Town Election
Monday May 1, 2023
8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Old Murdock Senior Center, 52 Murdock Ave. 2nd Floor
Accessible via elevator. Call the Town Clerk's office at 978-297-2766 with questions or accessibility requests.
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BOARD OF SELECTMEN Melissa S. Blanchard Edward W. Ford, Jr. Sharon LaRochelle |
SCHOOL COMMITTEE Michael Barbaro Karen E. Kast-McBride David A. LaPointe |
BOARD OF HEALTH Tina M. Santos |
HOUSING AUTHORITY Leston J. Goodrich, Jr. |
Click here to watch the Candidates' Night Forum on YouTube
Special and Annual Town Meeting
Monday May 15, 2023
7:00 p.m.
Murdock High School Auditorium, 3 Memorial Drive
Call the Town Clerk's office at 978-297-2766 with questions or accessibility requests.
Town Election Candidate Questionnaires
As we have done in previous years, the Courier invited all the candidates in the upcoming Town Election to contribute their responses to a few questions about their candidacy. Candidate Tina Santos' responses were published in last week's edition.
Ed Ford Jr.
Board of Selectmen
How long have you lived in Winchendon?
I have lived in Winchendon in since 1994. I went to Toy Town elementary in the 4th grade and stayed in Winchendon Public Schools through the 10th grade.
What inspired you to run for a seat on the Board of Selectmen?
Partly the lack of participation, I realize Mr Ward was retiring but got stuck having to serve another term due to lack of participation. I also realize that we needed a stronger and more confident selectmen to stand up for what is best for the town.
What unique skills and experience will you bring to the Board of Selectmen?
I have worked a civilian defense contract for many years of my life defending America from threats foreign and domestic via the information trade. I also communicate more regularly with the impoverished and the working class of the town more openly than most other candidates.
What do you see as Winchendon's greatest strengths?
Winchendon's greatest strengths definitely is their ability to group together. However most commonly for the wrong reasons in bullying. This I hope to change to be more inclusive and accepting.
What do you see as the areas most in need of improvement?
The area is most needed to improve on I believe would be participation of town residents. I think they spend more time complaining when they could spend less time participating and changing the town government to better suit their needs.
What do you see as the greatest challenges faced by Winchendon in the next three years? How How will you help the Board of Selectmen deal with them?
Some of the most challenging things we will face in the upcoming next three years is going to be federal and state infringement on our constitutional rights. This I plan to take on head on during the 2025 bylaw year. With a township bylaw allowing us to vote in/out federal and state laws.
What else would you like the voters of Winchendon to know?
I have worked Stargate command for the majority of my life as a civilian defense contract. Some of the major cases you see in our federal government were brought forth by my participation in this defense contract. I've worked on projects such as the iron dome currently protecting Israel. The Epstein case. The current voter fraud case. Through this defense contract I have communicated with several politicians, celebrities, and underground organizations in the hopes of making a safe place to raise our families.
Candidates Karen Kast (School Committee), Michael Barbaro (School Committee), Melissa Blanchard (Board of Selectmen), Sharon LaRochelle (Board of Selectmen) and Les Goodrich (Housing Authority) did not return their questionnaires by press time.
David LaPointe
School Committee
How long have you lived in Winchendon?
I have lived in Winchendon all my life except for three years I spent in the U.S. Army and two years living in neighboring Ashburnham when I was attending college.
What inspired you to run for a seat on the Winchendon School Committee?
My inspiration for running for a seat on the Winchendon School Committee goes all the way back to my days at Murdock High School. My 9th grade Civics teacher, Larry Murphy, instilled in all his students that democracy was not a spectator sport and it required active participation in all levels of government. Upon graduation from Murdock in 1981, I volunteered for the U.S. Army with a desire to protect our democracy and took an oath to defend our U.S. Constitution. In the early 1990's, I served as the youngest member of the Winchendon Selectboard. And now, my inspiration comes from my wife, Danielle, who has served on the Winchendon School Committee in the past and currently serves on the Winchendon Selectboard. It is now time for me to once again be an active participant in our local government.
What unique skills and experience will you bring to the School Committee?
