Town Manager Presents Draft Town Meeting Warrant to BOS and FinCom
Public Hearing on Warrant will Be Held on September 27
The Town Manager presented the draft Warrant for the Fall Special Town Meeting (scheduled for Monday, October 24) to the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee at their regular meetings this week. The Warrant was open for articles to be submitted from August 27 through September 6. The draft articles are still under discussion, and both Boards still need to make their recommendations on each article. There will be a public hearing on the Warrant articles at the Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 27.
The draft Warrant includes 13 articles. All are subject to revisions and changes between now and Town Meeting, based on feedback, research, exploration of options and new information. Concerned citizens may contact the Town Manager's office or attend the public hearing with their questions.
Article 1 is the first article in every Town Meeting Warrant, and asks the town to "hear and act on the reports of the Finance Committee, or any other Board or Committee." After it is passed, the Finance Committee presents its report on town finances, including the balance in Free Cash and how the Warrant articles will impact it. On very rare occasions another town board presents a report (not expected in this case).
Article 2 asks voters to approve paying bills from prior fiscal years from Free Cash, a necessary housekeeping article. The amounts and specific bills are still being finalized and don't appear in the draft, but generally, these are not large amounts. They will be explained in the final Warrant.
Streetlights
Article 3 asks voters to "raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or borrow the sum of $100,000 for the purchase of Supplemental Downtown Streetlight Improvements."
Town Manager Justin Sultzbach explained that this broke down into two parts. $65,000 is for the new streetlights on Central Street. The state funded the base amount, but the town wanted more attractive lampposts. The Robinson Broadhurst Foundation covered some of the additional cost, but $65,000 will fill in the gap. The remaining $35,000 is for lighting in the new "gateway" waterfront park on Spring Street and Lake Street, and for the new municipal parking lot on Pleasant Street.
Beals Memorial Library Repairs Phase 2
Article 4 asks voters to "raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or borrow the sum of $215,000 for Phase 2 Library Repairs."
Mr. Sultzbach explained that the bids for Phase 2 have come in and the lowest is $210,000 over budget. This will cover that shortfall, along with $5,000 to add electrical outlets to the basement, where library operations will be moved during construction. Giving some history, Mr. Sultzbach stated that this would be the third time that the Beals Memorial Library's Phase 2 repairs came before Town Meeting. (Phase 2 repairs include a fire suppression system, upgraded electrical distribution, repair of plaster walls and ceilings and repair of the stained-glass skylight. See original 2021 Phase 2 fact sheet (PDF)) At the May, 2021 Annual Town Meeting, a motion was made requesting $597,247, of which (rounded up to $600,000) $300,000 would come from Free Cash and $300,000 from borrowing. Then-Chair of the Board of Selectmen Michael Barbaro made an amendment reducing the amount authorized to borrow to $100,000 on the argument that the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation had awarded the library $200,000 for the project. Both the amendment and the amended article passed with more than 90 percent in favor.
However, Mr. Sultzbach went on, by the 2022 Annual Town Meeting (May 16, 2022), it had been found that the amended figure was somewhat off, and for that and other reasons, the library was requesting an additional $314,500 from Free Cash. This request was placed into a combined article with four other capital expense requests to be made from Free Cash, none of which were explained individually on Town Meeting floor. The library had prepared a printed fact sheet for voters, but there was no discussion at all, and the article passed with 91 percent in favor. This brought the entire funding amount for Phase 2, from Free Cash, borrowing and Robinson Broadhurst, up to $914,500. (See 2022 Phase 2 fact sheet (PDF))
Now the bids have come in and the low bid for the construction is $998,785, or $84,285 more than the funded amount from all sources. The additional $130,000 being requested, Mr. Sultzbach explained, is for "soft costs, so the engineering and architectural fees. That's the component that's not carried in the construction fees." Hence the requested amount in this article of $215,000.
Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Rick Ward asked about the $75,000 left over from Phase 1 of the project. Mr. Sultzbach believed that had been included as an offset to the $314,000 requested at 2022 Annual Town Meeting, and this is shown on the library's 2022 Phase 2 fact sheet.
