The Finance Committee voted to approve the following (see Report and watch video on NewTV):
- Request to appropriate and expend $4,120,000 and authorize a general obligation borrowing of an equal amount for the construction and engineering services for the City of Newton Pump Station Rehabilitation CIP Project 1 and design for Project 2 and authorization to apply any premium received upon the sale of the bonds or notes, less the cost of preparing, issuing, and marketing them, and any accrued interest received upon the delivery of the bonds or notes to the costs of the project and to reduce the amount authorized to be borrowed for the project by a like amount. NOTE: The item was amended to $4,127,000.
- Request to amend the City of Newton Ordinances regarding trash and recycling (Chapter 11 and Chapter 17) to allow the City to create a mattress recycling program needed to comply with a significant upcoming change in MassDEP regulations for mattresses.
- Request to transfer $250,000 from the Building Improvements, (Under $75K projects) to a new account.
- Request to approve a Community Preservation Committee (CPC) recommendation to appropriate $75,000 in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding from the FY20233 Historic Resource Reserve Fund to complete the first phase of the Jackson Homestead Basement Restoration Project by hiring a preservation consultant to develop plans to remediate the existing water and humidity issues in order to preserve the historic structure and protect its important collections.
- Request to approve a Community Preservation Committee (CPC) recommendation to appropriate $1,948,056 in Community Preservation Act funding, with $556,588 to come from the FY23 Community Housing Reserve Account and $1,391,468 to come from FY2023 Unrestricted Funding Account, to provide funding to the Newton Affordable Housing Trust for future projects that meet one or more of the CPA’s eligible funding categories for Community Housing projects.
The Committee voted No Action Necessary on the following:
- Request a discussion with the Administration regarding the process for selecting and overseeing the work of consultants retained by the city including (a) the criteria for when consultants are selected without a bidding process; (a) how contracts with consultants are negotiated; (c) the process for creating change orders in consulting contracts; (d) what detail is expected in bills submitted by consultants and the process for review and approval of such bills; and (e) whether bills submitted by consultants have ever been rejected or challenged and the reasons for such rejections or challenges.
