Capital Planning Committee Duties

There shall be a capital planning committee which shall consist of seven members, chosen in the following manner:  the town accountant and the town administrator shall serve by virtue of their offices, one member of the finance committee appointed by and from it, one member of the planning board appointed by and from it, and three additional members appointed by an appointing authority which shall consist of the town moderator, who shall serve as chairman, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen and the chairman of the finance committee.  The members from the finance committee and the planning board shall each serve for a term of one year, the other members shall be appointed for terms of three years, so arranged that the term of as nearly an equal number of members as is possible shall expire each year.  The town may, by by-law, provide for other conditions regarding such appointments.  All articles which are contained in the warrant for a town meeting which relate to capital expenditures, as that term may be defined by by-law from time to time, shall be referred to the capital planning committee for its study, review and report.  The capital planning committee shall, prior to each town meeting and at a time fixed by  by-law, report its recommendations on each article which has been referred to it, in such manner as may be determined by by-law.  The capital planning committee shall be responsible for the development of a capital outlay program as provided in section 5-7.

The board is required by Town Charter to present an updated 5 year plan of proposed Capital expenditures at each spring Town Meeting. The board works with the Town Administrator to assimilate this information (from all Town departments) to inform the Town residents of impending Capital expenditures facing the Town. This information is forwarded to the Finance Committee to assist them in performing their tasks. The Board reviews all the requests by time when needed and value to the Town. Then the board will provide the final request list spread out over the 5 year cycle. Based on available funding, the board then presents Capital purchases at each spring Town Meeting for consideration. Capital expenditures can be a police car all the way up to a new school. Currently the town is looking at 1. new police station 2. renovation/replacement of Minot/Decas elementary schools 3. COA facility in conjunction with new Senior Housing facilities 4. replacement of existing police, school and maintenance vehicles.  There's more but this provides insight into what the Town faces.  Funding can come from the General Funds, Grants,new Bond issuance, and Tax overrides.