Article 12 - Appropriate for Lexington Children's Place Construction

Article 12 is now open.
Selectman Ciccolo recuses.
The Report of the School Committee is received and placed on file.
ARTICLE 12 — APPROPRIATE FOR LEXINGTON CHILDREN’S PLACE CONSTRUCTION To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money for the design and construction of a new Lexington Children’s Place, located at 20 Pelham Road, including the payment of costs of demolition, architectural and engineering services, original equipment, furnishings, landscaping, paving and other site improvements incidental or related to such construction; determine whether the money will be provided by the tax levy, by transfer from available funds, by borrowing or by any combination of these methods; authorize the Selectmen to grant any easement or other interests in land necessary therefor; or act in any other manner in relation thereto. (Inserted by the Board of Selectmen at the request of the School Committee)

Lexington Children’s Place (“LCP”), the pre-kindergarten program for Lexington Public Schools, is outgrowing its locations in the Harrington School and Central Administration buildings. With the Town’s purchase of the property at 20 Pelham Road, the former Armenian Elementary School, the School Committee has recommended the use of a portion of this property as a permanent location for the LCP. The funds requested by this Article will be for the design and construction of the LCP. A debt exclusion for this project was approved by the voters in December 2017.

MOTION That $11,997,842 be appropriated for design and construction for a new Lexington Children’s Place, located at 20 Pelham Road, including the costs of demolition, architectural and engineering services, original equipment, furnishings, landscaping, paving, and other site improvements incidental or related to such construction, and that to meet this appropriation the Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, is authorized to borrow $11,997,842 under M.G.L.Chapter 44, Section 7, or any other enabling authority. Any premium received by the Town upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with Chapter 44, Section 20 of the General Laws, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount.
Superintendent Dr. Mary Czjaikowski and Donna DiNisco, DiNisco Designs, present - presentation may be found HERE
Designed to LEED Silver standards. Schematic Design is on budget. On schedule to complete by September 2019.

RECOMMENDATIONS
SC: Unanimous (5-0)
BOS: Supports 4-0 (Ciccolo recused)
AC: Unanimously Supports (9-0)
CEC: Unanimously Supports (5-0)

Question Mic: TMM/P6 Will we lose some of the "grandfathering" of that space?
A: There is a time limit as to how long we can use it as a school space
Q: How long
A: I believe it's three years

Question Mic: TMM/P6 The solar panels cannot be on the roof? In the parking lot? Was the plan reviewed by Sustainable Lexington Committee?
A: Solar panels will added to roof and canopies in the parking lot. Last review of Sustainable Lexington Committee was in February.
Q: Was it positive?
A: Yes. Pleased that it was all electric building.

VOTE of TOWN MEETING (2/3 majority, because borrowing)
YES: 144
NO: 2
ABSTAIN: 5
MOTION PASSES
Deputy Moderator on the next two Articles, Articles 13 & 14

Lexington: Join me in voting YES

I'll be voting YES tomorrow (December 4th) in support of a new Fire Station Headquarters, Hastings Elementary School, and Lexington Children's Place preschool. I hope you will join me.

• It is well past time to replace the Fire Station Headquarters, built when Harry S. Truman was president (1947). Our modern fire equipment is too heavy for the fire station floor (something akin to the family game, Jenga, provides support under the floor and prevents its collapse). Our first responders need this modern equipment and spaces to train and optimally meet the emergency needs of our community.

• Dwight D. Eisenhower was president when the Hastings Elementary School was built (1955). Repair is no longer an option. The Town will be reimbursed $16.5 million dollars to replace it, if the debt exclusion vote passes. If we vote no, we jeopardize this reimbursement and also miss the opportunity to expand capacity at the elementary level (by 9 classrooms at this location). It is time to replace.

• The Lexington Children's Place is a state-mandated program of the Lexington Public Schools that supports preschool children with special needs (ages 2.9 - 5) in an inclusive, least restrictive learning environment. Currently, it's operating near capacity in spaces separated by 600' and two parking lots. If we fail to unify this program and create new capacity, we will soon be forced to send our youngest, most vulnerable students out of district. Some of the placements can cost as much as $100,000 or more per student per year. If passed, this project will also help to alleviate our capacity issue at Harrington Elementary School, by opening up 4 additional classrooms there once the LCP is relocated to its new home.

