In First Meeting of FY22, Finance Committee Receives Large Preliminary Numbers from Town Manager
Finance Committee Chair Thomas Kane and Vice Chair Dr. Maureen Ward listen as Town Manager Justin Sultzbach gives a preliminary report on needed Town Hall repairs, which will likely cost around $3.5 million.
Photo by Keith Kent
The Winchendon Finance Committee held its first meeting of the new fiscal year on Tuesday, August 3 with Town Manager Justin Sultzbach attending. If early topics of discussion are any indication of what is to come, serious funding issues loom in the town's future.
Starting off the meeting, the annual reorganization of the board was held with a vote of all members in attendance. After a short discussion on each position, the board voted unanimously, 7-0, to appoint Thomas Kane Jr as Chair, Dr. Maureen Ward as Vice Chair, Doug Delay as Finance Committee representive to the Capital Finance Committee, and Charles C. Corts as Finance Committee representive to the Audit Committee. Eliciting laughter from the other FinCom members, Delay joked, "I always said I didn't want to take on a lot more until my retirement, and it's been a whole week!"
Beginning the discussion with "End of Year FY21 Reports," Kane said, "The reports the most troubling were the Enterprise Fund reports, as both the water and sewer reports have a significant deficit. The water revenue is showing down $130,000 and sewer is down $160,000." Kane said that the Town Accountant stated that most people seemed to be paying their water bills. However, water usage recorded by meters has decreased, while the water amount coming into town has increased. There were several likely contributing factors for this, Kane said, including inaccurate home water meters which have met or exceeded their functional operation life span and were no longer accurate; basement water illegally discharged by sump pumps into individual home sewer lines, sending more water into the treatment plant and increasing water treatment costs that customers are not paying for; and record-setting rainfall that has lowered home customer water usage on lawns and gardens, along with eliminating the need to fill swimming pools.
Town Manager Justin Sultzbach explained,"During COVID the town was not shutting off the water of customers who were not paying their bills. Now that the emergency order has been lifted, we have begun again the process of shutting peoples' water off who are delinquent. On a larger scale which is not just the meters, the main feed coming from the Ashburnham plant which as a large stretch is known to be losing a significant amount of water, and to replace that would come at about a $6 million price tag. Our infrastructure around the entire town system is so old and leaky that along with all those lines and the main feed line combined, I am currently working with our DPW Director to price what it would cost to get an engineering firm to do a system wide assessment of every inch of our pipes in town. We can now estimate a combined overall total water loss of twenty-five percent before it even gets to peoples' houses in the system." (In a conversation with the Courier, Sultzbach stated that he'd double-checked the data and the actual amount of water loss is 28 percent. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommends investigating water loss in a system when it reaches 12 percent.)
Sultzbach also advised the Finance Committee that, due to continued increasing rates by the contracted water service management provider, Veolia, per a request of the Board of Selectmen a study is currently being performed to see if Veolia is providing the best possible service for the price compared with other potential contractors, based on the town's needs.
Turning to Fiscal Year 2022 Goals, Kane began with the topic of Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB). Expenses falling under OPEB run the gamut from contractually owed payments to retiring employees for time earned, to future commitments such as health and welfare benefit costs. Kane again expressed the FinCom's concerns regarding the need for a reserve account to aid in offsetting the cost of accrued benefits, and a projection by the town as to future costs based on where town employees are in their career path with respect to upcoming retirements. "We need to financially know what kind of commitment the town has coming up, and how many there are," Kane said.
Vice Chair Dr. Maureen Ward added, "We need to start putting money in the OPEB account. Starting back around the year 2009, our town placed $10,000 into that account, and nothing has been added since. So in twelve years, we now have $12,127 and that's it. If we as a town had added just $3,000 a year for each of those years, we would now have significant funds to offset these costs, and we have done nothing to add to the account."
Expressing frustration, Ward went on, "It should be no surprise that people are going to retire. They don't have to warn us five years in advance. We should be able to cover these costs, but we scramble every single time, and these benefits are in their contracts. Instead of just more discussion again we need to see an effort from the town of some kind, some kind of affirmation."
Continuing with FY22 Goals, the Capital Planning funding policy was discussed. Kane
felt the town should begin committing a certain percent of its annual budget to upcoming capital needs. "We need to create a certain level of predictability and consistency which would certainly help the Capital Planning Committee with a long range plan to address the needs of the town. As Mr. Sultzbach has pointed out, we need to have funds to make corrective repairs to capital assets before they become much more expensive also."