Road Paving Supplemental Funding
Article 5 asks voters to "transfer from Free Cash the sum of $95,000 to supplement the FY23 Highway Materials line for the purposes of infrastructure improvements on Pleasant Street, Summer Street and Island Road."
Mr. Sultzbach explained that paving costs had gone up significantly since the budget number for highway repairs was approved. On top of this, some "infrastructure failures" had appeared, including a "sinkhole" at the intersection of Pleasant and Summer Streets that runs to Central Street. Partly, getting the work done before winter and before further price increases will "stretch our dollar further." But, Mr. Sultzbach added, "The other piece is that $95,000 roughly represents the change that we saw in the budget in terms of support from the state. So when the time comes to finalize the annual budget in May, we're going off an estimate, we're going off the the Governor's budget. But what ultimately was approved from the state was about $90,000 or so higher. And so it's kind of a wash, it doesn't dip into our Free Cash. That's revenue that we didn't know we had. And that's why we're recommending to increase the Fiscal '23 highway line rather than just directly funding it as a separate appropriation."
Designs for Fire Station Upgrade
Article 6 asks voters to "raise and appropriate, transfer or borrow the sum of $618,750 to fund design services for a new Fire Station; provided, however, that if the Town votes hereunder to borrow funds for this purpose, such vote shall be contingent upon approval by the voters at an election that the amounts needed to repay the debt and interest on such borrowing shall be excluded from the limitations on the tax levy imposed by Proposition 2-1/2, so called."
As Mr. Sultzbach stated, the proposal for an upgraded fire station has been in negotiations for quite some time. A request for $853,200 for the design phase of a projected $11.8 million expanded and renovated fire station was rejected by voters at the 2019 Fall Special Town Meeting (see "Winchendon voters defeat article for expanded fire station" in the October 31-November 7 2019 edition of The Winchendon Courier). Since he arrived, Mr. Sultzbach has been working with the Winchendon Fire Chief Tom Smith and the architect. The estimated cost for the station upgrades is now around $8.5 million. The Capital Planning Committee suggested that the article be written for a debt exclusion as "they felt it would be a referendum on community support for that project." It would require a 2/3 vote to pass.
In response to Selectmen's complaints about paying for more designs, Chief Smith rose to say he agreed. He explained that the goal is to move to biddable architectural designs that can be brought to Town Meeting with a solid cost attached, so they won't have to keep coming back to the town for additional money. "We literally moved broom closets, made hallways six inches narrower to cut costs, but we use the design information and the actual drawings and the conceptual design, to get to the stage where we were able to get a price estimate which was a product almost $4 million less than what the original was," he said.
Mr. Sultzbach added, "what you originally paid for wasn't a biddable design. That wasn't something that we could hand to a contractor and say hey, build this. It was just an overhead with layout rough square footage and really was more of a needs assessment for that building than an actual buildable schematic."
Mr. Ward said that in 2019, the public didn't really understand what they'd be getting for their money, it wasn't clear.
Chief Smith responded that they had discussed doing community outreach and information sessions, including Zoom meetings, open houses, and hand-out fact sheets, to explain exactly how and why the costs have changed, what's been changed in the design, and how the funds spent on the needs study were used.
Mr. Ward said he felt time was urgent because it was now about a month to Town Meeting and he had not seen any public information about this article. The public will want to know not only exactly what it will cost, but how it's going to impact their tax bills. "They need to know that in October at the town meeting. If we can't give them that answer, it's not going to pass," he said.
Selectman Barbara Anderson said, "I think my other concern is that debt exclusion, because sitting here and talking about raising your taxes for a debt exclusion, you get that [Community Preservation Act] that you're anticipating in the spring to raise taxes a little bit more. We just learned that electric's going up 100 percent and water and sewer is going up, and we just can't do this to people."
Mr. Sultzbach pointed out that the town has many serious needs, "in areas where the community should have been making investments in some of their infrastructure, and the community unfortunately wasn't...unfortunately, I think this community has come to a point where a lot of these items, we can't put them off anymore. And I don't mean that in the sense that it's inconvenient to put them off, I mean it in the sense that these buildings are going to physically start falling in on themselves...the tax rate that the town of Winchendon has compared to the rest of the Commonwealth is pretty low. And I think the needs that we have are disproportionately high. And if anybody out there has a solution for that, I would gladly take it."
