Town manager proposes $500,000 threshold for CIAC review to reduce workload

Town Manager Andy Sheehan proposed amending Bylaw C.11 to set a $500,000 threshold for capital articles requiring review by the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee (CIAC), saying the change would reduce the number of projects the committee must review under the town’s revised capital-review process and account for inflation since 2019.

Select Board member Lisa Kouchakdjian joined the discussion and invited committee feedback on the proposal. Sheehan said the $500,000 figure was not derived from a single formal calculation but from internal conversations and that, applied to the current fiscal year, the threshold would have exempted five items from CIAC review.

Committee members raised two principal concerns: that multi‑year projects or phased design work could be under the threshold on an annual basis yet exceed $500,000 overall, and that articles initially below the threshold might grow above $500,000 before Town Meeting and escape CIAC scrutiny. Committee members recommended that requests for multi‑year projects include a ballpark estimate of total capital needs so the committee can assess cumulative impact.

Sheehan and Kouchakdjian told the committee that the Select Board could entertain exceptions allowing CIAC review of projects below the threshold. No formal vote on changing the bylaw was taken at the March 24 meeting; the discussion will be reflected in the CIAC report to the Finance Committee and Select Board.