11/16/2012

Facilities study, proposed Capital Improvement Planning Committee charge referred to workshops

Town Councilors hope to talk with members of the School Board before establishing a committee charged with prioritizing future townwide capital projects and expenditures.

At their meeting Nov. 14, 2012, councilors referred a draft Capital Improvement Planning Committee charge to a joint workshop with the School Board.

update 11/21/2012- The workshop has been scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, at Town Hall.

At the same meeting, they referred a comprehensive facilities study, conducted this summer by Harriman Associates to look at capital needs townwide, to a workshop. The council authorized the study this spring as an outgrowth of planning for the future of the Thomas Memorial Library.

Capital Planning Committee charge

"This will be good in keeping with the one-town concept," Town Manager Michael McGovern said of the draft committee charge. "And also, I think citizens expect us to look at all the different (capital) needs and to prioritize them," he said.

Councilors agreed, but some said they believed the charge needed more detail. "We need to be real clear as to what the purpose of this group is going forward, and its makeup," said Councilor Jim Walsh.

The proposal is to establish a committee of two councilors and two School Board members to "consider the relative need, impact, timing and cost of all proposed capital projects and improvements involving major tangible assests and projects and maintenance expenditures," according to the draft charge.

The draft directs the committee to prepare a long-term capital planning report that recommends a 10-year capital projects plan, schedule of capital project priorities and annual capital projects forecasting for the next five fiscal years beginning in 2014. The report would be presented to the Town Council and School Board for their consideration, according to the draft.

Councilor Frank Governali, who helped develop the draft, said he saw the committee as evolving. "This seems to me (a) committee that will probably change over time in terms of the role it serves in making recommendations and investigating capital requirements," he said. "This is an opportunity to collect data on an ongoing basis, filter it through the committee as well as department heads and so forth, and coming up with a recommendation," Governali said, adding that the committee would have no authority to implement those recommendations.

McGovern said the committee concept is "radically different" from the current capital planning process. "I think it's important that the elected bodies be comfortable with this," he said.

Walsh said more discussion could help define roles and responsibilities of committee members and of staff, and clarify how the recently completed townwide facilities study will be used in capital planning.