Meeting Minutes
FALMOUTH EDIC OPEN MEETING: December 14, 2021
Falmouth Town Hall, 59 Town Hall Sq., Falmouth, MA 02540, Select Board Meeting Room
PRESENT
Thomas Feronti (CK), Kevin Holmes (T), Michael Galasso, Samuel Patterson
ABSENT
Christopher Land (C)
8:30 am* CALL TO ORDER
A quorum was established. The Clerk called the meeting to order.
8:31 PUBLIC COMMENT
Meghan Hanawalt, River Hill Rd., mentioned that the EDIC meeting agenda noted the “Selectmen” meeting room, instead of “Select Board”.
Ben Mezzacappa, Depot Avenue, stated he planned on engaging on the topic of proposed ideas that are transpiring in that area, but will withhold his comments until the subject is brought up on the agenda.
8:32 APPROVAL OF BOARD MEETING MINUTES
• MOTION: Patterson made a motion to approve the November 9, 2021 Public Session Board Meeting Minutes. Galasso 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion approved.
• MOTION: Patterson made a motion to approve, but not release, the November 9, 2021 Executive Session Board Meeting Minutes. Holmes 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion approved.
8:33 FINANCE
Kevin Holmes
• Holmes referred to the financial reports. The balance sheet is fairly static with last month. The bulk of assets are cash, and some land holdings. Income is ahead of budget by $7k, expense is ahead of budget as well resulting in a Net Income of - $28k vs. the budgeted -$55k. A good job was done with expense control although some items may defer until next year. Holmes noted that optimizing the income of various sources is important as there is a slight cash burn each month. Going forward the EDIC needs to remain mindful of future expenditures and how they will impact the EDIC cash position.
• Galasso asked why the Station ground lease is not being shown as an asset. Holmes reported that he has had discussions with the EDIC CPA and Auditor, and was told it was not appropriate to show this property as an asset due to the difficulty of establishing a value of it as well as its revenue sources. Discussions are on-going on this subject to pursue the objective of adding it as an asset.
• MOTION: Holmes made a motion to approve the warrant in the amount of $65,169.12. Patterson 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion approved.
• Holmes advised that he will request with the CPA and Auditor to have the EDIC’s audit done earlier in the year going forward, as the 2020 audit was just completed this month.
8:39 Proposed 2022 EDIC Budget
Wayne Lingafelter
• Lingafelter mentioned the detailed 2022 budget package provided to the board members and then provided an overview via a PPT presentation.
• Lingafelter noted the Falmouth Station is at a break even for the 2022 budget; a positive step in Station operations.
• The largest component of the Project Based Income is the Solar Landfill.
• The 2022 Budget is showing a positive Net Income; assumptions being the sale of the Tech Park Lot sale and the current tenancy at the Falmouth Station remains in place, and the Solar income remains the same per the existing lease agreements.
• In respect to Falmouth Station expenses there is an $25k budgeted for 3-4 repair/improvement items that are needed. There is no budget for any development of the adjacent lot to the Station.
• There were no changes to the EDIC staffing or administrative costs. Modest additional hours were added to Q1 to accommodate the final processes associated with the CDBG grant program.
• Lingafelter reiterated Holmes’s remarks that monitoring the EDIC cash position is important part of the EDIC financial management and displayed an overview of the last several years cash positions as well as a project for 2021 and the forecast for year-end 2022. The EDIC has experienced decreases in the cash position since fiscal year end 2018, however, it is forecasted that fiscal year ending December 2022/January 2023 will experience an increase in cash retained.
• The EDIC remains well above the $250k minimum target cash position.
• Referring to the historical data, Lingafelter noted the burn rate on cash. Assuming the Falmouth Station can be maintained at a break even, the EDIC is running at about a $50k deficient each year, absent one-time events such as this year’s potential sale of the Tech Park lot.
• Galasso inquired about the estimated sale price of the Tech Park lot. Lingafelter noted there is an estimate however, in the interest of not going into Executive Session it was not included for discussion. Lingafelter is still gathering valuations from various sources to refine the number.
• Galasso mentioned the Town owns land adjacent to Solar II and suggested the EDIC explore expanding Solar capabilities on this site. Since the wind turbines were shut down, there may be some grid capacity for additional solar which would offset the energy losses from the wind turbines. Patterson stated he thinks the Select Board would be open to a proposal. Feronti inquired if anything was budgeted for this new project; Lingafelter responded there are some funds in Legal Expenses that would cover the due diligence on this matter. Galasso suggested that Mass Development or some other sources would assist with the funding for this project. Lingafelter said he would do the initial legwork and will bring a preliminary report to the board. Patterson suggested contacting Citizens Energy to review the potential /feedback about expanding the Solar project at the Falmouth Landfill. Feronti reminded the Board that an RFP and process would be required.
• Feronti requested that Station operating expenses be tracked separately from other improvements and repairs. Discussion ensued.
• Lingafelter pointed out that the 2022 budget assumes the sale of the Tech Park Lot and related expenses to prepare it for sale. He reminded the Board of the scenario that the EDIC expends the funds to prepare the property for sale, but then the sale is not successful, which would result in a shortfall. Lingafelter said there was an option not to include the income or expense related to the property sale. The Board agreed to leave this project within the budget.
• Ben Mezzacappa inquired if there were other sources of income from the Falmouth Station other than the Café. Feronti advised of two other bus company tenants. Mezzacappa inquired of the EDIC was charging for parking and was told they did not.
