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08/08/2017 03:30 PMWhile no regulation changes have been compiled in formal documents to date, members of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) committee spoke with members of the Board of Finance (BOF) at their regular meeting on July 26 about what they believe are needed adjustments to the program.
The annual capital needs of the town—which includes spending on things like fire and police vehicles or major building, field, or road maintenance—are compiled in the CIP and voted on in the budget referendum each year. The CIP program is designed to create one comprehensive planning document for all of the town and public school’s capital needs for the next five years and evaluate possible funding options. The CIP is a subcommittee of the BOF.
At the first CIP meeting of the new fiscal year on July 19, committee members considered changing the rules so that town department requests are reviewed first by the entire Board of Selectmen (BOS) and not just the first selectman before being forwarded to the CIP. Members also discussed the need for a formal process when a project listed in the CIP and approved by the voters changes scope after approval.
At the BOF meeting, CIP and BOF member Bennett Pudlin brought up the desire to move the first review of department requests to the whole BOS. BOF members asked Selectman Bruce Wilson, who also serves on the CIP committee and was standing in for First Selectman Tom Banisch, what the BOS thought of the potential change.
“In light of the numerous meetings that the CIP committee has, it seems to be more productive for the entire board [BOS] to go through and provide recommendations to the CIP” he said.
However, as with the first CIP meeting, the conversation turned to project procedure issues that arose in the last year. BOF Chair Joe MacDougald said a regulation change is worthy of discussion so that when a process changes in purpose, cost, scope, or deliverables at any stage, that a mechanism is in place to send the project back to the CIP for an expedited review.
It became clear that Banisch’s decision to change the scope of the Town Campus baseball field project last year was the focus of the conversation.
“It would be a way to backstop certain projects in case we want to field a change,” MacDougald said of a regulation change. “To make sure they don’t go off base, is that what you are saying?”
Keeping in mind the possible need to review projects at various times of the year if such a process is established, CIP Chair Jean Fitzgerald said the CIP regulation needs to be loosened so that the committee may meet at any time, not just in the budget season.
MacDougald agreed with the suggestion.
“Then you would go into extra innings,” he said.
The BOF is expected to review the recommended changes at the next BOF meeting once a formal draft of the changes is available. However, former first selectman Gus Horvath urged the board, in light of the potential changes and the possible greater role of the BOS in the CIP process, to consult the town charter.
“The BOS, number one, really does not have that much authority in fiscal issues,” Horvath said. “The first selectman, from personal experience, is one member of an executive committee and has one of five votes and really the only thing the BOS can do is they can hire and fire employees and they can pass ordinances. Period. That is it.”