Audit of Chelmsford's Books Is Positive, OPEB Remains a Concern

7:00 p.m. to 7:12 p.m.

Selectman Jim Lane announced he will not run for re-election in the spring prior to the open forum section of the meeting.

In open forum, Moderator Dick DeFreitas gave an update on the Moderator Advisory Rules Committee, Susan Gates gave news on upcoming events at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts, and Selectman Pat Wotjas gave an update on committee vacancies in town government.

7:12 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

The Selectmen unanimously approved roadside vendor’s licenses for

·          Christmas tree sales at the Central Congregational Church

·         Christmas tree sales on Graniteville Road

·         Christmas tree and wreath sales at the Chelmsford Lodge of Elks by Boy Scout Troop 75

7:15 to 7:18 p.m.

 A new manager was approved at the Madras Grill on Summer Street unanimously. Wotjas has a question on the application where it said the new manager had and had not had a beneficial or financial interest in an alcoholic license.

This was a typographical error.

 7:18 p.m. to 7:24 p.m.

Representatives of Center Brickhouse Pizza requested a one-day special beer and wine on-site license for an event on Nov. 25 to Nov. 29, specifically to extend their current license’s closing time from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., specifically for Thanksgiving event.

Wotjas asked numerous questions of the applicant, and the motion was passed after numerous criteria such as crowd control managers and fire and police detail on premises.

7:18 p.m. to 7:54 p.m.

A presentation of Chelmsford’s budget audit was presented by members of the town government’s financial team.

The audit went well according to the report, with budgetary communication between departments occurring regularly, saying that Chelmsford’s budget was well within generally accepted accounting practices for governmental entities.

A long term deficit of approximately $4 million was discussed, relating directly to Other Post-Employment Benefits or OPEB, although this deficit was expected to change over time depending on decisions made by the town.

Concerns were raised regarding unassigned funds, which dropped by approximately $3 million over the past year, with this potentially worrying bond raising agencies.

The report then went to praise for the town’s tax revenue collection abilities and budgetary discipline, but gains were mitigated by use of free cash for things like capital projects and an OPEB trust fund to eventually eliminate the pending liability and deficit relating to the town’s OPEB responsibilities.

After that, the presentation went to the School Department, looking at the status of the previous year’s recommendations such as an audit of student activity funds and recommendations for the current year relating to subjects such as improving payroll processing and reviewing the school lunch fund.

Selectmen asked several questions, including a question from Lane asking about how Chelmsford measures up on meeting OPEB liabilities compared to other municipalities in the Commonwealth.

Although the independent auditor couldn’t give an opinion on whether to be more aggressive on fixing OPEB liabilities, he said that more and more, rating agencies asked about OPEB issues.

In terms of where Chelmsford is, the auditor said that Chelmsford is in the middle of the pack relating to addressing OPEB issues, with some municipalities fully funding it, some not doing anything and some putting in some funding just to say they did some.

However, he said that the amounts put into the liabilities were positive.

Wotjas then asked why the fire station construction fund was a “major” governmental fund, with the auditor saying it had to do with fund balances.

Claire Jeannotte of the Finance Committee asked the auditor about footnotes relating to custodial credit risk and then a deficit on Community Preservation Funding.

The auditor answered that the credit risk fluctuates and that this report was just a moment in time, and in regard to the Community Preservation Fund, he believed that was also a timing issue.

7:54 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

A continuation on a beer and wine license was request for the new Zesty’s location in North Chelmsford coming soon.

The location for the restaurant coming to Vinal Square has been not been occupied for five years and will have 68 seats, with five televisions requested over two floors.

The restaurant will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Town Manager Paul Cohen asked if the business would open with a common victualler’s, or food service, license with a pending alcohol license to come as the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

Lane asked on alcohol supervision over two floors, Zesty’s owner Ted Rokas said there would be an employee on both floors at all times.

The request was unanimously approved.