December 15, 2020 ~ CIP Meeting

2020-12-15 · Capital Improvement Committee · 45:13 · watch on YouTube →

A short Capital Improvement Program committee meeting held remotely, with three members present and two absent, to clear the last questions before members go away and score the applications. Most of the discussion was about a gap in the information the committee has to work with: unspent 2020 operating money from public works and the fire department rolls into those departments' capital reserves at year end, but the select board asked that it be left out of the reserve requests, so the balances the committee is scoring against are not the balances the departments will actually have. Ruth put the likely rollback at about $70,000 for public works and about $35,000 for the fire department. Members disagreed about whether that should affect the ranking, and settled on scoring the applications as submitted and adding a note to the select board explaining what is missing. Scores are due to Michelle by the weekend, with the committee meeting again on Monday the 21st.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:01
   Roll call and quorum

   Joe Tomm, Michelle and Paul were present, which met the quorum, joined by the town administrator and Mark Farrin. The meeting was held remotely and running late from its scheduled six o'clock start.

2. 0:01
   Minutes and the legal record

   Ruth has Kathy preparing minutes for November 9, November 23, December 1 and this meeting, but they will stay very abbreviated, roughly a paragraph recording any decisions. The legal record under the freedom of access law is the recording itself, which is available on Town Hall Streams through the town website.

3. 0:01
   Brian Pike's absence

   Brian Pike wrote to say a major project rollout at work has taken over his CIP season and he will not be able to attend for the rest of it. He said he values the committee's work and would like to continue next year, and remains a member.

4. 0:01
   The problem with the reserve requests

   Paul (?) raised what he considered the significant outstanding issue: unspent 2020 operating funds from public works and the fire department go back into their reserves at year end, and none of that is reflected in the spreadsheets. On a $100,000 reserve request where $30,000 is rolling back, he argued the real request is $70,000, and the committee should reflect that when it considers need.

5. 5:48
   How the estimates are built

   Ruth shared her working budget, updated monthly, with actual figures in black and her own estimates in orange based on the last several months. She cautioned that outliers make it impossible to guarantee where the year lands, and that both the road commissioner and the fire chief may disagree with some of her numbers.

6. 5:48
   What is likely to roll back

   Her estimate is that the fire department returns about $35,000, give or take $5,000. For public works, November spending of $243,248 was inflated by a $195,000 paving payment, and with December estimated around $104,000 she expects roughly $70,000 to go back into the public works fund.

7. 11:17
   Ambulance revenue and the fire reserve

   Ambulance billing has brought in $52,738 so far this year, against roughly $37,000 in the earlier spreadsheet the committee received, so about $15,000 more than previously shown. The department has spent around $59,000 from its capital fund this year on equipment. With the estimated $35,000 rolling back, Ruth put the projected balance near $298,000.

8. 11:17
   Why the figures are not in the requests

   Asked directly, Ruth (?) confirmed these amounts are not reflected in the reserve requests because the select board asked her not to include them, on the basis that they could not be foreseen or counted on.

9. 11:17
   Which departments roll money back

   Public works and the fire department are the only departments whose unspent operating funds go into their own capital reserves rather than to undesignated funds. Telecommunications and parks and recreation also roll back, though recreation is not usually a substantial amount. Everything on the administration side goes to undesignated.

10. 16:43
    Should balances affect the ranking

    Joe Tomm (?) argued the committee's job is to rank need, not fundability: whether a department has $10 or $500,000 in its account is for the budget committee and select board to weigh when they decide what can be paid for. Paul agreed in general but said balances matter specifically for scoring the two reserve requests, because the question there is whether enough is being put aside now to avoid a large hit in two or three years.

11. 16:43
    Saving now against borrowing later

    Joe framed the reserve question as a timing trade-off between putting money away early and borrowing at whatever interest rates apply in three years, and said he would expect the finance committee rather than this one to do that analysis, possibly feeding into the process earlier than it does now. Paul (?) noted the estimated rollbacks to the two departments are close enough that accounting for them might not change the relative position of the two reserve requests anyway.

12. 21:53
    Calendar year versus fiscal year budget

    Paul (?) asked where the discussion stands on moving the town from a calendar year to a fiscal year budget. Mark Farrin (?) said the select board has not talked about it recently and that it may be a project to look at depending on what the incoming town manager does.

13. 21:53
    Two structural obstacles

    Paul identified the difficulties as separate problems: Durham is unusual in running a calendar year budget, and an old town meeting vote directs unspent departmental funds to those departments' reserves rather than to undesignated. Together they make it hard for the committee to get accurate reserve balances at the point in the cycle when it needs them.

14. 26:56
    How to handle it this year

    Members agreed there was little more they could do this season than rate the requests as received, and that the recommendation forwarded to the select board should carry a note explaining that the committee knew of funds due to be rolled back but that they had not been rolled at the time of scoring, along with the two structural issues behind that.

