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Hannah Anderson, Secretary
Jay Simeone
George Martin
Marc Luescher
Michelle Walton
FAX 978.582.4148
Lunenburg Finance Committee
10-25-18
Location: Town Hall
Present: Terri Burchfield, John Henshaw, George Martin, Michelle Walton, Marc Luescher, Jay Simeone
Absent: Hannah Anderson
Guest: Heather Lemieux, Town Manager; Karen Brochu, Town Accounting Director; Martha Moore,
Lunenburg Library Director
Open Meeting
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. This meeting is being recorded and televised for re-
broadcast on the Lunenburg Public Access cable channel.
Terri stated that Hannah was not going to be present. She stated that Martha Moore had public
comment. She confirmed with the Finance Committee that there was no additional public comment and
that George was to be watching the clock.
Public comment Martha Moore, the Director of the Lunenburg Public Library, explained the library has
been asked to have twice-weekly meetings with the 5t grade. There are six classes coming for the rest
of FY2019. This changes the staff's working time as it take a number of hours every week to be there for
the kids and implement various library activities to accommodate their visit. It averages 10 hours
between four staff to do this work, which is outside of the scope of their regular work. At this point,
there is not money in the budget to pay for this. Martha had written an article for the warrant for the
special town meeting asking for an additional $7200.00 to apply to the library's salary line budget.
George asked for clarification of the amount; Martha stated $7200.00. Terri explained that Heather
rolled the request into the Article 1 of the town warrant to be explained during the special town
meeting. George asked for how long this additional funding would cover the need; Martha respond that
it would take them from three or four weeks ago through the end of May. Mark asked if this was to be
expected in the future; Martha did not know. The library staff have been mainly working on making sure
the students have cards and that they get an extended return due date. George asked what grade this
involved; Martha stated 5* grade, about 140 students, due to changes in curriculum. This will include
one teacher and one classroom aid per visit. The library staff are spread out to cover different areas and
needs of the library while Martha is at the front desk problem solving. Jay asked for if this was school
sponsored; Martha responded it was. Jay asked if the school was providing any funding; Martha stated it
was not. Jay asked when this was planned for; Martha stated it started about a month ago and it was
not planned for. Terri restated that it was not a collaborated effort between the library and the school.
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year that added to the timeline. Article three regarding the DPW funding will be less than previously
stated, due to attrition and retirements, at $8049.80. This will be a transfer from the salary reserve. The
personnel committee met and voted to proceed with the salary survey. It will be done free of charge as
a pilot community so the article will be passed over. The language for the bylaws is on Facebook and the
town website.
Discussion of voting procedures at the town meeting Terri brought up that it may have happened last
year that there was discomfort with the way the vote went. She suggested it might have been that there
was limited opportunity to ask questions or discuss amongst the committee, but she did not remember.
George made a comment that was not discernable in the recording. Terri stated that it sounded like the
suggestion was from the regular town meeting and that it may have been there was not a good
opportunity to have discussion and for individuals to explain the reasoning for their individual vote.
Mark suggested that it might have been because they could not vote at the town level, that they had to
vote at the committee level. Jay mentioned it might have had something to do with not being able to
caucus; Terri responded that the committee was not able to. John confirmed this, and further stated
that he liked the ability for each to state their vote and in particular to explain their vote. Especially a
"no" vote, and to have more transparency. Terri stated that this can be discussed more at the meeting
on November 8th
", and that will the additional detail regarding the town warrant at that time it can be
discussed in more detail. When asked Heather stated it was the town moderator that directed that the
Finance Committee could not caucus, and Terri confirmed that it would not be appropriate to have a
private meeting within the town meeting.
Review of member projects
Mark discussed a conversation with Heather were it was discussed that the town of Lunenburg was
close to a contract with Cleargov.com to provide town data to the public, and that he slowed his work
on the data project due to this. It will take four to six weeks after finalizing the contract for the data to
become available on Cleargov.com. Terri confirmed that it will also have school data.
George discussed the dashboard. He stated he would like to speak about them more holistically at a
future meeting, such as why the debt limits had spiked or be in a better position to explain trends he is
seeing. He wants to review with the town manager and finance to validate his finding. He discussed that
there have been comments about how things look good or bad, or that he is seeing a downward slope.
