The town center sewer project will go forward after voters affirmed their support for the $1.9 million project twice this week. Articles 24 and 25 passed overwhelmingly at Annual Town Meeting on May 2, and the Proposition 2½ debt exclusion needed to fund the project passed, 782 to 144 at town election on May 5.
“It is a bargain [for everyone in the town],” said Kyle Hedrick of Fairbank Street, who previously had expressed misgivings about the project. “There are people in the center of town who have to give up money they have spent on their systems, but I think that most of them are willing to do that. The only way to smell the rose [that is this plan],” he said, “is to just vote ‘yes.’”
Billy Salter of Elm Street also spoke in favor of the plan, noting that “it’s not such a great deal” for those, like him, who have recently installed Title 5-compliant systems. “I’m for it,” Salter said, “because the net benefit to the town is huge.”
Though the crowd had thinned noticeably as Town Meeting took up the sewer articles after the traditional noon break for lunch, more than a dozen other attendees, including representatives of the Historical Commission, the Conservation Trust, and the Congregational and Unitarian churches took the floor to endorse the project.
Kevin Durand of Mass. Ave., while supporting the plan, offered an amendment to give the Board of Selectmen more flexibility in adjusting payment of betterments for those who had already invested in Title 5-compliant systems. But the amendment was defeated after Town Counsel Mark Lanza explained that it would have no effect and might lead to rejection of the home-rule petition by the state Legislature.
The Board of Health presented a list of 10 benefits and 10 concerns, while, in the words of Chairman Tom Philippou, “desperately trying to stay neutral.” Commenting on the list, Salter said he was “struck by the mix” of items, only two of which—both benefits—addressed matters of public health: the opportunity for those with failing septic systems to escape the costs of Title 5 compliance and the protection of public water supplies the new system will afford. The rest, Salter said, “are engineering concerns—and I sure hope we engineer it right.”
Pat White of East Bare Hill Road commented that none of the financial parameters of the sewer plan appeared in any of the Town Meeting articles and asked if the Board of Selectmen might change them at some future date. Chairman Leo Blair responded that the Board of Selectmen had “voted to commit” to the financial plan posted on the town website, and that the apportionment of costs between town and property owners, as well as the formula for calculating the betterment fee for each property, were the numbers “we intend to go forward with.”
Following the vote, several town center residents praised Blair, Selectman Tim Clark, and Town Center Sewer Action Group Chairman Chris Ashley for their efforts to reach out and listen to residents’ concerns. In an e-mail message sent to a number of homeowners in the district, property owner Darlene Hazel wrote, “I want to applaud the efforts of the selectmen and Town Center Sewer Action Group for listening and responding. They have worked diligently to propose new compromises and financing options that enhance the strategy and make the plan more affordable and desirable for town center residents.”
“There was enough time to discuss some of the particulars of our plan and … come up with a plan that people could accept,” said Ashley in comments following town election. “Without the work of April, we could have had quite a different outcome.”
The Board of Selectmen will now move ahead with the planning and implementation of the system. Their first task will be to appoint the building and policy committees, whose charters were approved by the selectmen last month, by the beginning of June. And the home-rule petition, which sets out the boundaries and bylaws of the sewer district, now goes to the state Legislature, where it is expected to be approved within four to 18 months.
“Our assignment is essentially complete,” said Ashley. “I expect…[the selectmen] have designs on us to continue on in some fashion, but we get a little respite before we have to worry about that.”