15. 26:56
    How the scoring came out for one member

    Joe Tomm had already scored, using last season's spreadsheet, and said the result landed close to where he expected before starting. The SCBA air packs came out as the priority, with fire and rescue capital funding and the DPW truck about a point apart, and the reorganisation and the one-and-a-half ton dump truck lower.

16. 32:11
    The town reorganisation application

    Joe (?) said the reorganisation is a much bigger undertaking than the committee can properly rate on its own, and that the town manager being hired should have a large input into it. His reason for ranking it lower was timing rather than merit: he thought the work needs that person in place to be effective.

17. 32:11
    Why public works and fire rank high

    Joe (?) argued the town needs trucks for plowing, sanding and salting to keep the roads safe, and that a great deal has been invested in the fire department. He described the two as the biggest areas of town funding next to the school system and said the money has to keep flowing to them to sustain the level of service residents expect.

18. 32:11
    The one-and-a-half ton plow truck

    Adding to the fleet has an extra hurdle to clear because the vehicle is new rather than on the replacement schedule, though members found the case about plowing subdivision roads persuasive. Joe had floated repurposing the road commissioner's truck instead but was told, and after speaking to people who do the work now accepts, that it is not heavy enough and that pushing a truck beyond its capacity leads to breakdowns.

19. 37:35
    Whether it offsets something else

    Members asked whether a smaller truck doing this work could defer replacement of a larger one by a year or two, which would be a real saving, or whether the purchase could be offset by eliminating one of the smaller dump trucks. Michelle framed it as the general question of whether using the wrong tool costs more in time and wear than buying the right one, and said the plow truck is the item she finds hardest to resolve. Members noted more subdivisions are going in, so the need will grow.

20. 37:35
    Where the select board stands

    Asked whether the select board had discussed the plow truck application, Mark Farrin (?) said the board is waiting for the CIP committee's recommendation before taking it forward.

21. 37:35
    Scoring deadline and next meeting

    Members will score independently and send their sheets to Michelle by the end of Friday or first thing Saturday so she can collate them over the weekend. The committee meets again on Monday the 21st at 6 o'clock to review the ranking and discuss it before approving a recommendation. Paul will enter his numbers directly into Michelle's spreadsheet.

22. 42:43
    Who is scoring

    Only the three members present are expected to score. Brian Pike is sitting the rest of the season out, and Curtis has not been heard from and has attended none of the meetings this year. Paul (?) said anyone scoring after missing meetings should go back and listen to the recordings, given how much information the committee takes in, and asked Michelle to let him know if anything arrives from Curtis.

What was decided

• 0:01
  Minutes for the November 9, November 23, December 1 and current meetings will stay abbreviated, recording any decisions in roughly a paragraph, on the basis that the recording is the legal record under the freedom of access law.passed
• 26:56
  The committee will score the applications as submitted, without adjusting for the unspent 2020 operating funds due to roll back into the public works and fire department reserves, and will attach a note to its recommendation to the select board explaining that those funds were known but had not been rolled at the time of scoring, along with the structural reasons accurate reserve balances are unavailable at this point in the cycle.passed
• 21:53
  No action on moving the town from a calendar year to a fiscal year budget. Mark Farrin (?) reported the select board has not discussed it recently and it may be taken up depending on what the incoming town manager does.tabled
• 37:35
  Members will complete their scoring individually and send the sheets to Michelle by the end of Friday or first thing Saturday, entering the numbers directly into her spreadsheet, with the committee reconvening Monday the 21st at 6 o'clock to review the collated ranking.passed
• 42:43
  The committee will proceed on the basis that only the three members present are scoring this year, with one member having withdrawn for the season and another having attended no meetings and not responded.passed
• 42:43
  A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. The recording does not capture a vote or a result before the members moved on to talking about the forecast snow.outcome unclear

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 5:48
  About $70,000 of unspent public works operating money and about $35,000 from the fire department are expected to roll back into those departments' capital reserves at year end. Neither figure appears in the reserve requests the committee is scoring, because the select board asked that they be left out as amounts that could not be counted on.
• 11:17
  Public works and the fire department are the only departments whose unspent operating money goes into their own capital reserves rather than to undesignated funds, under an old town meeting vote. Telecommunications and parks and recreation also roll back, though recreation is rarely substantial.
• 16:43
  Members split on whether reserve balances belong in the ranking at all. Joe Tomm (?) argued the committee should rank need for the town and leave fundability to the budget committee and select board; Paul (?) argued balances matter for the two reserve requests specifically, because the question there is whether enough is being set aside now to avoid a large bill in two or three years.
• 42:43
  Only three of the committee's members will score this year's applications. One withdrew for the season because of work commitments, and another has attended none of this season's meetings and has not responded to contact.

Elsewhere

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