He wants to be able to speak about debt and be able to address peoples' questions. He wants to be able
to present it in a format that will make it easier for others to understand. Terri was asking if
Cleargov.com gets as detailed as George's charts. She does not feel that the site can drill down to
specific items so George's work it still helpful.
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booklet out to the committee and stated the group could review and identify what sticks out to them.
She asked if the website would tolerate a searchable PDF. Heather responded but it was not discernable
in the recording. Terri suggested we could reduce the booklet to key terms onto a customized PDF that
could also have definitions re-written to be user-friendly. Terri asked for feedback. Michelle stated that
it contained all of the definitions she had looked for as she was doing research.
Financial Officer Report There was an announcement that went to Terri that she will forward to the
committee. Karen discussed Free Cash. Regarding Free Cash, it was certified October 17. The original
estimate was $1,531, 000. The certified figure is $1,512,483. The retained earnings of the enterprise
funds were certified at $52,790 in water, $1,929,110 in sewer, and $1,086 in trash. George asked for
clarification about what the trash enterprise fund is. Karen stated it is when people purchase the yellow
bags for their trash, generating the revenue from which the expenses are drawn. Terri brought up that
there had been previous discussion between town finance and financial planning as to whether it made
sense to pay anything down. The response was that it will be a couple of years before there would be
any bonds available to use, that we can't do anything at the current but it will continued to be reviewed
to see if it would make sense to pay down in the future.
Review of amended investment policy: To discuss the change in the diversification policy because the
current is that no more than 10% of the town's investment be in a single institution. The revised would
be 25%. Karen pointed out the policy indicated that the investment would need to be fully insured or
collateralized. She went through the cash for the close of this fiscal year. Thirteen financial institutions
are utilized. The majority are less than 2%. Fidelity Bank at the close of the fiscal year was 10.53%. That
is for daily deposits, all checks that come into the town. Main Street Bank has all enterprise funds and
daily cash deposits. This was 16% at the close of FY2018. Unibank, the state depository account, had
22% at the end of FY2018. Harbor One, for the school construction, had 9%. Belmont, part of the school
construction, had 12%. Bartholomew, the trust funds, had 19%. All of them are fully insured even
though they were over the old investment policy of 10%. Karen stated her opinion that the 25% is
acceptable and that the funds are safe. The funds are covered 100%. John asked if she was referring to
the FDIC insurance. There was further discussion of other types of insurance depending upon what type
of bank or account is in question. Terri asked if the policy required the investments be in an interest
bearing accounts, or if there was any discussion around that. Karen responded that it does not
specifically state that, but that would be desirable investment behavior. Terri asked if the business
accounts are interest bearing. It was confirmed. Terri questioned if that should be part of the
investment policy. Karen responded that could be done. She will take a closer look to see if it is already
part of the policy. Mark suggested it would not be necessary, as it is an obvious action. Safety, liquidity,
and yield are considerations written into the policy when deciding on an investment instrument; further
indicating investments are to be made with the best rate of return. John stated he felt that safety and
liquidity take precedence over yield. Karen agreed. George asked a question to which Karen replied that
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the Tirst paragrapn using the word should . Jonn stated that this term may have been selected to
broaden the number of institutions the town can utilize but suggested that the narrower term "shall"
could strengthen the policy. Karen responded that the town subscribes to the bank rating service and
does not take issue with that word changing to "shall". John further identified some typo-type points of
edit: page one under "scope", in the second line section two "will deal with trust funds"; a similar
section says "applies to ... ". It was suggested that "will deal with ... " should be changed to match.
Page one on investment instruments, the word "town" in line three should be capitalized. Page three
section H line two right hand side "minimum" is spelled wrong. Karen will make changes and bring it
back to the November 8 meeting. It was stated the Board of Selectmen has not voted on it yet.
Committee Department Updates:
John, Capital Planning Committee: The town manager has distributed the capital planning document
Google sheet to the applicable departments. They are getting ready to find out what the plans are for
the next five years. Terri asked if the discussions would be televised or otherwise recorded. They will
not.
