Newly named Assistant Town Manager and Planning and Community Development Director Michael Barbieri stands with Town Manager Lyn Simmons, Select Board Chair Vineeth Hemavathi, and Select Board members Mark Gold, Andrew Lam and Josh Levine.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow has experienced a period of growth in its operating stabilization fund, which now has a balance of about $8 million. Rather than allow the funds to continue growing well beyond the optimum balance, Finance Director Ian Coddington asked the Select Board, “Is there a better use of the funds?”
The town’s operating stabilization fund is essentially a savings account for the town. The Select Board’s target is for the account to have a balance of between 5% and 10% of the general fund operating revenues. With interest rates in the last three years between 3.9% and 5.5%, the compounded interest has spurred the balance above the 10% maximum outlined in the town’s policy for the past two years.
While the excess funds could be transferred to the town’s free cash reserve, Coddington, Town Manager Lyn Simmons and Finance Committee Chair Erica Weida spoke in favor of a plan that would use up to 100% of the account’s interest to fund municipal priorities once the fund reaches a balance of 7.5% of the general fund operating revenues. Coddington said the principal in the stabilization account would remain intact and the balance would be enough to maintain favorable bond ratings. The transfer of funds from the account would require approval by two-thirds of voters at Town Meeting.
Coddington said that costs continue to rise, and the town has deferred maintenance due to budgetary constraints. By basing the policy on “the completed/audited prior fiscal year,” he said the town will not fall into a pattern of relying on projected interest.
Weida cautioned against using the resource to fill out the annual operational budget, but to instead use the money for capital expenses.
Select Board member Josh Levine said that curtailing the use to capital expenses, “makes a lot of sense” and would prevent the town from using the funds as a “crutch.” Similarly, Select Board member Andrew Lam said the town cannot count on interest rates, so he was in favor of limiting the funding’s usage. He said it should be considered a “bonus” to be used in addition to the annual capital expense budget.
Select Board member Mark Gold also spoke favorably about restricting the use of the funds. He said that if the policy had been in place six months ago, the town could have used the interest instead of bonding for its roadwork plan.
“In a town like Longmeadow, we need to get creative in these situations,” Select Board member Dan Zwirko said of the policy proposal. He asked Simmons about the flexibility she said she would like regarding the use of funds. Noting that the budget for fiscal year 2026 has been “the most challenging” in her tenure with the town, Simmons said she wanted a policy that was not overly narrow. “A lot of unforeseen things come up,” she said. She noted that the literacy program approved for the schools in 2024 did not meet the definition of a capital expense but was one such “unforeseen” item.
Levine suggested the inclusion of language denoting “one-time” expenses could be added to the policy in lieu of a capital expense requirement. Alternatively, Gold said the town could move the excess funds into the free cash account without the stipulations on its use.
“The big problem that we have is capital funding is stagnant, and it is nowhere close to meeting the needs of the community,” Select Board Chair Vineeth Hemavathi said. Ideally, he said he would like to devote the funding to deferred maintenance. That said, he agreed with Simmons that flexibility is important to tackle unexpected circumstances.
Lam suggested making the policy more fiscally conservative by raising the threshold to the full 10% of general fund operating revenues.
However, Weida said, “Remember, as we’re storing this money, the price of everything on Earth is going up as well. So, stuff that we defer is costing more in the future. Sitting on money and not doing things that need to be done has a cost.”
To that point, Simmons said an emergency now is far more costly than an emergency in 2009 when the 10% maximum was set. Replacing one culvert could “wipe out” the balance in the stabilization account, she said, suggesting the maximum balance be increased.
The policy consideration was continued to the next Select Board meeting on March 10.
Addressing a controversy that began with the appointment of Michael McLane to the Board of Assessors in January, Levine commented that his character had been “impugned” by members of the community who characterized the appointment as ageist. He said the vote for McLane rather than Richard Foster was neither an “act of ageism” nor “an act of revenge.”
Levine said, “The decisions I make on the Select Board are what I think is best for the town.” While not going into details, he said that through speaking with town employees, he learned about “incidents” that had “made [Principal Assessor Maria] Cataldo’s job more difficult and caused “undue burden on town resources.” He acknowledged that he could have chosen his words more carefully and apologized to anyone that may have been hurt by them.
Simmons announced that Michael Barbieri had been selected as the new assistant town manager. The position was vacated by Corrin Meise-Munns, who accepted a job with the state earlier this year. Employed with the town for eight years, Barbieri has been the executive assistant to the town manager and Select Board since 2021. Simmons touted Barbieri’s experience securing grants while working for the Recreation Department, leading efforts to redesign the town’s website, implement Town Meeting’s electronic voting system and expanding digital outreach to residents.
“I am honored to step into this role and continue serving the Longmeadow community,” Barbieri said in a press release about the appointment. “I look forward to working with town leadership, department heads, and residents to enhance municipal operations and drive positive initiatives.”
The executive assistant position will be posted in the weeks ahead.