• MOTION: Patterson made a motion to approve the 2022 Budget. Holmes 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed.
9:09 EDIC AMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS
New Board Member Recruitment
• Feronti said it was a tough time of the year to recruit, but it is important to make this a priority for early next year.
• Lingafelter directed the board to the Recruitment worksheet. He reported that Galasso, Patterson and he met to discuss the four perspective board members that would qualify under the Affordable Housing category; sending out an invitation to one of them to consider the board position. Holmes has been working with another candidate for the Industrial experience. Lingafelter has an interview scheduled with another candidate that applied from the Enterprise advertisement.
• Lingafelter’s goal is for the board interviews to take place at the January 2022 EDIC board meeting.
Sub-Committee to Review/Update EDIC Bylaws and Enabling Legislation
• Feronti said this would be discussed further after the new year, when the Chairman returns and hopefully when new board members join the EDIC board.
9:36 COMMITTEE REPORTS
CDBG Community Development Block Grant Update
Lynne Broderick
• Broderick advised the EDIC awarded to 13 CDBG applicants in the amount of $129,300. There is $19,540 remaining to award.
• The CDBG sub-committee decided to use the remaining funds to increase the amount of award to the current awardees. In additional to the remaining EDIC grants, there exists another $25k in grant funds that was not used by the Service Ctr. that was offered to the EDIC for further grant awarding. The Falmouth Town Hall is confirming with the State that they can reallocate these funds to the EDIC for the small business grant program.
• The proposal for additional grant funds awarding was approved by the CDBG sub-committee.
• The deadline for grant funding submission to the State is Dec. 31. 2021.
Falmouth Station Update
Wayne Lingafelter
• Lingafelter reported that the sub-committee met to review the master plan work done by the consultant team with MassDevelopment. They continue to refine the options.
• The MassDev grant is set to wrap up in January 2022 and the team is on schedule to complete the work within this time period.
• Lingafelter will request that the consultant team present the full master plan to the EDIC board in January 2022 to summarize the work and conclusions.
• Feronti noted that that the consultants did a really nice job listening to the feedback received from the public participants to the Stakeholders meeting.
• Galasso mentioned that the consultants will present all master plan options derived from their study, and will make their recommendation based on the best solution.
• Lingafelter said the master plan findings will also be shared in another community Stakeholder meeting for those prior participants in the prior meetings to learn of the study conclusions.
• The application for brick repair/replacement work was approved by the CPC. This project will remain on hold until the vote on this item at the April 2022 Town Meeting. Lingafelter said there is some pre-work that can be done in advance of the April Town Meeting to prepare in advance to ensure a quick project execution if approved.
• Lingafelter reported that the lease discussions with the Station café tenant remain on-going, and an agreement in principle to the business terms has been reached. Lingafelter has instructed the EDIC attorney to draft the lease agreement. The café tenant has been notified that the new rent schedule commences Jan 1st regardless if the new lease agreement is signed or not.
• Paul Dreyer, Town Meeting Member, complimented the Station Stakeholder meeting process. He inquired if a preliminary report was expected in December. Lingafelter advised that the MassDev contract provides for just one formal final presentation – one to the EDIC Board and one to the community. Galasso suggested a summary PDF be made available to post on the EDIC website.
Lingafelter pointed out that the final recommendation by the consultant team will not necessarily be the final approved plan by the EDIC should the Station property be developed. The consultant reports will be the first step in a long process. Mr. Dreyer also mentioned that the historical significance of the Falmouth Station was omitted from the consultant summary, and it should be noted as an important point when developing the property.
OpenCape Main Street Gigabit Project
Lynne Broderick
• Broderick reported there are currently 47 OpenCape business connections to date using the $50K in funds under the MassDev / OpenCape loan agreement. These funds are now exhausted, however, there is $7,500 in Connect Fee Funds that will be used for additional connections until these funds are also depleted.
• Per the loan agreement, once OpenCape pays off their loan, they can choose to continue to charge the $10 fees to customers, or not. Open Cape has advised they plan to pay off the loan by mid-2022 and they will not continue with the $10 fees.
• Patterson inquired about the footprint of OpenCape service in Falmouth. Broderick to obtain a map from OpenCape to display Falmouth service area.
• Broderick reported OpenCape’s challenges of obtaining new business contracts due to CV-19. As well, the inability to reach the objective of 60 free connections due to the added expense of connecting to some of the older buildings and more difficult installations.
Technology Park Lot 21 Update
Wayne Lingafelter
• Lingafelter reported that Lot 21 is being prepared to be marketed; displaying a schematic of the 5.9 area lot which is shared with a water tower. Access to the proposed area for sale and the surrounding topography was mentioned.
• Mike McGrath is working on creating a sub-division plan for a buildable parcel of approximately 1.5 acres. The Water Dept. will need to approve this modification before the plan can be submitted to the Town Planning Dept.
• Feronti questioned the cost/benefit to the EDIC for the continued revisions of the engineering plan. Lingafelter said he has stopped all engineering drawing revision work until he has spoken with the Water Dept./DPW and the Planning Board and favorable conditions to develop are expressed.
9:44 New Business, Agenda Items or Guest Speakers
• EDIC Retreat – After Board Members are Added - April
• CPA Presentation of 2020 Financial Audit
9:46 ADJOURNMENT
MOTION: Patterson made a motion to adjourn. Holmes 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion passed.
NEXT MEETING – January 11th, 2022, 8:30am
*Times listed are intended merely for guidance.
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