HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-19
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Community
Preservation
Committee
14 Easy Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
MINUTES - Tuesday- Odober 19, 2004
A meeting of the Community Preservation Committee, CPC, was held on Tuesday, October 19, 2004, at 3: 15 PM at
the land Bank Office at 22 Broad Street.
Present were: Barry Rector, Chair, Ken Beaugrand, Vice Chair, Mark Voigt, Rich Brannigan, Polly Miller, Neville
Richen, Linda Williams, Doug Bennett, Virginia Andrews, and Stephanie Henke, Administrative Secretary.
Barry Rector establ ished a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3: 17 PM.
Upon a motion made by Ken and 2nd by Polly it was unanimously VOTED to approve the agenda.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Upon a motion made by Ken and 2nd by Neville it was unanimously VOTED (with Ginger abstaining) to approve the
minutes of September 21,2004.
APPliCANT PRESENTATIONS
The applicant scheduled to present at this meeting (the Afro American Museum of History for the Higginbotham
House) not being present, it was decided to continue with the agenda.
REQUESTS FOR FUNDS
Housing Office. Polly presented a Request for Funds from the Housing Office for their normal monthly bills. She
passed around the Monthly Director's Report from Bob Nussbaum. The packet had been delivered to Island
Pharmacy for Barry and so the amount was not available. Upon a motion made by Polly and 2nd by Neville, it was
unanimously VOTED, with Ken abstaining, to approve the amount requested from the HOUsing Office, pending
Barry's approval.
Nantucket Historical Association's 1800 House. Rich met with Niles Parker on-site at Mill Street and saw that there
was a lot of work being done. The project is progressing as planned. The invoices are to pay Norton Preservation
Trust for June, July and August. They are working on their deed restriction for the property. Upon a motion made by
Neville and 2nd by Ken, it was unanimously VOTED, with Ginger abstaining, to approve the request for funds to the
NHA's 1800 House in the amount of $111,363.88.
Sherburne Commons. Doug presented a Request for Funds in the amount of $63,494 from Sherburne Commons.
Doug met last week with Mr. Godwin, the new treasurer since Dick Sykes' death. Doug noted that the request was to
reimburse Sherburne Commons for many different bills, including payroll and advertising. Doug stated that although
he had signed off on the request, he has some reservations about some of the bills and was seeking the advice of the
members on the committee. Doug mentioned that they haven't even broken ground yet, and can't until 22 units
have sold and they only have sold 19.
Rich asked what exactly we approved for FY '05. He remembers that it was for seed capital to get the project off the
ground. But he agrees with Doug that as Project Manager, he needs to be well-versed in just what we are supposed
to be paying for and what we aren't.
Ginger noted that last fall the project had to come before the ConCom and that maybe some of the advertising fees
were to go for public notices. Barry agreed that there had been fees they've been required to pay just to get the
project off the ground, but wondered how each invoice submitted this time pertains to the project.
Linda noted that she is on the Board of Directors for Sherburne Commons and that a lot of state permits have been
required and that they want to break ground within a few months. She suggested Doug talk to Joe McGlaughlin and
ere Minutes, October 19, 2004-Page 1
get clarification, or to Joan Craig. She indicated that the CPC funds go toward affordable units, which will be about
20-25% of them as determined by HUD. Barry noted that in a report from the NHO it was stated that even more
than 20-25% would be affordable.
Ken stated that the CPC philosophy of having Project Managers to begin with came from a feeling of the board that
not all members should get into detail on all projects-that's why the projects were divided among the members,
and questions could be brought to the entire committee when necessary.
After further discussion about individual invoices, and a brief discussion about how closely the Project Manager is
supposed to be looki~ at the Request for Funds (which is on the agenda for later in the meeting), upon a motion
made by Mark and 2 by Polly, it was unanimously VOTED, with Linda abstaining, to table the approval of this
Request for Funds until Doug could get more information and detail about each individual invoice. He will meet
with Barry if he needs assistance and with the treasurer again to get answers to his questions.
Nantucket Human Services Center. Rich presented a Request for FUnds in the amount of $13,359 from FY '04 funds
for the Nantucket Human Services Center to pay a bill from Bob DiSimone. Rich reported that the project is moving
along on schedule and that they had responded to the RFP to get a long-term lease from the town for the land. Upon
a motion made by Rich and 2n by Linda, it was unanimollsly VOTED, with Linda abstaining, to approve this request
for funds.
Maria Mitchell Association. Ginger presented a Request for Funds from the Maria Mitchell Association in the
amount of $11,460 from their FY '05 funds to pay their in-painter. Upon a motion made by Ginger and 2nd by
Neville, it was unanimously VOTED to approve this request for funds.
Nantucket Preservation Alliance. Mark presented a Request for Funds in the amount of $150 to pay for the work
done on the pilot video thus far. Upon a motion made by Mark and 2nd by Linda, it was unanimously VOTED to
approve this request for funds.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Nantucket Preservation Alliance Pilot Video Project Preview. Alix St. Clair passed out an outline of what would be
included on the video they are creating with CPC funds, entitled "Preservation Fundamentals: Principles and Practice
on Nantucket." Aaron mentioned that the film will be available in video, CD ROM and hopefully on line. He
mentioned that schools could use it and other communities looking for help with preservation. They then presented
a preview of the movie. Linda Williams asked whether the final product would be less disjointed and have actual
segments, on windows for example. Aaron answered the segments to be included were on the handout and they
would each be done in order and in individual segments.