As a former social studies teacher in the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District for 10 years, I understand the dynamics and inner workings of the classroom, which will allow me to propose policies that will benefit all students and give them the opportunity to become successful, lifelong learners. As a trial attorney for the past 16 years, I have developed skills as an active listener, a fact finder, a negotiator, and a problem solver. These skills have served me well as an attorney and they will be helpful to me as a policymaker on the School Committee.
What do you see as the Winchendon Public School District's greatest strengths to build on?
The greatest strengths of our District are our caring and dedicated teachers and support staff, and our parents. Our teachers' unselfishness and commitment to all students is admirable and makes all the difference. They provide a safe and vibrant learning environment for all students regardless of who they are or where they come from. We can build on this strength by ensuring that everything is done to make sure we receive the maximum funding from our federal and state education partners, as well as our own taxpayers who generously support our schools with their hard-earned tax dollars so that our teachers have the necessary resources to maximize the learning experience for every student. Parental involvement in all aspects of their children's lives remains the backbone of our schools. It truly takes a village to ensure that all our children receive the best education, both at school and at home.
What do you see as the areas most in need of improvement?
One area I would like to see is more town-wide promotion of all the good things that are happening in our schools. Our school leadership and staff do a great job of promoting these good things, such as student awards and accomplishments, along with our music, drama, and sporting events. But it is important that this promotion reaches a very important partner in our schools---the taxpayer who does not currently have a student in our schools. They need to see the amazing job that our schools are doing to give all our kids an amazing education and it is only made possible by their hard-earned tax dollars.
What do you see as the greatest challenges faced by the School Committee in the next three years? How will you help the School Committee deal with them?
One of the greatest challenges faced by the School Committee in the next three years will be the need to increase funding necessary to allow our schools to function at a level that provides all the resources and technology to ensure every student receives a high-quality education. Although I have always been opposed to MCAS, it is a mandate, and we will need to continue to make progress in raising our MCAS scores by doing everything possible to make sure all students reach their individual potential based upon their learning style. Finally, we need to remain committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our Winchendon Public School system. This will require continued commitment from parents, teachers, and students alike. This is the world we live in, and our students need to be prepared to be a part of the global society where tolerance is becoming the norm and not the exception.
What else would you like the voters of Winchendon to know?
I am a proud 1981 graduate of Murdock High School having received my K-12 education in the Winchendon Public Schools. I am grateful for the caring and dedicated teachers and administrators that prepared me for a life of learning. My WPS education has opened many doors for me and has allowed me to thrive in the various professional careers I have chosen. I want the same learning experience for all students in our district. I have 2 children and a grandchild in Pre-K and Kindergarten, 2 stepchildren in Murdock High School and I am very pleased with the education they are all receiving from our caring and dedicated teachers of today.
Photo by Keith Kent
Photo by Keith Kent
Seen in these photos showing both a side and frontal view of the upcoming Amphitheater, with better weather and some sunlight finally part of the equation, the grass has finally shown its brilliant green in between the light architecturally chosen color of the stone walls composing the rows of the seating areas of the theater.
Amphitheater Progress Kicking into Overdrive
With the spring of 2023 now well underway and summer arriving faster than most usually give it credit for, construction and ground crews have been seen kicking their combined efforts as witnessed by the Winchendon Courier into overdrive at the Winchendon Amphitheater project on Thursday, April 27, as several crew members finally left the grounds at 6:30 pm staying late as Toy Town has park performance dates not long off.
The main parking lot closest to the Amphitheater at this time, offers 45 regular parking spaces, and an additional 4 handicapped parking spaces. The vast majority of street lighting is in place, with final wiring either nearly, or completed at this time, with all high efficiency state of the art luminescence in place roughly the entire length of the drive from its Maple Street park entrance to the main parking lot. Along the main access road, a newer soft sandy base coating has been recently added and graded, including in the "Roundabout" which was retained from the previous grounds site for both aesthetic and traffic ease of grounds flow purposes.
