be managed and if you could require temperature checks. Denying people attendance is fraught with peril. You're best off with social distancing, sanitizing, and reducing quorum requirements. Holmes — She's not sure if attendees can be placed sufficiently distanced without using different rooms; to affect social distancing, we discussed using several rooms with a Monitor and WIFI and video in each. Cozort—The school situation is that any summer day we can make work;the later we get into August the more problematic it becomes, if we are going to open. A/C is a logistical issue for a summer meeting. We can make a Friday night work; Saturday would be hard since that gives us only Sunday to clean the schools for Monday classes. The middle and high schools are all one building so both gyms and auditoriums might work. Kronau —We are comfortable with paring the warrant down to essentials; suggested deciding on a date now with the best information we have at hand now. Glowacki — He's concerned with what would happen if we chose a date then are forced to move it. Alger— We need to decide on a date. She thinks there isn't any good date; just pick the least worse. Doesn't think the fall will be any better than June. Pare it down to crucial articles and the lesser quorum requirement. Page 3 of 5 FinCom Minutes for May 12,2020,adopted June 2 Holmes — Logistically,June 29th for ATM would be better with the election still on June 16t. It's better for us because it allows her office time to certify the elections. We could handle a pared-down meeting the week of June 22nd. She's reached out to Options Technology, the hand-held voting company, to see if they are available for any date; she hasn't heard back_ Hill Holdgate — She'd like to use the electronic voting with people spread out across different rooms. Holmes — the Boys & Girls Club hasn't been fully evaluated but the late June dates are available. That site would have to be vetted but they do have A/C. Grause — If we do a forum as described about covering article critical to operations of the Town,we could ask people not to come. We want the meeting to be very short He'd be more comfortable with 50 people in the all in the high school auditorium. Alger — If we are using multiple rooms, we will definitely need electronic voting, there is no way to have 500 people in the auditorium with social distancing; at best the room could accommodate 300. Fee — He doesn't see spending money to use electronic voting when we are trying to keep costs down. Giorgio — An option is ATM on June 22 and election on June 30. That allows people to be more informed about the ballot questions. Holmes — The June 16`h date is out there and that's what people have been told will be the election date. Gibson—We can change the election date. Likes the idea of not reversing the order. If we are going to be doing articles with ballot questions,we will have more people. Hill Holdgate — She agrees; we shouldn't be debating those spending articles if we are trying to keep attendance to a minimum. Turbitt — One thing to keep in mind, having election beforehand would give us the ability to change motions before ATM if the override doesn't pass and there will be no STM; that puts us in the position of having to hold a meeting to close the gap by voting on a tax-rate increase. Kronau—Asked how we should do that. Turbitt — He doesn't like the election first; but if we aren't having an STM, it would potentially prohibit us from setting a tax rate until the budget is balanced. It could force us into a STM. Gibson—The reality is the Our Island Home override could fail anyway. Alger — She doesn't think people will vote for a big-ticket item when they are suffering economically. Hill Holdgate — Go forward with election on June 16 and set a date in late June for ATM with an absolute minimum of articles; set up a webinar with citizen article sponsors. Vieth — She is okay with the election coming first; that might impact ATM attendance. She is really uncomfortable with telling people not to come to ATM. Gibson— Setting the date will go on the next Select Board agenda. She wants to have Options Technology available to cover using multiple rooms. It's better to have all that in place and not need it than the other way around. Fee — He agrees with Mr. Bridges about not spending the money on technology. If nothing controversial is on the ATM warrant, people won't turn out. Hill Holdgate — She wants the back up of electronic voting in place even if only 50 people show up. Mr. Cozort thinks the most optional occupancy for the auditorium is 200 people with social distancing. Holmes —We don't want to tell people not to come. Options Technology has been very nice; also it is possible that we are contractually obligated to use them this year. Hill Holdgate—We have a consensus and will put this on the Select Board agenda at the next meeting Page 4 of 5 FinCom Minutes fox May 12,2020,adopted June 2 V.NEXT MEETING DATE/AD OURNMENT l);uuc: l lil) VI.COMMITTEE REPORTS&OTHER BUSINESS 1. None Motion to Adjourn at 3:22 p.m. (made by: Roche) (seconded) Roll-call Vote Carried unanimously Submitted by: Terry L. Norton Page 5 of 5