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2013-08-08CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD OR COMMISSION SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: LOCATION: MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: RECORDER: The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. Community Preservation Committee August 8, 2013 City Hall, Third Floor Conference Room B Wendy Pearl, Marilyn McCrory, Lincoln Williams, Heather Richter, Darien Crimmin, Leland McDonough, Henry Pizzo, John Thomson and Robert Buchsbaum Planning Director Tina Cassidy, Environmental Planner Amy Maxner, and Associate Planner Kirk Baker Amy Maxner Maxner welcomes everyone to the newly established Community Preservation Committee (CPC) and provides each member a copy of this evening's meeting agenda and a reference manual containing various materials including the CPC Ordinance, CPA Statute and other guidance documents. She refers to the first item on the agenda that calls for introductions and suggests that the group go around and introduce themselves. Each member introduces him /herself and provides a brief summary of their backgrounds, interests and why they decided to serve on the CPC. Planning Department staff members introduce themselves and explain their positions and anticipated level of staff support to this Committee. Maxner explains the materials included in the reference manual, and notes that the Ordinance requires that a set of guidelines be published within six months of the CPC's first meeting. She notes that "guidelines" were not defined in the Ordinance as the ad -hoc Ordinance Committee decided to leave the defining and development of these to the permanent CPC. She notes that there are a lot of examples to draw from in other communities, ranging from very comprehensive voluminous Community Preservations Plans to a few pages outlining criteria and a couple application pages. She explains the role of the Community Preservation Coalition, a non - profit organization that provides technical support to CPA communities. She encourages members to visit the Coalition's website, explaining that it contains a wealth of information, and in particular has links to every single CPA community website. She notes that most cities and towns have posted their plans and application materials directly on their websites for easy viewing. Pearl asks if everyone is clear as to the purpose of the CPA statue and this Committee. Members note their general familiarity. Crimmin inquires as to whether a formal application process is necessary. McDonough notes that an application process would give the Committee a way to review projects and give the public a frame of reference. McCrory notes that a formal process equalizes the playing field, and Community Preservation Committee 08 -08 -13 Meeting Minutes Page I of 4 establishes a format for applicants to follow. Crimmin questions if an application process is necessary as he was under the impression that proposed projects come from the CPC, not from outside entities beyond this Committee. Discussion ensues as to the role of the CPC, with Pearl noting that the CPC would only be evaluating and recommending projects for funding as proposed by other organizations, municipal departments, volunteer bodies and /or various partnerships. It is not this Committee's role to develop, promote or execute projects. She notes that almost all communities have some sort of application whether it is a few pages or just a cover sheet setting out minimum submission requirements. Cassidy notes that the CPC will make recommendations to the City Council as to which projects to fund, and the Council will make the final decisions on funding. Discussion ensues as to whether the City Council can advance projects if not recommended by CPC. Cassidy notes that the Coalition may have the answer to the question. Thomson explains his understanding that some communities solicit applications for certain projects, most of the time applicants come to the CPC's with proposals and there are even some communities do not spend their CPA monies, electing instead to "bank" the funds for use in subsequent years. Pearl provides an overview of what is involved in developing guidelines, application process and a plan, and in Beverly's case the guidelines are to be developed with the benefit of consultation with other City boards and commissions, various master plans and other City planning documents in addition to a public hearing process. She notes that all of these tasks and feedback loops need to be considered within that six -month timeframe. Members inquire as to the anticipated funds to be raised by the surcharge. Cassidy explains that City Finance Director John Dunn has done some very preliminary calculations based on some analysis and reasonable assumptions, and he estimates annual revenue at $600,000 in local funds with a State match of about $150,000, totaling approximately $750,000 every year. She notes that the this year's surcharge will happen over only two tax billing quarters, but in FY15 and beyond it would be equally spread out over all four quarterly tax bills. McCrory states that some sort of notification should be sent to tax payers to alert them of how billing will happen so they can anticipate this year's larger sums in the last two quarters. Discussion ensues as to drafting that notice, and the method of its distribution. Maxner notes that Beverly's CPC website is not yet up and running but she will be working with the IT Department to get that going. Crimmin notes that about three weeks ago the State announced it had a surplus, $25,000,000 of which went to the CPA trust fund to be allocated to CPA communities. He was wondering if Beverly would be eligible to receive any of those surplus funds. McCrory notes that the City must collect a full year of surcharge revenue before the State match can be applied. Pearl notes that since no funds have been collected, there is nothing for the State to match. Discussion ensues with members agreeing it is at least worth asking the question. Cassidy notes that John Dunn might know, or perhaps the Coalition would have the answer. Thomson asks what the plan may consist of and if members of the ad -hoc ordinance committee