Along the site of the Amphitheater seating section itself, the upper balcony / patio which will be handicap friendly via a level access walkway from the parking lot and adjacent sidewalk entrances, has recently since the last Courier update, realized a full pouring of concrete its entire width of the Amphitheaters uppermost and widest section. This section again, to those entering the theater for the first time in the future, will be on the right side of the top of the theater if needed, and not the left, as to be closest to the parking facilities.
Additionally since the last update, the main side concrete stairway which if facing the stage is on the left side of the Amphitheater, now has a nearly fully installed railing on both sides of its steps. The railing has appropriate spacing left in between sections, for accessing the various levels and rows where event spectators will seat themselves appropriately.
Along the grounds at this time, crews while filling the previous large hole or gap between the performance stage and the first row of seating, have brought in fill creating a gentle taper from the stage surface to the first stone wall row. Also near by, grounds workers have been busy attempting to also place the last rows of pre-grown grass sod, in front of the stadium seating, and to the side of the staging area. Additionally, adding to the color combination, a significant amount of "wood chips" has now been added to a large wooded area to the right of the Amphitheater seating area, between both that and the access road which tastefully circles behind it such as to allow performers of all artistic performances to bring their gear and tools of their crafts to the performance stage.
Other updates are still in progress, such as multiple grounds improvements, a large collection of new portable bathrooms, and more. The large barn on site which once had many broken windows at this time has the former windows being boarded up and color matched to the building, picnic tables are still behind the roundabout for those who want to take a rest or other, and during construction process access has still been granted to the facility and grounds trails.
While the site is clearly not finished, it is a fact that in just the last several weeks significant progress of both the physical grounds and structures a like has come to fruition. With crews working late as required, it is clear the OPM "Owner's Project Manager", site Foreman, and others are on the same page. The clock is ticking, there is more daylight available to finish the job on time, performances either have been or are being booked, and tickets sold.
If diversity joined by growth can be a measurement of positive community success, seeing and Amphitheater in its final phases of construction surrounded by parents bringing their children fishing along the waters of the north branch of the Millers River joined by others of all ages simply taking nature walks, then it could be fair to say the joint vision of many Toy Town residents and the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation is about to start turning some heads.
Photo by Keith Kent
Photo by Keith Kent
In this comparison of opposing views, the highest and uppermost balcony section of the upcoming Amphitheater can be observed. First we see the entrance where a full width Handicapped Accessible walkway entrance is shown, and in the second photo, its full width span from the opposite side bordering the stairway and railings which lead to the lower levels of the theater seating rows.
Photo by Keith Kent
Photo by Keith Kent
While the concrete stair case has been fully wired and lighted for some time, as the project nears completion of its final phases, these side by side photos show the safety railings have now been installed, with the railings on the "Seating Side" allowing appropriate spaces for attendees to both enter and exit the rows as necessary.
Covering raw earth- As Grounds keeps work against time trying to accomplish many finishing touches, both living and previously living materials alike are being placed accordingly. As there is not enough time to grow the grass naturally, additional pre-grown sod is still being applied as needed between the theater's front row, and stage performance area.
Photo by Keith Kent
Separating the seating area from the performance stage access road, this section of trees was left by design to provide tasteful cover to the stage access road which circles behind it. The road just like the main park entrance road, has its own street lighting to allow safe travel under the cover of darkness as necessary.
Photo by Keith Kent
ATM Warrant Articles Include Capital Spending Requests for FY2024
The Warrant for the 2023 Special and Annual Town Meetings has been finalized, with meetings this week before the Board of Selectmen, who voted to finalize the Warrant on Monday, April 24, and the Finance Committee, which held a public hearing on Wednesday, April 26. Five of the Warrant articles deal with capital spending items, which are now presented in detail with dollar amounts and broken up by funding source. Town Manager Justin Sultzbach explained the articles one by one in both of the meetings.