Sultzbach responded, "Ignoring these expenses with capital items and also their upkeep is not going to help. We need to develop an impactful one year plan, five year plan, and a fifteen year plan. Lay out all our cards on the table, and identify the peaks and valleys of our various capital expenses. When planning for this, as an example, we can't just figure on future revenues from sources such as cannabis expenses, because in five years you don't know, the rules could change. We could also build into our operational budget special funds for the stabilization account for the purpose of capital projects. We need to be more strategic about fixing problems when they are $10,000 problems and not million dollar problems."
Continuing the discussion of Capital Planning, Kane recommended a more coordinated effort between departments when applying for Robinson-Broadhurst Foundation grants. Ward summed it up as, "It's great for individuals the way things are currently done when applying, but not what's best overall for the good of the town." Kane responded, "R&B is more and more not funding entire or complete items, and is more and more looking for the town to step up." He added, "Robinson-Broadhurst wants to be the frosting on the cake, and not the entire cake. Requests to it should be structured and forwarded as a town request, and not an individual department request."
Moving to the topic of "Future infrastructure of Winchendon's Capital Needs," Sultzbach said, "To be proactive I did ask my staff to pass on to me a list of future infrastructure capital needs, to be given to our local State House delegation representing Winchendon, and just for perspective that number came out to about $100 million dollars. So please know Winchendon's local appropriation of federal American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA Funds isn't going to get us very far, so we need to be very strategic with those funds just so we can set expectations."
New FinCom member and former Winchendon BOS member Austin Cyganiewicz clarified that they did not need Town Meeting approval on how the ARPA funds were spent, and the funds must be spent by 2024. Sultzbach confirmed those facts and added, "We want to be transparent as possible with where they are going to be spent, as there is also no shortage of need. The funds are actually devaluating every day they are not spent when you consider the longer they are held, infrastructure costs are rising, at five to ten percent annually over the last two years. So realistically we will be looking to spend that money as fast as possible. We will be going before the BOS fairly regularly throughout this process every time."
Regarding future departmental requests from the earlier Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Sultzbach advised there was currently roughly $200,000 left to spend, and it would be drawn down by this upcoming December.
As the meeting concluded, Cyganiewicz advised the FinCom that he felt department requests should be reinforced by metrics and departmental driven data. "I would be interested in collecting data such as an analysis of monthly department reports, department uses of items, and and data on different department requests for their items, as it could and should be used as performance measures as well and as part of best practices. I would also be interested in previous letters regarding various previous departmental deficiencies and going back to see if they were addressed."
Sultzbach referred to the upcoming study of the Town Hall structural needs assessment of discovered problems which, due to lack of structural upkeep and maintenance issues, took at least ten to fifteen years to reach where they are today. Sultzbach advised the FinCom that preliminary numbers, which will be coming in a September report, currently show that the Town Hall needs roughly $3.5 million in repairs. Sultzbach said, "Prioritizing which repairs are needed the soonest for the good of the Town Hall will be the highest priority, as we know we don't have the funds to fix it all at once."
There were no comments from the public offered to the FinCom before adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m.
Broadview Assisted Living Invites Public to Celebration of 25 Years of Family Ownership This Saturday
Continuing the Family Mission!
Seen at this main entrance photo, Bethany "Connor" McCormick, daughter of Broadview Assisted Living Center owners Tom and Jamie Connor, has taken over the daily operations as facility Executive Director allowing her parents to begin enjoying a well deserved retirement.
Photo by Keith Kent
A lot has changed in the field of professional Assisted Living health care since the Connor family first purchased the former Hillside Rest Home back in 1996, now known as Broadview Assisted Living. However, one thing hasn't changed: a strong family passion for caring and helping others continue a high quality of life that now spans two generations. The Connor family will proudly celebrate 25 years of ownership on Saturday, August 7, during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the Connors want the public to know they are invited attend the celebration!
As the cycle of life continues for not just the residents, but also those who own, manage, and work at the facility, owners Tom and Jaime Connor, now in their mid-60s, have begun enjoying a well earned retirement. They leave the family business in some very qualified hands, as the new Executive Director is their very own daughter, Bethany (Connor) McCormick, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired). McCormick, who is a home town native born and raised in Winchendon, graduated from Murdock High School, class of 1992.