NEW BUSINESS
Auditing the CPC Books. Barry asked the committee whether they felt that the CPC should retain an independent
auditor to check the CPC "books" to see what we have actually received, spent, and what is still hanging out there as
appropriated but unspent. He noted that Chris Saccardi of the CPCoalition had been contacted and he said that
while he knows no other CPC who retains an independent auditor, there is no rule that says you can't. Barry stated
that it would be an admissible cost under the administrative funds.
Mark asked what the goal of hiring an auditor would be and Barry said to ensure that we are all on the same page
and all money due the CPC for the past is where it needs to be-basically for financial housekeeping. He is not
100% confident at this time with how it's been done by the town. The last meeting with Connie had us perhaps
submitting an article at town meeting, but that was because Connie didn't have a clear understanding of how things
were supposed to be done.
Mark asked whether Barry meant a CPA or a bookkeeper. Barry said he didn't know yet, another person, someone
certified who could look at the books from the inception of CPC onward.
Linda asked whether that would include going through all the applicants and the bills they have submitted and
whether we are required to do an annual audit. Barry answered yes to the former and no to the latter. The Town is
responsible and DOR is a cross check for their system and the CPC is included in the town,
epe Minutes, October 19, 2004-Page 2
Rich stated that hiring an independent auditor at this time was premature. He suggested we go through one more
funding cycle, and see where things stand. Because the committee has been being conservative in granting funds, we
will still be ok.
Linda asked whether we were putting ourselves in jeopardy by not retaining help. Rich said no, that we should see
what the next meeting with Connie brought and then go from there.
Neville pointed out that at the inception of the CPC the committee could have chosen to wait until we knew for sure
how much money it would receive before granting monies to projects, but it chose not to make projects wait until
October.
Ginger wanted to know how, if the percentages that were required in the Act were based on 100% of the funds, we
could accurately allot, say 10% to open space, if we didn't even know what the 100% was that we were taking the
10% of. Barry answered that in the end, it is all corrected for that once we know the accurate 100% figure. He stated
that We know about town fUnds after the town doses its books for the fiscal year, but We don't get a figure from the
state until October.
l\Aark asked how an auditor could fix that issue. He suggested we keep this idea in the back of our minds. He agrees
with the premise, but not right now.
Polly stated that she felt comfortable with allocating 80% of what we thought we might be getting. If we gave more
than that we could be in for trouble if the funds didn't come through. Barry mentioned that we also allow a buffer
and that helps, so that if we ever did come up short, those buffers would be there to help cover what monies we had
promised.
Meeting with CFO. Barry stated that they are waiting until this town meeting is over before approaching Connie for a
meeting about FY '06 funds. They plan to contact her at the beginning of next week.
Site Visits. Barry noted that we work hard on the committee, but that sometimes we miss the best part of being on
the committee-seeing completed projects, being at groundbreakings, etc. He asked that each Project Manager alert
the committee when they knew such an event would be happening.
Ginger noted that the Independent had run an article on the Maria Mitchell grain painting and that it had given
credit to the cpc. She will try to get a copy for the office.
Rich asked the committee whether it might be prudent to assign Project Managers before the committee voted on
whom to award funds to.
Linda stated that she felt everyone needed to visit all sites before voting. Neville disagreed and Mark didn't think it
should be mandatory. Ginger said that the ConCom site visits are optional, and that as we start to vote on who will
receive funds, we plan for time to visit the sites we have concerns about. Barry agreed that it is never mandatory for
a board member or commissioner to do a site visit. He strongly suggested that if any committee member sees or
hears of anything that is of concern about a project, he or she bring it to the full committee's attention.
Mark noted that it was ok for a majority of a committee to be present at a site visit as long as no deliberation or
decisions were happening there.
OLD BUSINESS
The three items under Old Business were tabled until next month's meeting, with Deed Restrictions being the
number 1 priority. However, for item "b. Project Manager Responsibilities," members were asked to look over the
handout on Project Manager Responsibilities and be ready with comments for the next week's meeting.
OTHER BUSINESS
Neville once again mentioned that he will need to step down as Project Manager for the Prospect Hill Cemetery
Association project, as his wife is now being paid by them. He noted that Linda had volunteered to take on the
project. Barry asked if there were others interested, but no one raised a hand. Upon a motion made by Ginger and
2nd by Rich, it was unanimously VOTED to make Linda the Project Manager for the Prospect Hill Cemetery
Association project. Stephanie will send a letter to them alerting them of this change.
epe Minutes, October 19, 2004-Page 3
There being no other business of the committee, and upon a motion made by Linda and 2nd by Neville, it was
unanimously VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 5: 1 0 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Stephanie Henke
Administrative Secretary
ere Minutes, October 19, 2004-Page 4