Article 17 includes capital improvements to be funded from Free Cash, with a total amount of $224,750.
| BOS/TM--Blair Square Phase 3 Pre-Design | $130,000 |
| DPW--Grove Street Parking Lot | $21,750 |
| DPW--Salt Brine System | $30,000 |
| DPW--Generator House | $17,000 |
| Fire Department--SCBA Replacement Phase 1 | $26,000 |
Selectman Barbara Anderson asked Department of Public Works Director Brian Croteau if the salt brine system would alleviate complaints she hears about too much salt being used on the roads. Mr. Croteau explained, "So with the salt brine, it minimizes the amount of rock salt we have to put down because it's broken down into the solution. So it's liquefied, so there is less salt going out. So it should reduce our salt usage. But there's a caveat to that, because it depends on what the weather event is to whether it can support the liquid, or if that liquid is going to come back around and freeze on us, and we shouldn't use it. So each storm is is different and it has to be watched, but it will 100 percent reduce the amount of salt so you don't have as much rock salt being used."
Mr. Sultzbach said, "I would say Brian, a lot of the weather events you saw this year probably would have been helped by this because it was straddling the line between freezing and not freezing and that's why we got a lot of ice."
"That's 100 percent accurate," Mr. Croteau said. "So salt brine's kind of volatile, because it's not good in the real cold cold, but there's additives that we can add to it. But we haven't really seen the real cold weather like we have in past years. So it's more of the hovering of the 25 to 33 degrees. That's perfect for these conditions. As long as we're not getting rain with it, then we can proceed with it."
Roads could be pre-treated, Mr. Croteau said. "So it's a lot safer, but it's more about conserving on products, because we don't want to put down as much salt, because it is affecting the environment."
At Wednesday's meeting, Finance Committee member Dr. Maureen Ward asked what a generator house is.
"We have a pump house that we decommissioned and there's a perfectly good generator that's effectively sitting in there that's a higher capacity than the one that the DPW currently utilizes," Mr. Sultzbach explained. "So when we have a significant weather event, our undersized existing generator isn't really that great. So we're looking to move that decommissioned generator to the DPW and just build a little housing for it. So that's the cost for that and to hook it up."
Article 18 includes capital expenditures to be funded through five-year borrowing, in the total amount of $784,181, with annual payments on all five projected to be a total of $164,678.
| Description | Total Amount | Annual Payment | BOS/TM--Town Hall Repairs Phase 1 (East) | $250,000 | $52,500 |
| DPW--6-Wheel Mack Dump Truck | $244,181 | $51,278 |
| Recreation--Winchendon Community Park Barn Exterior | $140,000 | $30,000 |
| Schools--High School Parking Lot | $150,000 | $31,500 |
Of these items, the proposed improvement to the exterior of the barn at the Winchendon Community Park evoked the most concern and comment from both the FinCom and the Board of Selectmen. At Monday's meeting, Ms. Anderson asked, "Could you explain to me what exactly they're going to do with that barn exterior?"
"So there's about a $4 million investment in an amphitheater down there. And what seems to be a pretty glaring oversight in my opinion, is a dilapidated barn that you have to drive by to get to this new amphitheater," Mr. Sultzbach said. "So we have applied to the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation to get some additional resources. This is the town's portion of what we're aiming to do, is secure that structure...what we've been doing with a lot of structures in town where we don't necessarily have the money to fix them all 100 percent right now, but you want to stop them from backsliding. So this will preserve the exterior and we'll get the envelope weathertight again, so you're not gonna have water rolling in, rotting some of the major beams and it will protect the property" until the town has the means to do more with it.
The windows would no longer be boarded up, Mr. Sultzbach said. "It'll look completely normal from the outside."
In response to half-joking comments about the windows needing to be Plexiglas, Mr. Sultzbach said, "The benefit of having the amphitheater down there, or among many other benefits, is that there's going to be a security system down there and there are cameras down there. So that's going to be a big change...So just get the word out. There are cameras down there now and they tie into the police station."
At the public hearing on Wednesday, however, the FinCom continued to express many concerns about the old barn. Dr. Ward said, "I went down today and took a walk around and the plywood is off of the windows, because they're presumably going to paint tomorrow or sometime this week. And we talked [on Monday] about windows going back on, and the vandalism that has been going on down there. And one of the things you mentioned was cameras, but if they throw the rock and damage the window, even with the camera, we still have to replace it, until we have more folks down there.