Selectman Amy Salter said that she was concerned about the town approving the amount for designs and then finding out the construction costs had increased. Selectman Danielle LaPointe spoke up, saying the Fire Department should offer tours, virtual and in real life, letting people see the dilapidated conditions, and how hard it was for female firefighters to have no separate place to change or shower.
Finance Committee Member Dr. Maureen Ward raised strong objections to the article and spoke at length. "We spent somewhere close to one hundred or just over one hundred thousand on a Needs Assessment, it really didn't turn into a needs assessment. It was a Q and A on what do you want and a list of wants assessment, there was really no needs attached to it. The one thing that did come out is the fire station has no code violations," she said. Dr. Ward argued that some of the needs could be reduced by changing from 24 hour shifts to 12 hour, or 10 hour or 8 hour shifts. "Every full time member still gets their automatic eight hours of overtime, you would not need bunks, you would not need all the extra showers. You could stagger start and stop times between the two shifts if you needed to."
Seeming unclear whether she thought the department needed more or fewer staff, Dr. Ward stated that the Fire Department has already used 31 percent of its overtime budget. "I'm not against the Fire Department, I wouldn't be fighting for them to get some ARPA funds if I was against them. But I want to see more due diligence and more care about the cost on the backs of the citizens of Winchendon and I just see it being blown off, like we're the Fire Department, everybody loves us, we can get what we want. And it bothers me that no one is looking carefully at it."
Like the Selectmen, Dr. Ward expressed concerns about the many burdens Winchendon taxpayers were facing. She pointed out that 20 years ago, there were predictions that Winchendon's population would double. According to the United States Census, in 2000, Winchendon's population was 4,084; ten years later, in 2010, it was 10,300. But after another decade, in 2020, Winchendon's population is nearly unchanged at 10,352.
Dr. Ward stated that when the Fire Department article was rejected in 2019, Chief Smith said "he would have public outreach. He would have meetings. None of that ever happened." Of course, COVID shut things down right after that, she admitted. She urged that the Fire Department and the town look into alternative solutions to some of the problems besides remodeling the fire station.
Replace Main Water Line to Winchendon from Ashburnham
Article 7 asks voters to "raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, and/or borrow the sum of $9,560,000 through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for the purpose of replacing the main water line from the Ashburnham-Winchendon Water Filtration Plant."
This article, Mr. Sultzbach said, "is a little more nuanced than at first glance." The main pipeline carrying water into Winchendon has been a topic of discussion for some time, both the urgent need for replacement and the staggering cost. "This is a pipe that we've known about, and we've known to be deficient for about a decade," Mr. Sultzbach said. "So it's never been a good time to fix this and it's still not a good time...when I got to town, we were talking about a six and a half million dollar pipe. I haven't even been here for a year and a half yet. And now it's an almost $10 million." This article underscores the urgency of the problem. "If this thing goes down there is no water, there is no alternative and there is no second pipe. So you're paying for it one way or another. We're also losing a substantial amount of water through that pipe. It has slowed down, it's not deteriorating quite as rapidly, but we're losing a big portion...part of the conversation about the water rate is that there's a lot of water that we're treating and shooting out but never actually makes it to a meter. This would address some of that problem as well."
Via the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, the town can borrow at a 2.4 percent interest rate over 30 years. The state will forgive about 19 percent, or nearly one-fifth, of the total project costs. "But the hurdle is how do we come up with $350,000 a year [to cover the debt payments]? We can't put all that on the backs of the ratepayers," Mr. Sultzbach said. As far as the town is responsible to share the cost, options might be American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money or Robinson Broadhurst. Payments on the loan wouldn't start until 2026. Mr. Sultzbach had a meeting set up with Senator Markey this week, and there might be more federal money available, although "I don't think the federal government is going to hand us $10 million, and more realistically, it'll be a million or half a million."
