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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance Comm 11/20/2025Town of Mansfield 6 Park Row, Alan#ield, Alarsachnmt7r 02048 Finance Committee"18 � .� p A 41 io Meeting Minutes November 20, 2025 Present: Ms. Sara Walsh, Chair, Mr. Scott Feely, Vice -Chair; Mr, Jack Cooney, and Ms. Greta Loukos were present in the Meeting Room 3 A/B at Town Hall. Ms. Melinda Tarsl-Goldfein (attended virtually). Not Present: Mr. Michael Flaherty and Mr. Ryan Martin Opening Meeting 1. Open Meeting Ms. Walsh called the Finance Committee meeting to order at 6:07 PM. 2. Discussion and Consideration to Approve October 16, 2025 Meeting Minutes Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of October 16, 2025. (Feely/Cooney) Roll Call Vote: Tarsi-Goldfein-yes Feely -yes Cooney -yes Loukos-yes Walsh -yes Passes: 5:0 Financial Updates 3. Review and Discussion of FY26 Financial Updates Acting Town Manager, Josh Reinke gave the Committee a basic overview of FY2026 status. He stated that expenses and revenues are on track as projected. 4. Discussion of upcoming financial transfer requests Acting Town Manager, Josh Reinke outlined anticipated transfers that will be coming from Public Buildings. The first will be in the amount of $35,000 for elevator repairs at Public safety complex. This is necessary due to hydraulic system oil needing to be replaced due to failure. At the Highway Division building and Police Station, the battery systems for the server backup (engages during the time between power outages and the emergency generator coming online) needs to be replaced. This expense will also be $35,000. And, water main repairs transfer $65,000 will come from retained earnings to cover cost of repair at Jordan/Jackson school. Balance of Fin Com reserve is currently $83,255. Town meeting will move $250,000. These transfers will reduce by $70,000 bringing the Fin Com Reserve balance to $263,000. S. Review and Discussion FY 27 Budget Planning a. Budget Subcommittee Update: Ms. Walsh reminded of the upcoming schedule. b. Financial Listening Sessions: Ms. Walsh stated that she thought the public Listening Sessions went well, and that the recordings are now posted online. She added that attendance was pretty low, but the engagement was good. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfein agreed that it went well. Mr. Cooney complimented Sara and Melinda for doing a good job with the Power Point presentation and how it was relatable for the participants. Ms. Walsh added that she will be reaching out to Mansfield Cable to set up some time to record some additional pre-recorded messages to be broadcasted. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfein shared that she will be working with Nancy Griffin to post the Fin Com survey and print paper copies for distribution at the Council on Aging and the Public Library. 6. Discussion of Long -Term Tracking a. Cell Phone Tower: b. Roland Green Building: Ms. Walsh stated that they did get information from the schools and it has been forwarded. Looking for further discussions on this in January. c. Town Leadership Transition: d. Bristol County Pension Contribution: The Committee agrees that they want to hear from the folks at Bristol Count Retirement in January. 7. Discussion and Consideration of Town Warrant Articles Acting Town Manager, Josh Reinke went through each of the Town Meeting Warrant articles. Article One: Will be passed over. Article Two: To defray a portion of the expense related to the required ten-year cyclical inspection of all properties in the Town. Article Three, Motion One: CIP school upgrade to PA system and balances due on smart boards. Funding will come from a Town Meeting vote to sweep any balances remaining from previously approved CIP project articles that was left unspent after projects were completed. Article Three, Motion Two: Moving funds from sewer retained earnings to pay for vehicles. Article Three, Motion Three: Vote will use free cash to paydown BAN for Robinson School playground, Road Bond, and Chase Place project. Article Three, Motion Four: Ban paydown from Water retained earnings for Prescott Well project. Article Three, Motion Five: Vote will use Airport Retained earnings to pay the Town's contribution to the airport runway project. Article Four: Vote will move $250,000 from Free cash to Fin Com Reserve Fund. Article Five: Vote will move Three Hundred and Six Thousand Three Hundred and Ten Dollars from the Sewer Enterprise Fund - Retained Earnings to the Sewer Enterprise Fund - Reserve Fund. Article Six: Vote will move One Million Forty -Five Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy Dollars from the Water Enterprise Fund - Retained Earnings to the Water Enterprise Fund - Reserve Fund. Article Seven: Vote will move Ninety Thousand Four Hundred Sixty -Five from the Airport Enterprise Fund - Retained Earnings to the Airport Enterprise Fund - Reserve Fund For Transfer. Article Eight: Vote will move Two Hundred Eighty -Six Thousand Five Hundred Forty Dollars from the Parking Enterprise Fund - Retained Earnings to the Parking Enterprise Fund - Reserve Fund. Article Nine: Vote will move Five Hundred Thousand Dollars from Free Cash to the following accounts set to: Other Post -Employment Benefits (OPEB) Liability Trust Fund in the amount of $400,000.00, and Future Payment of Accrued Liabilities for Compensated Absences Reserve Fund in the amount of $100,000.00. Article Ten: Will transfer the care, custody management and control of a parcel of land and the building thereon known as the Roland Green School from the School Committee to the Select Board. Article Eleven: Will authorize the Select Board to convey a parcel of land and the building thereon known as the Roland Green School, Mr. Reinke informed the Committee that the Select Board recently voted to demolish the building and parse the land into three duplex lots which will go up for auction. Ms. Walsh asked if the Select Board would need to use stabilization funds. Mr. Reinke confirmed that they would. Ms. Walsh expressed that she would like to see a Memorandum of Understanding or similar agreement. Mr. Reinke stated that $600,000 from stabilization would be used for demolition and hazard cleanup with the understanding that the first $600,000 from the sale of property would replace the $600,000 and anything extra would go to free cash. Ms. Walsh reiterated that should would like the intent documented. Article Twelve: Vote will appropriate Six Hundred Thousand Dollars to be spent by the Town Manager for Remediation and Demolition of the Roland Green School. The other articles were related to zoning. The only zoning article Mr. Reinke mentioned was Article Twenty -Two which is related to school bus parking. He shared that if approved, this could bring in additional revenue. Ms. Loukos mentioned that Article Twenty -Three could also potentially bring in additional revenue. This is the article related to the B-S zone. Mr. Reinke mentioned that there is a possibility of a gas station being developed if this zoning change is approved. And that developer might support the installation of a traffic signal at that location. Motion: I move we support Articles 1-12 as reviewed and Articles 22 and 23. Support of Article Twelve would be contingent upon an agreement to repay $600,000 to stabilization. (Feely/Cooney) Roll Call Vote: Tars!-Goldfein-yes Feely -yes Cooney -yes Loukos-yes Walsh -yes Passes: 5:0 8. Discussion of Capital Improvements Meeting Mr. Feely shared with the Committee that Town Counsel will be helping the CIP Committee to review procedures for how other towns are conducting their Capital Improvements to determine what is truly a capital improvement project versus capital improvements spending (equipment, buildings versus CIP having become more technological related). He noted that the Town also does capital purchases, so the CIP committee is looking at possibly making recommendations on how to finance needed items (operating budget, CIP, etc.) Mr. Feely, Ms. Loukos, and Ms. Doherty will be working together to come up with a CIP policy that would outline guidance for the CIP Committee to use when making their recommendations on CIP considerations. Public Comment 9. Public Comment There were none. Committee Business 10. Review and Discussion of Survey Status Ms. Tarsi-Goldfein will be working on getting physical copies of the survey out to COA and Library over the coming week. She stated that a few people have taken the survey and it is functioning properly. 11. Review and Discussion content of Finance Committee Presentation at Fall Town Meeting Ms. Walsh asked the Committee for some feedback on what they would like to see in the presentation for the upcoming Special Town Meeting. Mr. Cooney asked if they should we mention the Listening Sessions. Ms. Walsh thought it would be a good idea, and to mention that recordings of the Listen Sessions are available on Mansfield Cable. Ms. Loukos thought it was important to inform Town Meeting attendees of the Fin Com's plan to continue these type of sessions as we move through the budget process and move toward the Annual Town Meeting. 12. Discussion of December Schedule Ms. Walsh reviewed December schedule which includes Special Town Meeting and a Tri-Board meeting. She expects to start to see some of School budget reports in December. 13. Committee & Liaison Updates CIP was reviewed previously. Mr. Cooney reported that Town audit continues. 14. Any items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting There were none. 15. Member Comments There were none. 16. Adjourn Motion: To adjourn the Finance Committee meeting of November 20, 2025 at 7:10PM. (Feely/Cooney) Roll Call Vote: Tarsi-Goldfein-yes Feely -yes Cooney -yes Loukos-yes Walsh -yes Passes:5:0 q ! r-)izs Signature Date Minutes prepared by Nancy Griffin