"One of the brainstorm ideas was to take the plywood that was there, do a nice white coat and give it out to the school, to CAC, to different places, and do scenes on it, and put those scenes back up." Murals in different themes, with seasons and so on, "would make it look nice, and you wouldn't have the glass there that would be vulnerable."
Dr. Ward also expressed concern about all the barn basement windows having been wide open for years, allowing animals, bugs, water, mold and other undesirable elements free access. "Have we had a biohazard person come in and take a look at that?" she asked.
Mr. Sultzbach said part of the intent would be to close up the basement access and clean up the animal scat, mold and whatever else was in there. "Something we've considered as well, while the historic windows are staying and they're being replaced, the possibility of having Plexiglas storms installed over them. So if kids are throwing rocks, they're gonna have to break the storm before they break the actual window. It's still not ideal but it's cheaper to replace and it's harder to break."
The barn has post and beam construction and dates to the mid-1800s, Mr. Sultzbach said. "It is something that's important in terms of the fabric of this community and its rich agricultural history. I think it's important to keep, but I think being realistic, this community has limited resources and we have a host of other buildings that are falling apart too. And so I think the goal is not to try to go out and fix every single building that we have of historic significance right now. I think the goal is trying to stabilize them to keep them from deteriorating further, because it's going to cost you more money if you let that building just go and then decide you want to save it in ten years.
"And not only that, it's also just going to be a source of blight. And that's another thing that this town really needs to address as well. So it's not just a matter of making that building look nice. It's a matter of trying to preserve it to save money in the long term. So when the time comes and the community decides what it wants to do with the inside of that barn, they'll have a whole complete structure and not just a rotted out kind of shell."
If anyone wanted to see the inside of barn, Mr. Sultzbach said, they could contact the Town Manager's office to arrange a walk-through. "It really is an impressive structure," he said.
Dr. Ward raised the concern of whether sealing up the building with all the possible hazardous substances (mold, droppings and so on) inside would create an even larger issue down the road, and a higher cost to mitigate the hazards in order to make the building usable.
Mr. Sultzbach said he agreed, and this was an issue they'd encountered with the former police/fire station next to Town Hall. "For the barn, I would say it's not a matter of just like sealing up everything that's inside there. It's also going to involve cleaning it up. It's become a little bit of a dumping ground in there. We want to clear it out, get as many items out of there as possible, but also clean it up a little bit as well."
FinCom member Anthony Dickson said, "Has there been any thought to the consideration about what was to be removed, would it be hazardous material, and the cost of that to clean it out, as you said there was feed in the basement that needs to be cleared out, other objects and things of that nature, including anything that has to do with mold. That's going to be hazardous material waste cost. And in addition to that, maintaining the building or keeping it preserved for future use, starting at the top to bottom. Do we know the condition of the roof itself, the outside exterior of the roof? Is it going to leak? Is it going to cave in, does it have areas of concern that have been depleted? That would cause it to cave in over time with a heavy snow load or heavy winds and things of that nature?"
Mr. Sultzbach said those were excellent questions, and the best answer would be for the town to do a complete conditions assessment of the building. "That's the best way you can get a kind of fine analysis of a lot of the things you're talking about, regarding engineering questions surrounding the load for the floors and the roof for example. There's an antique fire truck parked in there right now and it hasn't gone anywhere yet. On the first floor, so you know, we know with some confidence that it's pretty sturdy, but I do think that in terms of next steps of addressing the [situation] would be to have a conditions assessment done and then you know definitively what's in there in terms of hazardous materials."
Mr. Sultzbach added, "Given the age of the structure I don't anticipate you're gonna run into items like asbestos or anything like that. There could be some lead. But when you're dealing with animal waste and things like there is a hazmat cost, but that, they bring in a team of bunny suits and they scoop it all out."
Article 19 includes capital expenditures to be funded through ten-year borrowing for the Fiscal Year 2024 Transfer Station Enterprise Fund, in the total amount of $223,411, with annual payments projected to be $24,000.
| Description | Total Amount | Annual Payment | Transfer Station--Roll Off Truck | $223,411 | $24,000 |
In Monday's meeting, Ms. Anderson asked why the town had abandoned the practice of leasing equipment, as was commonly done during the tenures of previous Town Managers.
