Lunenburg Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 30, 2023 Members Present: Member Tom Gray, Vice Chair Chris Menard, Board Member Dave Passios, Board Member Jay Simeone, Chair Evan Watters. 1. Call to Order The meeting opened at 7:05 PM. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Announcements a. Plan Lunenburg Survey The Master Plan Steering Committee survey is available, and residents are encouraged to participate. 4. Public Comment There was no public or committee comment. 5. Town Manager Report There are currently 2 projects out to bid. Lunenburg activity center generator project bids are due December 13. Public Safety Building carpet project bids are due December 20. There is an update regarding the third quarter preliminary building and pro forma tax recap. Heather Lemieux confirms that Karen Brochu has completed the pro forma tax recap. This step must be completed since the town won’t be setting a tax rate until after the certification process. It is essentially the same as the tax rate recap except there is no valuation information just tax levy information. Heather Lemieux has worked with multiple departments and the DOR to create a tax bill insert. This insert will give information about why they are receiving a third quarter preliminary bill and confirms that this quarter bill will be the same amount as their first and second quarter preliminary bills. Once evaluations are completed for the certification process and tax rates are set residents will only get one actual tax bill this year for the 4th quarter. Dave Passios questions if there is anything that can be done for people who are having trouble paying the third quarter and then the fourth quarter by the deadline. Heather Lemieux states that the deadline cannot be extended. The third quarter estimated bills will go out at the end of December and they are due February 1st. Any abatement applications deadlines will be extended to May 1st. Evan Watters asks when the budget calendar will be provided. Heather Lemieux confirms that one is available on the drive. 6. Old Business a. STM wrap-up Dave Passios shares that he felt the votes went as expected. Evan Watters states he was surprised by the personal attacks but also stated everything seems to be open and transparent. 7. New Business a. Capital Plan Committee update – Chris Menard Chris Menard states that all department presentations for the fiscal year 2025 have been completed. Additionally, each department’s 10-year capital requests were provided. The upcoming meetings will be focused on the FY 25 requests and ranking priorities. The 10-year capital requests will be looked at in the first part of the next calendar year. Below are the 2 changes to the FY 25 request: There was a change regarding the request for Marshall Pond treatment. The updated request will be significantly less money as the work being done will only be on a small section of the pond. It will still include raking and chemical treatment. The parks department has escalated the basketball and tennis court repair at Wallace Park to a higher priority request. This is the most utilized facility in town and is showing wear. Below is a list provided by Chris Menard with a brief description of requests by departments: Police Department: radios, police vehicles, training simulator IT: upgrades at the library and other town buildings Schools: entire window repair and an estimated 17.6 million dollars’ worth of capital projects identified. DPW: multiple stormwater items/repairs Facilities and Parks: discussion about senior center parking lot, fixing building, keying of all buildings with cards and master keys. Chris Menard confirms that all presentations and spreadsheets were added to the SharePoint drive and to come to next meetings prepared to discuss concerns regarding priority levels. Chris Menard inquires what the current free cash estimate is. Heather Lemieux shares that the free cash certified value is currently 1.87 million. Dave Passios comments about the school department presentation and concerns with Turkey Hill. The issues with Turkey Hill need to be dealt with when they occur. There are a few things there that are simple fixes. Dave Passios questions why they aren’t being dealt with now until the building gets so bad a major project is needed. He also believes that the all-inclusive study of Turkey Hill Elementary will be money well spent. Chris Menard states that the Turkey Hill items listed in the capital plan are half the total value with an assumption there will be matching funding associated. Dave Passios has a comment regarding next year’s capital projects for police. There are items such as bullet proof vests and cars that are a known item to occur on specific years. Those types of items need to be pulled out of the capital fund and somehow be incorporated into the operating budgets. Dave Passios intends to go visit other cities and towns and see if they have a fleet managements department or someone that manages the entire fleet in town. b. Treasurer Year End Cash Report for DOR Evan Watters is requesting the treasurer to attend the next meeting to discuss her report. The committee members have not had a chance to review the year-end report so this will be reviewed at the next meeting. c. Municipal Investing There is a slide on the treasurer’s year end cash report that shows where money can be put into and how it can be spread out. This will be reviewed when Myleen attends the upcoming meeting. Evan Watters questions why interest rates on the majority of accounts have very low interest rates. 8. Minutes a. 11/13/23 The minutes were tabled to next week so members can review. 9. Committee Reports Chris Menard posted to the drive multiple departments worth of projects anticipated for the next 10 years. Dave Passios agrees to discuss further with green communities regarding grants. 10. Topics for Future Meetings Meeting with the Treasurer. 11. Upcoming Meetings a. Dec 7th (off-cycle) Evan Watters will send out an email to check availability to see if a quorum will be met to hold this meeting. b. Dec 14th (no quorum)- Canceled. c. Dec 28th d. Jan 11th e. Jan 19th-20th (MMA Annual Meeting) Dave Passios will be attending and encourages other members to attend. 12. Public Comment There was no public or committee comment. 13. Adjourn Motion to adjourn the meeting by Tom Gray, seconded by Chris Menard. All in favor. The meeting ended at 8:32 PM.