HANSCOM AREA TOWNS COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held at 7:30 PM on June 25, 2009
At Lincoln Town Offices
PRESENT:
Jeanne Krieger (Chair) Lexington Board of Selectmen
Sara Mattes Lincoln Board of Selectmen
Mike Rosenberg Bedford Board of Selectmen
Elise Woodward Concord Board of selectmen
Doris Cole Concord Planning Board
Richard Canale Lexington Planning Board
Robert Domnitz Lincoln Planning Board
Lisa Mustapich Bedford Planning Board
Margaret Coppe Lexington HATS rep
Dorothy Steele Massport/ OGCA
Lou Sideris Minuteman National Historical Park
Carl Valente Lexington Town Manager
Tim Higgins Lincoln Town Administrator
Rick Reed Bedford Town Manager
Chris Whelan Concord Town Manager
7:30 PM INTRODUCTION
The Chairman welcomed participants and asked people to introduce themselves. She explained that the main agenda item is a discussion on opportunities for regional cooperation, with the towns’ town managers/ administrators. This is a timely topic as towns are currently finalizing their FY2010 budgets.
Hanscom Infrastructure Expansion
Lexington provided copies of letters sent to the Governor, Senators Kerry and Kennedy and the Federal Aviation Administration, following the passing of an Article at its Special Town Meeting in May calling for a moratorium on expansion of infrastructure at Hanscom Civil Air Field.
7:35 PM DISCUSSION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION
Tim Higgins, Lincoln’s Town Administrator, introduced the subject and supplied a number of headings for the discussion.
Managers’ experiences and perspective
Mr. Higgins noted that regional cooperation is a prominent topic in government policy circles and also a regular part of what local towns do. The managers present are involved with the Massachusetts Municipal Managers Association and the Massachusetts Municipal Association and also have previous experience of working in various geographical groupings (such as Mr. Higgins’ experience of inter-town working in connection with the Devens military base).
Define term: regionalization
Mr. Higgins drew attention to the varying definitions of regionalization, with formal regional bodies at one end of the spectrum and informal arrangements for sharing equipment or staff at the other.
Headline issue
Regionalization has become a headline issue recently, with the economic crisis focusing attention on potential cost savings. Mr. Higgins provided copies of a paper produced by the Pioneer Institute in October 2008 based on case studies of regionalization in Massachusetts. The foreword to the study asserts that regionalization is universally acknowledged to save money but that initiatives frequently founder on bureaucratic inertia and parochialism. Mr. Higgins said that in his view the study failed to recognize how much collaboration exists on service provision and that arrangements can be successful if there is thoughtful decision making with due diligence.
Existing regional services
Mr. Higgins provided a list of fourteen regional programs, including service entities, purchasing or support collaboratives and committees, in which Lincoln participates - ranging from the Regional (Lincoln-Sudbury) High School to HATS. Mr. Higgins added that towns are continuously looking at ways to improve service and find efficiency savings.
The other HATS towns’ managers confirmed that they similarly participated in a number of regional arrangements. Concord’s list is similar to Lincoln’s although it also shares some recreational programs with Carlisle. Lexington shares a yard waste program with Arlington and a nurse program with Belmont. It contracts with the state for weights and measures services. Several towns cooperate on special education services. Carl Valente commented that although Lexington is bigger than the other HATS towns, there will always be specialized equipment and services that it cannot afford to have in house, and some services are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Bedford’s list of regional arrangements includes a training consortium for municipal employees which provides general staff
development courses, the WestMetro HOME Consortium which supports grant bids for housing, and the Metro North purchasing consortium. Rick Reed reported that a joint bidding arrangement for solid waste disposal worked well.
Lessons learned
Mr. Reed related that he previously worked in the Washington, DC area, for a city where the county had a big role. Fewer services shared a common geographical operating area and he found that the local towns there had less sense of identity than here. He felt that the small towns of New England offer a better quality of life for families in this respect. Mr. Valente agreed that the HATS towns each have a sense of community and of their individual characters. It was noted that many people have a strong sense of identification with local high schools.
Lexington and Concord’s town managers recalled instances of local resistance to regional service delivery, in particular to attempts to set up a regional dispatch center. Discussion revealed that factors involved were the high quality of service provided by local dispatchers (including a practice of connecting non-urgent cases to appropriate departments) and the desire for a walk-in option.
It was agreed that financial issues can sometimes arise over regional services, for example some towns not wanting to pay for the full range of services or objecting to jointly-negotiated union pay agreements. Accountability to and control by Town Meeting becomes complicated in such situations. Mr. Higgins suggested that one lesson is that it is important to plan for service expectations and to be realistic about cost commitments. Sometimes a less than ideal standard of quality has to be weighed against a cost saving. He mentioned that Lincoln chose not to contract for a private ambulance service because a dedicated vehicle would not be provided for Lincoln’s population.
Sara Mattes asked about limitations imposed by state law on regional arrangements. She recalled that the state would not allow a HATS cooperative for purchasing electricity. Mr. Valente advised that collective bargaining is one big issue, affecting situations where work would be taken away from an established group of employees. Also, special legislation is needed to create a separate taxing authority such as a regional fire or water district. Accountability can be weakened by multiple boards operating in an area. It was noted that some geographic anomalies exist. An article from the Municipal Advocate about the law on inter-municipal agreements was included in the handout.
Regional school districts were discussed. They have funding formulas that can be controversial. Budgeting for capital improvements can be difficult because of the need to share costs and achieve support from all participating towns.
