===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Finance Committee Meeting Minutes Bilotta Meeting Room Lunenburg Town Hall December 19, 2024 Present Members: Chair Chris Menard, Clerk Tom Gray, Committee Member Tanya Dall, Committee Member Jay Simeone Absent Member: Vice Chair Jean Russell 1. Call to Order The meeting opened at 7:00 PM. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Announcements There were no announcements. 4. Public Comment There were no comments from the public. 5. Scheduled Meetings a. Update from Budget Task Force (possible Joint Meeting with Budget Task Force) Renee Emkey and Ezequiel Ayala provided the following recommendations. 1. Consolidation of town accounts This would include bank accounts and investment funds. It’s anticipated that the new Town Manager will update the financial investment policy to achieve the highest yield possible. This should be reviewed every year. 2. Targeted diagnostic audit to identify any missing crucial financial information for the Town This will be a deeper dive than the annual audit and a 1-time cost to the Town. Chris Menard questions if there are any grants available. Ezequiel Ayala states there may be state or federal grants available. 3. Prudent investment rule This was already voted for and approved at the Town Meeting. 4. Community Preservation Act (CPA) Renee Emkey confirms there are exemptions available. The minimum surcharge is .5% and the maximum is 3%. A portion of the money received must be spent on 1. Historical Preservation, 2. AƯordable Housing, 3. Parks or open space. ===PAGE 2=== Currently there are 200 communities who participate. If this passes at the Town Meeting a new Committee will need to be formed. 5. Green Grants for the HVAC at schools This is currently in the works. 6. Solar field at the old town dump site This could be a revenue source if the land is leased, and solar panels are added. 7. Solar field on school lots Also, could be a revenue source. 8. Brooks House lease The lease is estimated to be between $30,000 to $50,000 based on what the building is used for. This number is based on what other towns are leasing buildings for. 9. Review Town trash and recycling program When the recycling program was first established it was free to the Town. Currently it is costing $250,000 a year and rising. 10. Chapter 90 funds for Town roads. Depending on the number of roads this is estimated to cost $10,000 to $20,000 per year. Chris Menard has reviewed the list of roads that need to be established and confirms they all are currently being maintained. 11. High deductible health insurance This would be an alternate option for Town employees. 12. Health insurance buyout option This could be used as an incentive and will be a cost savings. Chris Menard questions how many people would opt out. Ezequiel Ayala is not aware of how many people may be interested. 13. Payroll and purchase order streamlining 14. Standardizing and improving workflow within the Town finances This would improve and implement a standard chart of accounts for all departments. 15. School service contracts This is currently being reviewed. 16. Create regular review processes of School fees 17. Create regular review processes of Town fees 18. Delivery of warrant articles for Town Meeting. An option would include posting warrant articles electronically. If a paper copy is requested, they can be picked up. This could be a yearly cost saving of $7,500. ===PAGE 3=== 19. Consolidate Town and School snow removal and grounds maintenance 20. Split tax rate 6. Town Manager & Finance Director Reports Ezequiel Ayala presented the FY24 year-end financials and forwarded them to the Committee. The final free cash was approved at 2.25 and the tax rate was set at 14.36. 7. New Business a. Town Manager Search Committee Update The Town Manager Search Committee has almost completed their job. Interviews of 6 candidates were held last week. The candidates were then narrowed down to 3. The names and interviews of the 3 going forward will become public. b. Capital Planning Update The Capital Planning Committee finalized their recommendations on Monday for this year. They anticipate meeting monthly to look at the planning aspects of capital planning and creating a 5- and 10-year plan. c. Review Budget Season Schedule Chris Menard spoke with Carter Terenzini, and he confirmed that he needs 25 days to put out a warrant. Ezequiel Ayala has emailed the budget sheets to the department heads to get their recommendations for FY26. There is a deadline of the 21st to provide feedback. Peter Beardmore questions when the 25 days start. Carter Terenzini needs all final actions in writing at least 25 days before the town meeting for quality control, proof, printing and mailing. Chris Menard believes April 7th is the cuto Ư date. Chris Menard anticipates having 4 weeks of meetings that include public hearing, deliberations, draft, and a final report. Peter Beardmore suggests agreeing on a date when the School Department presents its approved budget. 8. Old Business a. Project 211 (School Funding Formula) There were no updates from the Committee. ===PAGE 4=== Carol Archambault, School Committee Secretary, confirms that the group has met with Representative Scarsdale. Representative Scarsdale held a networking meeting to try to push this forward. b. Grant Writing Services The Committee anticipates creating a policy related to grant writing. There are some Boards and Committee that are trying to obtain grants, but they are unaware of the process and what needs to be done. c. Consolidation of Services/Departments There were no updates. 9. Minutes There was a motion to approve the minutes from October 10th and October 24th by Tom Gray, seconded by Jay Simeone. All in favor. 10. Committee Reports Tom Gray states that the Municipal Building Design Committee has met. There was a proposal submitted, and a company has been hired for renovations. On Monday there was a meeting, and a rough draft was presented. This is regarding the renovation of the Town Hall and renovation and addition to the Ritter Building. Jay Simeone states that the Sewer Commission had a meeting, and they ratified to support the hiring of a new Sewer Business Manager. Chris Menard states the Committees that were assigned to Evan Watters will need to be reassigned. 11. Actions and Topics for Future Meetings Jay Simeone questions if Carter Terenzini is going to be presenting a preliminary budget in January. Chris Menard will make an inquiry with Carter Terenzini. Chris Menard confirms that he will not be volunteering as the Chair for the next season and encourages people to inquire about being on the Committee. 12. Important Dates There are no additional important dates. 13. Upcoming Meetings a. 1/9/2025 & 1/23/2025 b. 2/13/2025 Budget Season begins 14. Public Comment Dave Passios, member of Green Communities Committee and resident of JeƯerson ===PAGE 5=== NH provided comments. He states the Department of Local Services has several services that are available to all cities and towns in Massachusetts that include auditing the towns books. He suggests taking a deeper look as those resources are free. Regarding the consolidation of accounts Dave Passios states any financial changes to the town need to be thoroughly thought through. Additionally, he suggests looking into the possibility of local income tax. This would be beneficial to seniors and low-income families. Tom Gray agrees with some of the recommendations from the Budget Task Force but is worried it may interfere with other high priority items and work processes that are already underway. He suggests prioritizing the things that we can do that will have the greatest impact but not also sidelining us from other things that need to be completed. Tom Gray questions if the town is going to have enough money to run the town in FY 26. 15. Adjourn There was a motion to adjourn by Jay Simeone, seconded by Tom Gray. All in favor. The meeting closed at 8:55 PM.