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Templeton committee reviews new capital‑plan template and sets priorities for FY2027
Summary
The Capital Improvements Committee discussed a new departmental-to-master capital template presented by James Ryan to standardize five‑year planning, debated whether to collect six years of data to meet a bylaw requirement, and agreed to add a standardized priority field and return revised forms to the committee.
James Ryan presented a new capital‑planning package that would have department‑level templates roll up to a single master summary the committee can use to create a five‑year capital improvement plan. Ryan said the forms include fields for justification, trade‑in values, grant information and a fiscal‑year funding breakdown so departments and the committee can see costs and funding sources across years.
Chairman Justice Graves told members the committee must still meet its statutory and bylaw obligations while also producing usable materials for department heads. Members debated whether to solicit six years of departmental information (which the committee’s bylaw requires) while showing a five‑year total in the master rollup. Ryan proposed keeping a sixth year on departmental sheets but presenting a five‑year master summary so the committee meets the bylaw’s solicitation requirement without cluttering the rollup.
Committee members asked for a standardized priority field next to the justification box so departments will use the same ranking (for example: high, medium, low) rather than free‑form labels such as “ASAP.” Ryan agreed to add an explicit priority option and to include a short instruction letter for department heads explaining how to populate the template and what the committee expects to see in the justification field.
Members also agreed the template rollout this year could be limited (an example departmental form with the agreed edits) and fully implemented the following year when departments have more time to populate the forms. Justice Graves said he would circulate a revised example with the suggested edits and that Ryan would offer short training sessions for department staff if the committee approves the change.
The committee set a working process: accept a revised template at the next meetings, distribute it to department heads with instructions, and have department returns rolled into a master summary the committee can use when drafting its final FY2027 recommendations to the Select Board.