could explain their rationale for the timeline. Pearl explains, as she was a member of that ad -hoc committee, developing the ordinance took about four months, and so the idea behind "guidelines" within six months of the CPC's first meeting was meant to allow the CPC to start Community Preservation Committee 08 -08 -13 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 taking applications as soon as possible. She notes that the ad -hoc committee did not want to hinge the implementation of CPA on a "plan" that could take a very long time to develop. Williams notes that the ad -hoc committee struggled with how detailed the ordinance should be in directing the CPC's business, and keeping the language somewhat vague would allow flexibility in that regard. Thomson appreciates that effort and agrees that establishing guidelines within that timeline is reasonable and notes that there must be other cities and towns with similar documents from which Beverly can borrow. McDonough suggests that this is a good time to move on to item # 5 on the agenda, election of officers. McCrory asks if everyone is comfortable with their understanding of the Ordinance and if it should be reviewed tonight. Crimmin agrees that it would be helpful if the group took a few moments to go through and review sections of the Ordinance as he has read the Act, but not the Ordinance yet. Pearl notes that the group could walk through the Ordinance in a general way and point out unique features, and proceeds to review the Establishment, Membership and Duties sections. She notes the summary table that staff has provided in the reference manual lists definitions and eligible projects. Thomson refers to the last sentence of Section C.i. that allows for the CPC to spend funds for expenses and asks if this is anticipated. Cassidy explains that this was brought up a couple of days ago and she has discussed this initially with Maxner. She expects that at least a couple of expenses can certainly be anticipated: a one -time cost involving computer program set up for billing as John Dunn has gathered from his counterparts in other CPA communities, which might be in the range of $5,000 but probably not more than $10,000. Another expense on an on -going basis would be hiring a minutes taker to attend the meetings and transcribe the minutes, which might be $100 to $200 per meeting. Discussion ensues as to the possibility of hiring consultants and possibly personnel to assist with specific tasks and that these administrative expenses would be recommendations made by the CPC to the City Council like any other appropriation. The idea of a small pool of funds to be used by the CPC as discretionary spending is discussed, with Cassidy noting that the City Council would have to approve these expenditures. Richter asks if costs are associated with the website. Cassidy notes that website development is currently handled by existing staff so no, no additional expense for this item is expected at this point in time. Pearl notes that it would be important to clearly identify what the discretionary funds would be spent on and cost estimates obtained just as any other project, and explains that the cap is 5% for these types of expenditures. McCrory notes that legal advertising is a cost to be considered for the public hearings required. Pearl surmises that an initial operation budget may need to be developed, which may be fine tuned in the future as a standard administrative expenditure budget. Discussion ensues as to the logistics for tax software set up, billing the surcharge and exemption process, with Cassidy offering to invite John Dunn to attend the next meeting so he can elaborate. Discussion ensues as to the Community Preservation Coalition providing training to the committee. Maxner notes that Stuart Saginor, Executive Director of the Coalition, has offered to come lead a training session during the week of September 16 excluding that Wednesday. She Community Preservation Committee 08 -08 -13 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 explains that the training is about two hours and would let Saginor know if that week works for the Committee. McDonough suggests that the group move to agenda item #5 and then schedule the next meeting, which may or may not work for the Coalition. He states that the group should move on, as this meeting will last far too long at this rate. Buchsbaum suggests that the group finish going through the rest of the Ordinance. Crimmin notes that members should review the Statute on their own. Cassidy notes that including item # 5 on the agenda was done as a way to introduce the subject to the committee and give people time to consider whether they'd like to serve in such a capacity. No votes were intended to be taken tonight. Instead, the matter will be placed on the next meeting agenda for discussion and elections. Pearl finishes reviewing the remaining sections of the Ordinance. Cassidy explains that the next step is establishing the next meeting date and asks if Thursday evenings work for everyone. Members agree. Williams notes that considering the amount of work to be done, he suggests that meeting every two weeks is advisable, at least in the beginning. Discussion ensues as to setting up sub - committees to help in dividing and tackling specific tasks. General discussion ensues as to potential projects for funding with members agreeing that the first few projects funded should be very positive and demonstrate a clear public benefit. Members agree to schedule the next meeting for Thursday August 22, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Cassidy will invite John Dunn and Maxner will invite Saginor as well. Pearl offers to compile and send out a spreadsheet of links for cities and towns' CPA websites for members to review as homework. General discussion ensues as to potential ideas as what the guidelines should look like and members agree to review other communities' plans and materials and come to the next meeting with some specific ideas. Buchsbaum reminds members to think about candidates for Chair and other officers to vote on the next meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Community Preservation Committee 08 -08 -13 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4