Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Live Reporting: Town Council - March 22, 2017

Present: Mercer (remote), Pellegri, Padula, Vallee, Kelly, Pfeffer, Bissanti, Dellorco, Jones
Absent: none


A. Approval of Minutes
Approval of March 1, 2017 Meeting Minutes

motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

B. Announcements
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may also be recorded by others.
C. Proclamations/Recognitions
D. Citizen Comments
Citizens are welcome to express their views for up to five minutes on a matter that is not on the Agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.

none
E. Appointmentsnone
F. Hearings
Hearing on Whether to Exercise the Town's First Refusal Option to Purchase Land on Washington Street - 7:10 pm
G. License Transactions
British Beer Company - Change of Manager - 7:10 pm
H. Presentations/Discussions
 Auditors

Melanson Heath provides an overview of the audit report
a good report (see the management letter for details)

OPEB accounting rules are changing and will be reflected in the annual statements more accurately to show the overall liability
 
town doing a good job of collecting taxes in a timely manner

about 10% in unassigned funds, usually about 9-10% and hence in a strong financial position

budget versus actual, the difference is the 'free cash'

revenue side of the budget came in higher than forecasted
expenses came in lower than what was budget
(the $3M difference is the 'free cash' amount used in the capital budget. The mount varies each year but the process is the same.)

OPEB Trust set up
contributions of $600,000


The financial statements are strong, the bond rating agencies look favorably on this
at high end of the range and consistent for several years which is also good

enterprise funds used for water, sewer and solid waste, all with positive balances

the better bond rating, the lower interest rate you end up paying

you were able to put $600K into the fund but it is not much, you are not alone in that deficit, many other communities are also struggling with that. They would like to see more or at least consistently do something in that end. Franklin is on the higher end of addressing the OPEB requirements

not many doing what we are doing right now

(note - video feed problems being worked by Franklin TV) will be available for rebroadcast

No material weaknesses or deficiencies

recommendation on a more formal risk assessment process
FYI - statement #75 on the OPEB accounting changes coming
FYI - reauthorizing the OPEB Trust under new legislation

Nutting - when our legislators coming this Spring, we need to request help again on the OPEB matter

Pellegri - the residents should be pleased with the reports and the way we are doing business
Melanson - thanks for all the help and preparedness, it made it easy to do


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