The Town Manager's and Board of Selectman's goal is to minimize, as much as possible, the residential tax implications of completing these three projects. Their plan is to limit increases to an average increase of 0.5% over what is allowed by Proposition 2 1/2, or an average increase of 3% per year, total; not over and above a more "standard" annual increase of 2.5%. For a median-value home of $831,000, this would translate to a peak increase of $418 for these projects in 2024.

Lexington's paid professionals and volunteer boards and committees continually monitor the Town's capital assets with respect to the condition of our buildings and the evolving needs of the community. Together, these three projects represent the next phase of Lexington's comprehensive capital plan. With our school population growing at a rate of 2.5% per year, capital projects that increase our capacity have become a priority for the communitry. A new Hastings and free-standing LCP meaningfully address this need, yielding 11-13 additional classrooms. Both the Fire Station and Hastings are failing structurally. They need to be replaced.

You may have heard that we can do this work without taking on additional debt, that we can achieve these projects within the limitations of proposition 2 1/2. We cannot. All of the proposals forwarded by the opposition to this debt exclusion have been duly considered and either implemented to the degree that our Town could support, or rejected outright by the elected officials, volunteers, and staff who have been involved with the Town’s master planning efforts for the past decade. Attempting to pay for these projects within the levy will come at the sacrifice of other town services and programs and dramatically reduce the scope of these projects and their potential benefits, if they happen at all. Read this to more fully understand the flaws in the opposing side's arguments. More info is here.

I hope you're convinced of the merits of these projects and will make the commitment to vote to support them tomorrow, Monday, December 4th. We need at least 5,000 votes to see them funded. Please make sure yours is one of them.

Special Town Meeting (STM) 2017-2

Edited to correct some typos and formatting issues.

We're in the Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Building (Cary Hall), 1605 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington 02420.

Madam Moderator has just called the meeting to order.

7:30 PM

Warrant for STM-2 and STM-3 is HERE.
Motions HERE.
Report of the Appropriation Committee (AC), HERE.
Report of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC), HERE.

Carl Valente, Town Manager introducing new staff; presents his report: 2016-2018 Capital Plan Approved and Potential Exempt Debt Projects (~$71M). Have since decided to remove Fire Station "swing space" and Pelham Road property purchases from the debt exclusion referendum (voting in December, TBA).

Reports of the CEC and AC presented and placed on file.
First up, Articles for STM-2, in the order printed in the Warrant:

• Article 2: Appropriate for Hastings School Construction (Funds requested: $63,059,418)
• Report of the School Committee presented and placed on file.
• School Committee (SC) unanimously recommending approval of the project.

This Article seeks aurhorization for funding construction of a new Hastings Elementary School (30-section, 110,000s.f.) and for demolition of the old school. Design capacity (K-5) is 645 students; enrollment last year was 455 students. The existing school opened in 1955. Its floor area is 64,980s.f., including 8 modular classrooms that are either nearing or past the end of their useful life of 20 years.

The Massachusetts State Building Authroity (MSBA) approved partial reimbursement of the construction costs for a new school building. The total project budget is about $65,300,000, of which MSBA will reimburse approx $16,500.000 (~35.79%). The balance of $48,800,000 will be covered by the Town of Lexington; a vote for a debt exclusion override is planned for December.

Dr. Czajkowski, Superintendent of Schools presents structural and space challenges (overcrowding) of the current school facility, with assistance from Pat Goddard, recently retired Director of Public Facilities (and filling in while new Director gets up to speed on all of the projects).

Remaining balance for Town Meeting (TM) to appropriate: $63,059,418. If approved, MSBA Grant will be in the amount of $16,513,723
Board of Selectmen (BOS): Unanimously supports
AC: 7-0-2 (the abstentions had to do with concerns with the overall cost of the project)
CEC: Unanimously supports

• 5th grade student from Hastings shares concerns about the lack of air conditioning in the current building from the Citizens Mic

Requires 2/3 vote:

Yes: 156

No: 1

Abstain: 3

Motion Approved
- - - - -

• Article 3: Appropriate Design Funds for Lexington Children's Place ($2,500,000).

