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Capital Night has long been an anticipated evening of deliberation in Sudbury’s Town government. It’s a massive joint meeting with the Select Board, Finance Committee, Capital Improvement Advisory Committee and representatives from Sudbury’s two school districts. The Town Manager typically presents the Town Manager’s Capital Budget for the upcoming fiscal year, then department heads present the capital warrant articles for their departments.
But this Capital Night was different from prior years. The Town has a freshly-minted capital plan, which was based on a multi-year process that included an inventory equipment, a facilities assessment, and implementation of new facilities management software. Instead of recurring debate about financial policies and capital planning, participants simply asked a few questions about the warrant articles to gain an understanding, and the meeting moved quickly from start to finish.
Town Manager Andy Sheehan and his staff were lauded for their presentations, the structure of the meeting, and the organization work that went into the evening. Select Board chair, Lisa Kouchakdjian, kept the discussion moving and collaborated with Finance Committee co-chair Mike Joachim to make sure that the evening moved considerably faster than prior years.
By the end of the night, not a single warrant article stood out as controversial. Sheehan’s presentation even included status updates on capital projects approved at prior Town Meetings, which was appreciated by members in the meeting.
The night concluded with good humor. Hank Sorett, a member of the Finance Committee, thanked the group for putting up with his pointed questions. Town Manager Sheehan joked that he didn’t realize they had a choice.
All the presentations from the meeting can be accessed here. Town Manager Andy Sheehan’s full presentation is here:
The meeting recording will also be available on Sudbury TV.