Voters need to approve borrowing the full amount for the town to apply for the state revolving fund money, and get the 19 percent forgiveness.
Department of Public Works Director Brian Croteau said that the total length of the new pipe would be about five miles. It would not follow the old pipe's route the whole way, "because our biggest obstacle at this point is the piece that runs through the woods from Sherbet Road to North Ash, because there's no records of where it exists or for us to even access it. There's no roads, there's no nothing."
Finance Committee Contingency Funds
Article 8 asks voters to vote to "transfer from Free Cash the sum of $110,593 to the OPEB Trust account that was established to mitigate the Town's liability for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)."
Article 9 asks voters to vote to "transfer from Free Cash the sum of $50,000 to a Reserve Account established to mitigate the Town's liability for Contractual Separation Pay-outs."
Article 10 asks voters to vote to "transfer from Free Cash the sum of $160,000 to the Stabilization Fund."
The accounts referred to in Articles 8, 9 and 10 were discussed and approved by voters at recent Town Meetings as important financial cushions for the town. For some background, see "Finance Committee Creates Multiple Proposed Warrant Articles for Upcoming Fall Town Meeting" in the September 23-September 30 2021 edition of The Winchendon Courier.
Article 11 asks voters to vote to "transfer from Free Cash the sum of $50,000 to establish a Finance Committee Special Reserve for Energy Costs."
This article creates another financial cushion, given the uncertainties and fluctuations in energy costs due to multiple factors (including ongoing COVID-related supply chain and production problems and the war in Ukraine inpacting oil and natural gas supplies and prices world-wide).
Finalize Town Charter Amendments
Articles 12 and 13 are follow-ups to past changes in the Town Charter which were completed and approved at past Town Meeings but not finalized. The changes under article 12 were supposed to go to a ballot vote after being approved by the 2021 Annual Town Meeting and did not. The changes in article 13 were made in 2022 but are being combined with the previous changes so they can all go to ballot vote at the same time.
Winchendon citizens with questions or concerns about any of the articles can attend the public hearing on the Warrant at the Finance Committee's meeting on Tuesday, September 27, at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall second floor auditorium, 109 Front Street, Winchendon.
WFD Posts Clarifications of Request for Fire Station Design Funding on Social Media
The Winchendon Fire Department offered some responses to questions about their request for funding for engineering and design services for a proposed upgraded fire station, which will appear as article 6 at the Fall Special Town Meeting on October 24.
YOU SPOKE...WE LISTENED
In October 2019, voters of Winchendon rejected monies for the architectural plans and build document phase of a new fire station. The two major points brought up on town floor by the Finance Committee were the need to go before Capital Planning and the need to reduce the price. The current fire station proposal has now been before Capital Planning and other boards multiple times and with a lot of hard work the price has been reduced by almost $4 million dollars, even during these times of pandemic prices, by reconfiguring the size and layout.
After unanimous support at the Capital Planning meeting to move forward, the fire department is hoping that the Board of Selectmen put the proposed article forward to the voters at the Fall Town Meeting. In potential preparation of this, the department will be conducting various informational meetings, Zoom platforms, Facebook posts, FAQ handouts and various other ways to get the information out to the voters. Dates for these will be out soon.
FACILITY NEEDS STUDY vs DESIGN SERVICES
In October 2018 Winchendon voters took the first step in the future of the fire station expansion project by passing an article to conduct a facility needs study. This basic study takes 59 pages of gathered information about the current station, members, call volume, etc and professionally fits it to what would be necessary for the Winchendon Fire Department. From this study a building concept is designed to best fit the needs for the town. The information that was paid for in 2018 is still being used here in 2022 to maximize the financial benefits for the town.
Potentially in October of 2022 the Winchendon voters will be asked to take the second step in the project by passing an article for design services. These design services will provide the project with actual architectural plans and documents to go out to bid on the project. By proceeding in this order the plan is to have an exact number in hand when we come before the town at a future town meeting for the construction. This phase will take roughly ten months so the earliest the town would see the third phase appear would be fall of 2023.