Mr. Higgins pointed out that there are costs involved in operating regional boards, such as volunteer representatives’ time, and support by staff and town counsel, which should be considered going in. Ms. Mattes noted that as the constituent towns retain independence, committees such as HATS have difficulty securing authority for policy positions quickly.
Other good and bad experiences were discussed. Lincoln reported that a solid waste consortium had not worked out well for the town. The state DEP had promoted regionalization, favoring certain technology that had not performed well. Concord found that health was an area where regionalization can pay off, together with inspectional services in cases where staff hours work out; differences of policy or interpretation may need to be considered, however.
Additional opportunities for HATS towns to share services
Looking ahead, Mr. Higgins reported that work is being done by a large group of towns to benchmark services in preparation for assessing spare capacity, which may be a good place to start. Mr. Reed also mentioned that there are benchmarks developed by the International City/ County Management Association (ICMA) covering many services; he had used one for the police service.
Mike Rosenberg suggested that it may be better to compare and learn from other towns’ arrangements and experiences than to force regionalization. Elise Woodward felt that there may be more opportunities for collaboration in newer areas of responsibility such as the Green Communities Act than in well-established ones. She suggested that when regionalization initiatives are proposed by towns they need to be explained and justified to the citizens. Mr. Reed was of the opinion that in general, the easy areas for collaboration on existing services have already been implemented. He pointed out that in some countries such as the UK, full consolidation of local government units has been legislated centrally, and unless we are prepared to go that far, there may be limited further potential. In his view, there
are important quality of life arguments to be weighed against financial efficiency. He noted that many communities in other parts of the US are studying ways to connect government with the people better, which small towns do well. Mr. Higgins reported that Hamilton and Wenham, which share some services, have been considering a merger; this situation may be interesting to watch.
Mr. Valente suggested that the towns consider sending a representative to the MMA’s discussions on regionalization. He commented that the state’s current interest in the subject is coming from a financial angle but may not recognize the barriers presented by state law and related case law.
Richard Canale stated that MAPC offers some specialized services and expertise such as advising on purchasing of vehicles. He also reported that the North Shore Coalition, which has been in existence for about two years, has been looking at quality and effectiveness issues and potential regional solutions; therefore it may be worth contacting for ideas.
Ms. Mattes drew attention to the fact that towns sometimes group together for political action rather than services. This type of working has sometimes proved useful, for example in relation to BRAC, but it takes energy. A current example is the 128 Central Corridor Coalition.
There was a discussion about the level of awareness by finance committees and by the general public of what is already done regionally and of the service level/quality factors that are involved as well as the drive to control costs. Mr. Valente considered that finance committees are aware of and discuss a range of approaches. Mr. Higgins suggested that a broad public discussion of cost control initiatives, with comparisons, could be useful; solutions need not always focus on regionalization. This could be a future HATS discussion topic. Ms. Mattes felt that support from the public for privatization may have reduced.
8:35 PM ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BOARD
Ms. Mattes reported that a new board, which is a revised version of the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, is being established. Draft Articles of Collaboration were circulated previously. The Board will examine how to enhance activities at the Hanscom military base and look at synergies with the local technology economy. A HATS member will sit on the Board.
8:45 PM BATTLE ROAD SCENIC BYWAY
Mr. Canale reported that a meeting was held on June 16th to launch the Scenic Byway and commence the Corridor Management Study. Nearly 100 people attended. The meeting was recorded for television and reported in the local newspapers. A steering group will meet through the summer and form topic based task forces in the fall. Although the four towns have different characters, it is hoped that commonalities will be found and an approach to management framed. Relevant topics include land uses along the road and visual matters such as placing wires underground. The theme of “revolutions” has been expressed broadly and can include the recent history of technological innovation. Collecting data for an inventory of resources is an important part of the work. Funding to implement the
recommendations will come from federal highway funds rather than the National Park.
Suggested extensions of the corridor to include Barrett’s Farm in Concord and a witness house in Arlington will be discussed.
Ms. Mattes observed that arts grants of $8,000 have been reported in the press, including a sum for an Air and Space Museum in Bedford. Dorothy Steele reported that there is still interest in establishing a museum.
8:55 PM FUTURE MEETING TOPICS
Potential discussion topics for future meetings were proposed. The following were tentatively scheduled:
July 23rd - Disability Commissions’ work: overcoming programmatic and physical obstacles.
- Also a discussion on the Science and Technology Board.
(August – no meeting)
September 22nd - Cost control. Finance committee reps will be invited.
Early December - Agriculture
ACTION: Chair
Other ideas for future dates were a discussion of the state Transportation Bill when its direction is clearer, and a series of presentations by state politicians representing the HATS area.
Mr. Domnitz suggested a discussion on the role of MAPC and the difficulties small towns experience in getting their voice heard at state level. After an immediate discussion with Ms. Mattes and Mr. Canale, it was agreed that Mr. Canale will circulate some minutes of MAPC Executive Committee discussions on LUPA. ACTION: Mr. Canale
9:05 PM MINUTES
The draft minutes of the April 23rd meeting were approved as notes, in view of the lack of a quorum of those who attended.
9:10 PM NEW BUSINESS
Minuteman National Historical Park 50th Anniversary Events
Lou Sideris reported that the anniversary events will include a George Washington figure on horseback, with his army. Also the Gala on September 20th will feature Doris Kearns Goodwin as the speaker.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.
Submitted by Catherine Perry
Approved as amended July 23, 2009
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