Selectmen Review Articles for November 13th Special Town Meeting

By Kim Siebert MacPhail

Starting with Article I— the obligatory provision for Town Meeting’s debate rules— the Selectmen began deliberations at their October 1 meeting about twelve proposed articles for Special Town Meeting. Some of the twelve were given Selectmen’s approval, decisions on other articles were postponed, and still others received affirmation to appear on the warrant but await additional financial information before a vote on approval will take place. It was decided during the meeting that the final sequencing of the articles would be different from how they appear in the draft.

Note: This year the fall Special Town Meeting will begin on a Tuesday, rather than the traditional Monday, in recognition of Veteran’s Day on November 12.

Article I—Debate Rules was quickly dispatched with a unanimous vote for inclusion on the warrant and Selectmen’s approval.

Article II—Acceptance of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 41, Section 81U—Performance Bond Settlement Accountwas explained by Town Manager Rick Reed as an effort to establish a mechanism for the release of subdivision project settlement funds.  Reed said this article is prompted by two projects that remain unfinished. The developers of these subdivisions have agreed to pay the town a negotiated amount that will allow for expedited completion of lingering action items. In order for the town to expend the funds to finish the work for these and any future projects from which negotiated settlements are derived, MGL, Chapter 41, Section 81U must be accepted.

The Selectmen agreed to include Article II on the warrant and to recommend approval.

Article III—Street Acceptance—Abbott Lane. After some slight wordsmithing and assurances that the Planning Board had signed off on the project, Article III received Selectmen’s approval.

Article IV—Amend Operating FY13 Budgets. The Selectmen’s recommendation with regard to this article will be given at Special Town Meeting once the specific numbers are firm.

Article V—Amend FY13 Ambulance Enterprise Budget. Reed said that some of the specific numbers were known about this article but he counseled delaying a final decision until Special Town Meeting. For that reason, the Selectmen’s recommendation regarding Article V will be given at Special Town Meeting.

Article VI—Amend FY13 Capital Projects Plan—Project 13-04. Because Project 13-04, Lane School Roof Replacement, was completed through a reserve fund transfer in FY12, the project can be removed from the FY13 Capital Expenditures list.

The Selectmen unanimously approved including this article on the warrant.

Article VII—Water Quality System Enhancements.As written in the draft of the Special Town Meeting warrant, this article would provide a sum of $140,000 for “investigations, repairs, and modifications to the Town’s water distribution and treatment system for the purpose of delivering bacteria free water to our residents.” According to DPW Director Rich Warrington, the $140,000 would cover mixing systems at both the Crosby Drive and Pine Hill Road water tanks, reprogramming of water control mechanisms to move water more efficiently around parts of the system, and projects that will result from foreseen consultant recommendations for water system improvements.

The funds would probably not come from the water rates since those have been set for the year. It will therefore be ascertained whether the funds will come from available funds, the Town’s stabilization funds or from borrowing.

The Selectmen recommended approval of Article VII.

Article VIII—Bond Authorization—Portions of School Way and Municipal Complex Access Roads and Parking Areas.  There was some controversy about whether this article should be included on the fall Special Town Meeting warrant.

Selectman Mark Siegenthaler pointed out that the project was on the Town Manager’s and Selectmen’s list of priorities so it made sense to have it on some warrant at some point.

Selectman Bill Moonan wondered why it had to be on the fall warrant since work on the project would not begin until next spring. Moonan also expressed a desire to wait for the Capital Expenditures Committee to weigh in.

Chairman Cathy Cordes said that since the project had already been presented last March at Annual Town Meeting, it was complete and ready to go as a warrant article.

Selectmen Mike Rosenberg added that, if the School Way article stayed on the Special Town Meeting warrant, he would prefer it to come before the synthetic turf article because he believed the turf article would draw more people with small children who would not stay well into the night to vote.

DPW Director Warrington encouraged the Selectmen to keep the School Way article on the Special Town Meeting warrant so that the funds would be available to begin work on the project when school was not in session, as it would hamper access to the campus from that side of the complex.

Part of the $825,000 total cost for the School Way project would be eligible for Chapter 90 funding from the state.

The Selectmen agreed to postpone a decision on whether to include Article VIII on the warrant.

Selectman Rosenberg made a motion to renumber the articles so that, if School Way remains on the warrant, it comes after the Synthetic Turf article. A general discussion of the grouping of certain kinds of article culminated in an agreement to re-sequence the warrant.

Article IX—Community Preservation Surcharge—Effective July 1, 2013.The Selectmen were unanimous in their recommendation of approval for continuing the Community Preservation surcharge at 3%.

Article X—Amend FY13 Community Preservation Budget. The Selectmen determined to wait for an opinion from Town Counsel regarding a proposed $30,000 for a pilot program to provide support services to prevent homelessness. [For background on this issue, see an earlier article from The Citizen: https://thebedfordcitizen.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/clerkin-presents-proposal-to-prevent-homelessness/   ]

Article XI—High School Synthetic Turf. This article will now appear as Article VIII and it was affirmed to appear on the warrant. The Selectmen’s opinion regarding approval of this article awaits input from Capital Expenditures.

Article XII—Stabilization Fund Appropriation. Town Manager Reed said that State aid had come in higher than predicted by $148,000. However, there are some other impacts that should be included in whatever final sum might be added to the Stabilization Fund, which now has a balance of approximately $2,082,000.

Since the numbers are still in flux, the Selectmen postponed a decision on whether to approve Article XII but voted to include it on the warrant.

This year the fall Town Meeting will begin on a Tuesday rather than a Monday, in recognition of Veteran’s Day that will be observed on November 12.