It looks as if Department of Public Works Director Rich Nota has his work cut out for him at Special Town Meeting next week. Two of the four requested capital projects on the warrant—both from his department—are running into opposition from townspeople and getting lackluster support from the selectmen.
Nota’s request for $25,000 to replace the old boiler at the DPW building with two waste oil burners provoked a spirited discussion at the selectmen’s meeting last week, as did his bid for $25,000 to upgrade the electrical service at the transfer station. After listening to many comments for and against these requests, selectmen Chairman Leo Blair described the proposals as “half-baked,” adding that better information is needed before they go to the voters.
“There’s going to be push-back” on these proposals at Town Meeting, Blair predicted, “and we really need to know what we’re talking about.”
The other two proposed projects seem much less controversial. The first—replacement of an aging, failed boiler at Bromfield with two smaller, more efficient boilers—is a “no-brainer,” Blair said, although he speculated that the estimated $140,000 cost “seems high.” As for the other request—$10,000 to install two fans each in 13 upstairs elementary school classrooms—Blair was in full agreement.
“I’ve been in those classrooms at this time of year,” he reported. “They’re unbearable.”
The $10,000 figure itself is a steep reduction from the $25,000 voters were asked to approve for this project at Annual Town Meeting; since that time, a generous benefactor has donated the fans, so only the electrical work needs to be funded.
The four projects were recommended by the town’s Capital Plan Committee, which further advised that the total $200,000 cost be taken from the Stabilization Fund. The committee also proposed that they be combined into one warrant article, but listed separately so voters could consider them individually. The selectmen, though, decided last Tuesday that the projects would appear on the warrant as four separate articles, and that only the Bromfield boiler would definitely be funded through stabilization. Money for the fan installation, which is likely to cost less than the $10,000 estimate—one bid for $7,800 has come in—could come from the Shaw Trust, according to the Finance Committee. The Shaw Trust, which has a balance of about $223,000, is under the school board’s control, and tapping it would not require a Town Meeting vote. But the School Committee said Monday that it would not use Shaw Trust money for the work.
The finance board further suggested that the DPW waste oil burners and the electrical upgrade could be funded by unspent money in this year’s DPW and transfer station budgets. Finance Director Lorraine Leonard confirmed that both budgets have substantial balances for this late in the fiscal year so she’s guessing they will have surplus funds. Leonard admitted, though, that she doesn’t know how many unpaid bills Nota might still have.
Several speakers from the audience questioned the wisdom of buying waste oil burners, citing anecdotal evidence that they require excessive maintenance and aren’t very efficient.
“They’re only good for getting rid of waste oil,” said resident Josh Gould, adding that “a bad batch of oil can clog the whole system.”
Asked if the town had considered geothermal systems when replacing boilers, Blair conceded that town officials have not made “a serious effort” to find alternative solutions, but said that a new energy advisory committee has been created to tackle that question. The timing of the Bromfield boiler failure means that there’s not enough time to research alternatives, he said, but added that one bidder on the new boilers would use a solar component. In any case, he urged anyone in the room who has information about alternative systems to forward it to Leonard, who is in the process of soliciting bids.
Finance Committee member George McKenna cautioned that geothermal system are not suitable as the main source of heat in a school, and Gould agreed.
“It’s not quick heat,” he said, “It’s better for cooling than heating.”
Instead of spending $25,000 on new burners, why not use that money to “tighten up” the DPW building, asked Jack Spero, of Deerfoot Trail. At Annual Town Meeting in March, Nota had stunned many voters when he revealed that the DPW building uses about 700 gallons of heating oil every two weeks in winter. The selectmen didn’t dispute Spero’s contention that the building is in dire need of energy improvements.
Selectman Peter Warren suggested that the town buy one waste oil burner, instead of two, and put it in the small DPW maintenance bay to “see how it goes.” Board member Tim Clark agreed, and further proposed that the article be reconfigured to ask for $25,000 for energy improvements. Clark complained that the DPW boilers and the elementary school fans have one thing in common: both would make things more comfortable, but neither would “solve the real problem.”
As for the $25,000 request to upgrade wiring at the transfer station, Blair was certain that the cost estimate is too high and proposed putting it off until the fall Special Town Meeting when more information will be available. The new wiring is important, Selectman Lucy Wallace pointed out, because it would allow for unsorted recycling of paper and plastics, making recycling easier for townspeople. Harvard’s recycling rate has dropped recently, Wallace said, which pushes up disposal costs.
So in the end, the selectmen agreed to put all four requests on the warrant for the May 21 Special Town Meeting, and to talk with Nota in the meantime about their many concerns.