George: information is dated, but Chief wanted him to state that engine four had some issues with the
inspection of the pump. It will cost $5,000-7,000 if they can locate the parts, as it is a 1995 engine. It will
take about 300 days to get the new fire engine.
Michelle: Library Board of Trustees. They had a question about how to access their old trust funds as
they have a specific funding request. Karen responded that she just spoke with Martha from the library
today. She provided her with a report on the trust funds and how much funds are available. She will
walk Martha through the process of how to access the funds at the time of their needing to be
requested.
Terri: Town Charter. There are potentially two new items: rank order voting, but committee is not ready
to put it in the charter. It is a system whereby the elected official has 50% of the vote. It is intended to
level the field when there is a scenario where there are several candidates to choose from (a recent
election where there were 16 candidates for one position was given as an example). The other item was
if someone becomes a write-in candidate they are not able to be elected unless they have a number of
votes equal or greater than the number required to get on the ballot. There will be a report of these
items at the town meeting, and the first public hearing will most likely be in in December. As an aside,
the ham and bean supper at The Eagle House raised $997.00.
Terri asked if Hanna is responsible for the BOS and public hearing. She is not.
Asked if there is further public comment. There is not.
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PERSONAL PROPERTY TAXES RECEIVABLE
REAL ESTATE TAXES RECEIVABLE
OTHER RECEIVABLE, OVERDRAWN ACCOUNTS, DEFICITS
Tax liens recv variance
Deferred property taxes
Refunds due taxpayers
Income protection w/h
Dental insurance
Due to comm-fish & game
Due to deputy tax collector
FY18 Title 1
COA/MART
GHSB Click it or ticket
Underage alcohol enforcem
Municipal energy tech assis
Development of cemeteries
Perpetual care income
361
11,810
78,894
571
612
596
802
1,213
2,961
161
49
5
798
1,466
76,254
477,130
Additional Sheet
FREE CASH VOTED FROM TOWN MEETING NOT RECORDED
ADD:
DEFERRED REVENUE (CREDIT BALANCE +, DEBIT BALANCE -)
60 DAYS TAX COLLECTIONS
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ADJUSTMENTS:
:
100,299
325,386
:
1,512,483
FREE CASH, JULY 1, 2018
REVIEWED BY:
DATE:
Bobbi Colburn
10/17/18
PLEASE SEE CERTIFICATION LETTER
FOR DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS APPROVAL
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Warrants Payable
Encumbrances
Expenditures
2,523
OTHER
TOTAL
52,709
PART !!
RETAINED EARNINGS - UNDESIGNATED
SUBTRACT:
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE (NET)
52,709
OTHER
TOTAL
PART !!!
FIXED ASSETS:
DEBITS
52,709
CREDITS
Total
FIXED ASSET VARIANCE
REVIEWED BY:
DATE:
Bobbi Colburn
10/17/18
PLEASE SEE CERTIFICATION LETTER
FOR DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS APPROVAL
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Warrants Payable
Encumbrances
Expenditures
Accrued payroll and w/h
82,797
65,813
186,526
55
OTHER
TOTAL
1,929,110
PART !!
RETAINED EARNINGS - UNDESIGNATED
SUBTRACT:
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE (NET)
1,929,110
OTHER
TOTAL
PART III
FIXED ASSETS:
DEBITS
1,929,110
CREDITS
Total
FIXED ASSET VARIANCE
REVIEWED BY:
DATE:
Bobbi Colburn
10/17/18
PLEASE SEE CERTIFICATION LETTER
FOR DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS APPROVAL
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Warrants Payable
Encumbrances
Expenditures
21,488
OTHER
TOTAL
1,086
PART!!
RETAINED EARNINGS - UNDESIGNATED
SUBTRACT:
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE (NET)
1,086
OTHER
TOTAL
PART !!!
FIXED ASSETS:
DEBITS
1,086
CREDITS
Total
FIXED ASSET VARIANCE
REVIEWED BY:
DATE:
Bobbi Colburn
10/17/18
PLEASE SEE CERTIFICATION LETTER
FOR DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS APPROVAL