In the past some building projects have seen monies be passed at town meeting only to see bids come in quite a bit higher. By reversing the order of the requests the fire department is working diligently with the Town Manager and Capital Planning to ensure the final construction cost brought to the voters is exactly that...final.
Board of Selectmen Proclaim September "Childhood Cancer Awareness Month"
The Board of Selectmen proclaim the Month of September as "Childhood Cancer Awareness Month."
Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in our country today. This tragic disease is detected in more than 16,000 of our country's young people each and every year.
The Worcester Robert H. Goddard Lions Club is sponsoring the initiative this year collaborating with the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester to create beautiful handmade cards for hospitalized children.
Lions Clubs International / Childhood Cancer Initiative
Full text of proclamation, as read as the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, September 12 by Chair Audrey LaBrie:
Whereas the American Cancer Fund for Children and Kids Cancer Connection report cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children between infancy and age 15. This tragic disease is detected in more than 16,000 of our country's young people each year. An estimated 400,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer globally each year; and
Whereas one in five of our nation's children loses his or her battle with cancer. Many infants children's and teens will suffer from long-term effects of comprehensive treatment, including secondary cancers; and
Whereas, founded nearly 30 years ago by Steven Firestein, a member of the philanthropic Max Factor cosmetics family, the American Cancer Fund for Children, Inc., Kids Cancer Connection, Inc. and Lions Club International are dedicated to helping these children and their families; and
Whereas the American Cancer Fund for Children and kids Cancer Connection provide a variety of vital patient psychosocial services to children undergoing cancer treatment at UMass Hospital, Shriners Children's Boston, Dana Farber Children's Cancer Center, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, as well as participating hospitals throughout the country, thereby enhancing the quality of life for these children and their families; and
Whereas the American Cancer Fund for Children and Kids Cancer Connection also sponsor toy distributions, Laughternoon - Laughing is Healing, positive appearance programs, pet assisted therapy KCC Supercar Experience, educational programs and hospital celebrations in honor of a child's determination and bravery to fight the battle against childhood cancer.
Now, therefore, we the Select Board on behalf of the town of Winchendon, hereby proclaim and recognize the month of September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in Winchendon. And encourage all residents to recognize and participate in its observance.
In Witness Whereof, we have set our hand and cause the seal of the Town of Winchendon Board of Selectmen to be affixed on this 12th day of September, 2022, A.D.
Winchendon resident to participate in Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai
One resident from Winchendon will participate in the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai on Sunday, October 2.
Brenda Heard, along with thousands of other walkers, will participate in the iconic annual event that will unite the community to raise funds to support all forms of adult and pediatric care and cancer research at the nation's premier cancer center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Jimmy Fund Walk has raised more than $155 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in its 33-year history.
"Throughout the past 33 years, the Jimmy Fund Walk has continuously supported life-saving research and cancer care at Dana-Farber. And the pandemic didn't stop us," said Zack Blackburn, Director of the Jimmy Fund Walk. "Over the past two years, participants walked virtually and celebrated in their own unique ways. Now, we welcome them to walk the course in person. We are back, we are together, and we are stronger than ever."
Participants have the flexibility to choose from four distance options: 5K Walk (3.1 miles from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), 10K Walk (6.2 miles from Newton), Half Marathon Walk (13.1 miles from Wellesley), or Marathon Walk (26.2 miles from Hopkinton). Participants can also choose to join the event virtually by "walking their way" from wherever they are most comfortable--in their neighborhood, on a favorite hiking trail, or on a treadmill at home. Virtual programming and supporting materials are available.
Along the course, walkers are treated to 12 refueling stations as well as poster-sized photographs of patients--Jimmy Fund Walk Heroes--displayed at each mile and half-mile marker as inspiration. All four routes of the Jimmy Fund Walk end at the Copley Square Finish Line Powered by Schneider Electric with a celebration complete with food, music, and a speaking program.
To register for the Jimmy Fund Walk (#JimmyFundWalk) or to support a walker, visit www.JimmyFundWalk.org or call (866) 531-9255. Registrants can enter the promo code NEWS for $5 off the registration fee. All registered walkers will receive a bib, medal, and a Jimmy Fund Walk T-shirt.