Having retired from the U.S. Army in December of 2020, McCormick almost immediately began her new position as Executive Director this past January, 2021. She served with honor in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps for 25 years, as Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Health and Geriatrics, as well as a certified Nurse Administrator. McCormick holds the certifications of MS-N, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, and CNS-BC.
In McCormick's last managerial position in the Army, she was a Deputy Commander for Nursing Hospital in Fort Riley, Kansas, which is about the size of Gardner's Heywood Hospital.
McCormick makes the passion she feels for her work clear. "I wanted to return to Winchendon where I grew up, not only to help take part in the family business, but so I could now help take care of those who, when I was younger, helped take care of me."
Excited about the celebration, McCormick said, "Starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 7, out front we are going have a vendor fair, with support from local artisans, and out back in the rear of the facility at the same time we will be hosting a car show. There will be food, a wine vendor, Scentsy, Tastefully Simple, and more along with a band playing from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
"Continuing with the events from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., there will be free hotdogs, chips and drinks for those in attendance. From 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., there will be an 'Animal Show' for both children and adults performed by Animal Craze, a highly rated New England traveling farm and petting zoo. Joining in the celebration, will also be the facility's current forty-nine residents, and also forty-five employees."
Describing the facility, McCormick said, "We basically fall under the 'Landlord-Tenant Act' so it's like residents are basically renting a room from us at Broadview. This is for those who may no longer want to have to work on their home, mow their lawns, and just want to relax and enjoy life, and don't want to worry about cooking their meals. My parents became certified back in 2004 in Assisted Living, as they wanted people to have more than just a nursing home. They honestly believed people should have a better option than just a nursing home, a place where they could enjoy a better quality of life, while not having to worry about things. It was very important to my parents. If residents want to have a glass of wine in their room, they have it. If they want to decorate their room a certain way, they decorate it. They can bring the furniture they want from their own house. We have one lady who likes to do sewing, so her room looks like a craft room," McCormick said with a smile.
Additionally, Broadview hosts a secured 14 bed memory care unit, Bright Horizons, for elderly residents suffering from memory loss, so families and loved ones don't have to worry about those they care about getting lost or wandering off.
Reflecting more on the family aspect of the business, McCormick said, "I wanted my parents to be able to enjoy life, and I am happy to say my mom and dad are doing the Snow-Birding thing now. My dad's health is much better when he is down in Florida. They can now enjoy coming back and forth and come and go as they want. Other factors important to our family, is all four of my grandparents have also been taken care of here. That is a huge motivation for me to honor them and continue that for others."
McCormick continued, "Part of my family mantra is, to care for those who once cared for us, is life's highest honor. The kind of people who are living here are people who used to be my school lunch lady, my school bus driver, or people living down the street. Even one of my best friends from back in high school, her mother lives here now where I would go over her house and play. Things like these make this very important to both myself, and my family. Now I am able to help take care of people like her mom, and she is in good hands."
Celebrating their silver anniversary of family ownership, McCormick wanted people to know, "We truly are family owned and operated. My husband Steven who I met while serving in San Antonio, Texas, and is a former occupational health consultant and helps working in the kitchen. I have two uncles who work here. I have two younger cousins who work here as nurse's aides. My parents' niece Lindsey Connor is the Assistant Executive Director. We are a true local family business."
In closing, McCormick said, "We want to have the town celebrate with us. We are celebrating twenty-five years of service providing a quality care. We want to give back to the community and just say thank you for twenty-five years of supporting us and just being wonderful neighbors. We are all a part of the community of Winchendon. No matter if you're driving by to go to the Murdock Farm or going to the schools, driving by at Christmas time to see all the lights, we are all part of the community. Please come by and join us on Saturday, August 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and celebrate our family's Twenty-fifth Anniversary with Broadview!"
Broadview Assisted Living is located at 547 Central Street in Winchendon. It can be viewed on the internet at www.broadviewassistedliving.com or contacted by phone at 978-297-2333. For any questions you can email Executive Director Bethany (Connor) McCormick at bmccormick@broadviewassistedliving.com or Assistant Director Lindsey Connnor at lconnor@broadviewassistedliving.com