Mr. Sultzbach said he wasn't sure, but he could ask former Town Manager Keith Hickey. "It depends on the equipment. So we do have a couple of leases that we're still paying down. A lot of them aren't true leases in the sense that we return the equipment after it, a lot of them are actually lease-to-owns....if I had to guess it may have had something to do with the interest rates at that particular time." A lot of communities are trying to get away from leasing, Mr Sultzbach said.
At the FinCom hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Sultzbach said, "So we've received some feedback on this, largely positive. We did hear from one individual that referred to the roll off truck as a toy. And so I would just kind of want to stress and give a little background on this project as it has gone through several public meetings."
Mr. Sultzbach continued, "The intent of this project, for those who've been paying attention and following along, is to save the town money in the long run. And so we currently farm that work out, and the trucking cost is set to skyrocket over the next few years. Our agreements are set to expire, and so in an effort to try to avoid that significant expense coming down the road for our taxpayers, DPW Director Croteau actually took the initiative, went out and tried to find a way that we could do this in-house and save some money. That's the intent of this article." The length of the borrowing time was to spread out the expense over a longer period of time, since the Transfer Station revenues are modest.
Article 20 includes capital expenditures to be funded through five-year borrowing for the Fiscal Year 2024 Water Enterprise Fund, in the total amount of $98,884, with annual payments projected to be $20,700.
| Description | Total Amount | Annual Payment | Water Department--Service Truck | $98,884 | $20,700 |
Mr. Sultzbach explained to the Board of Selectmen on Monday that the debt service figure has been rolled into the debt schedule for the Water and Wastewater accounts. It's been built into the budget.
Article 21 includes capital improvements to be funded from the 911 Grant, with a total amount of $136,918.
| Police--Police cruiser replacement | $136,918 |
This would cover two cruisers and be covered by the annual 911 Grant funds.
No members of the public had questions about these articles at either meeting. The Finance Committee voted to recommend all of them.
To view the final Warrant, see www.townofwinchendon.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif8401/f/news/stm-atm_warrant.pdf (PDF)
Tannery Pond waterfront canoeing!
Exercising with something Toy Town management hopes to see more of now that the former Beech Street garage is a torn down thing of the past and a small future waterfront park is on the way, this unidentified person enjoys some peaceful exercise and alone time enjoying the waters of Tannery Pond on Monday, April 24, as seen in photos taken from the site of the former Four C's Garage, now Town of Winchendon municipal property, which previously would not have been possible.
Slowly paddling her canoe, this local enthusiast skims the Spring Place side of Tannery Pond entering the area of the exit waters of the Black Bridge spillway where many migratory birds are often seen searching for food.
Photo by Keith Kent
Seen in the background taken from the newly acquired town property formerly known as 3 Beech Street, this person can be seen enjoying a private quiet canoe ride, with homes along Spring Place seen in the adjacent background.
Photo by Keith Kent
Final Sidewalk Preparations
Seen in these photos taken on Tuesday, April 25, Baltazar Contractors Inc., the primary contractor for the Central Street reconstruction project, has been busy pulling up the temporary sidewalk asphalt coating laid down last fall on the northerly side of Central Street which runs from Blair Square to CVS at its intersection with Maple Street, and preparing the proper soft sand level undercoating so as to be able to finally put down the proper concrete side walks which will allow it to match the opposite or southerly side of Central Street. Please be prepared to either slow down, or need to come to a stop for pedestrians, or possible traffic delays, as the Winchendon Police Department assists Baltazar Contractors with safely facilitating this transition.
The Town of Winchendon recently released the following statement: "With the arrival of spring, work is kicking off once again on Central Street! Some curbs are being set on the 'Clark side' today, with the temporary sidewalk to be pulled up over the coming weeks to be replaced with the permanent concrete. Once curbs and sidewalks are finished the top coat will be rolled out on the road some time in late spring following by lane striping and other finishing touches. Thank you for your patience as we work together to beautify Winchendon"!
Photo by Keith Kent
Photo by Keith Kent
Photo copyright © Beals Memorial Library