This Article seeks funds for completion of design and engineering work needed for construction of a new Lexington Children's Place preschool facility at the recently acquired Pelham Road site (20 Pelham Road).

Design to achieve Leed Silver Certification and exceed Lexington's Stretch Code by 30%. Design maximizes roof space for Solar.

Hope to open new facility for new school year, beginning September 2019.

Funds requested: $2,500,000, contingent upon passage of the Debt Exclusion Question. (Date just announced for December 4. More about that campaign HERE.)

Selectman Ciccolo recusing.

SC: Unanimously supports
BOS: 4-0-1(recusal)
AC: 7-0-2 (abstention relates to overall costs)
CEC: Unanimously supports

From Citizens Mic: Parent of child with Special Needs, who has attended LCP for two years -- has made incredible progress. This program will grow. The time is now.
NO Mic: Lexington will need a 7th elementary school very soon, and there isn't a place for one in Town. Spend the $15M at Harrington School, where LCP is already housed. Also, LHS needs a new space.
Citizen's Mic:  Parent of child with ASD, now at LHS, 13 yrs ago attended LCP. Diverse students. All students. It has been a great program. Out of District costs are huge; great to have this in-district program.
YES Mic: Some say that the mark of a society is how we treat the most vulnerable; children with special needs are the most vulnerable. Morally right thing to do. SC says Pelham can't house another elementary school and I believe them when they say that.
Q Mic: How do you determine a tuition rate for mandated and non-mandated students?
Goddard: class size determined 15; 7 are mandated to be SWD and others are added as space allows.
Czajkowski: Tuition ranges for 1/2 day and full day for 10 months from ~$10K+ for Full Day; 1/2 Day ~$3K+; including lunch ~$1,300
Q Mic: What other funding methods were considered? (Within Levy or Debt Exclusion)
Valente: Those were the only two.
Q Mic: Why not use for 7th elementary school?
Goddard: We looked at the site for a 7th elementry school. 24-section school deemed too small; 3-story with very little green space.
Q Mic: WRT access to the school -- any significant expense getting traffic in or out of the site?
Goddard: Costs include getting onto and off of the site.

TMM Calls Q.
Voice vote: Passes 

Requires 2/3 vote:

Yes: 144

No: 5

Abstain: 9

Motion Approved
- - - - -
Meeting now open on Articles 4 and 5. We will take them up together and vote them separately.

• Article 4: Appropriate Design Funds for Fire Headquarters (Funds requested: $676,300)
• Article 5: Appropriate for Temporary Fire Station Construction (Funds requested: $2,140,000)

BOS: Unanimously supports 4&5
Funds for Article 4 are intended to allow the design to proceed through the Construction Document Development Stage.
Funds for Article 5 are intended for Design, Engineering, and Architectural Services, including production of Construction Document, and for the construction of a temporary fire station. For both: LEED to easily achieve Silver -- will continue to look to achieve Gold -- Certification. Energy goal to exceed Lexington Stretch Code by 30%. Design maximizes roof space for Solar; includes solar hot water heating. Will continue to review energy design options.
CEC: Unanimously supports 4 & 5
AC: Unanimously supports 4 & 5

Article 4: requires 2/3
YES: 151
NO: 0
Abstain: 1
Motion Approved

Article 5: requires 2/3
YES: 153
NO: 0
Abstain: 2
Motion Approved
- - - - -
STM-2 DISSOLVED
STM-3 Now Open

• Article 6: Establish and Appropriate to and from Specified Stabilization Funds

BOS: Unanimously supports
AC: Unanimously supports
CEC: (A only): Unanimously supports

Voice Vote: Unanimous
- - - - -

• Article 7: Amend Revolving Fund Authorization

BoS: Unanimously supports
CEC: Unanimously supports DPW Compost Operation
AC: Unanimously supports

Voice Vote: Unanimous
- - - - -

• Article 9: Appropriate for Solid Waste Collection Equipment

BOS recommend Indefinitely Postpone (IP)

Voice Vote: Unanimous

- - - - -

• Article 13: Appropriate for Authorized Capital Improvements

BOS recommends IP

Voice Vote: Unanimous

- - - - -

Adjourned until Wednesday, 10/18, 7:30 PM