By MAUREEN DOHERTY
LYNNFIELD — The Board of Selectmen pulled together some loose ends Monday night regarding the April Town Meeting warrant.
Outgoing Selectmen Chairman Dave Nelson participated in his final board meeting prior to stepping down from his post an hour later after the polls closed and it was announced that Chris Barrett would be his successor.
Among the revisions was an additional $40,000 appropriation to the capital budget to purchase a second police cruiser.
Selectman Phil Crawford confirmed with Town Administrator Jim Boudreau that the $40,000 “came from additional money we were to put in two of our stabilization accounts.”
This brings the total amount of the FY’16 proposed capital budget to $1,314,820. The capital expenses budget will be voted on under Article 8.
The Police Department originally requested two cruisers but the request was trimmed to one by the T.A. Subsequently, an older police cruiser was totaled by a driver who ran a red light and the board directed Boudreau to search for funds for the second cruiser.
Also under the capital budget, Selectman Tom Terranova favored allowing the Historical Commission to have the “ability to do what they feel is appropriate” with a $3,500 line item currently specified to be used for “landmark signs.” He suggested language be added that will allow the commissioners to use the $3,500 for landmark signs “as well as repairs to cemetery headstones, cemetery fences and other capital expenses.”
Town Administrator Jim Boudreau stated that since the warrant has been sent to the printer, this language change would need to be done as an amendment on Town Meeting floor.
After receiving clarification from Terranova that this was not a request to add funds to the Historical Commission’s capital budget, but just language to broaden what capital items may be purchased with those funds, Crawford said he would support such an amendment at Town Meeting.
Consent agenda approved
The board also voted 3-0 to include nine articles in a single consent agenda motion, which would allow these to be taken out of order and “passed by consent.” Four-fifths of the voters at Town Meeting must agree to allow a consent motion move forward.
This is typically done to expedite the meeting on matters considered boilerplate. If a single voter objects to inclusion of any one of the nine articles in the consent agenda, that warrant article would be returned to its original location in the warrant and voted upon separately.
The nine warrant article are 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. Article 1 is acceptance of published reports from town offices and committees; Article 2 is to choose town officers not chosen by ballot; Article 3 fixes the compensation of each elective officer of the town as follows: Board of Selectmen Chairman ($850) and member ($700) and Board of Assessors Chairman ($4,100) and member ($3,550).
Articles 11 to 14 re-establishes four existing revolving fund accounts with a set amount of funds generated from fees to pay for contractual services and expenses. The Council on Aging fund limit is $40,000; the Board of Health Flu Clinic fund limit is $15,000; the Board of Library Trustees fund for book expenses is limited to $10,000; and the Recreation Commission fund is limited to $160,000.
Article 15 seeks to appropriate $655,000 from the Emergency Medical Service Enterprise receipts to defray the cost of providing EMS services in the town.
Article 16 seeks to appropriate $770,000 in Golf Course Enterprise receipts to pay expenses and contractual services to fund golf course operations and to credit this fund with all fees and charges received in FY’16 from those using the golf assets.
Articles 4 & 6
Voters will be asked to transfer $553,328 from unexpended funds in the FY’15 budget to other accounts within the town to balance the FY ’15 budget. Article 6 seeks $4,540 from free cash to pay a vendor who had sent a bill for technical services to the town late.
• Article 5 seeks a vote approving a transfer of $40,000 from the EMS retained earnings fund to pay for EMS expenses and contractual services for the current fiscal year.
• Article 7 seeks an appropriation of $47,668,389 for the town’s FY ’16 to run the town budget.
• Articles 9 and 10 seek appropriations of $180,000 each for the stabilization fund and the capital facilities maintenance fund.
• Article 17 deals with the disposition of Centre Farm; Article 18 seeks to adopt MGL that prohibits collecting a dog license fee from residents 70 or older. Article 19 seeks passage of the Scenic Roads Bylaw; Article 20 requests a transfer of $150,000 from the sale of real estate account to pay for architectural and design services for a new clubhouse at the King Rail Golf Course.
• Articles 21-22 are proposed by the Planning Board and seek revisions to the sign bylaw. Articles 23 and 24 were also proposed by the Planning Board; 23 seeks to update definitions listed in the town’s zoning bylaws ad 24 seeks to define one acre as it relates to groundwater protection to equal 40,000 square feet.