When it was his turn to speak at the Sept. 14 “all-boards” meeting, Board of Health Chairman John Spero was brief and to the point. “At the Cemetery Commission we don’t have too many long-term goals,” he said, a statement which was met first by silence and then delighted laughter as Spero and his audience of volunteers and administrators grasped the irony.
It was a rare moment of humor that came midway through the two-hour “all boards” meeting last week, convened by the Board of Selectmen (BOS) as a forum for the exchange of 2011 goals and concerns among the members of the town’s elected and appointed boards. It was held, appropriately, at the public library, in Volunteers Hall.
BOS Chairman Peter Warren, who moderated the gathering, observed that “improving communication and having a better understanding of other [town] boards and committees” was one of the selectmen’s own goals for 2011. Because its budget is responsible for roughly 80 percent of town spending, the School Committee typically takes center stage in such discussions, as it did last week. And the big news of the night was a call by the Finance Committee—instigated by the BOS and reported last week in the Press—that every organization that runs on town money submit five-year budgets when they ask for 2011 funding this fall. Still, the statements of less frequently heard-from boards and committees contained newsworthy reports of tasks accomplished and hints of controversies to come.
Here is a sampling:
- Town building maintenance: In presenting the goals of the Capital Planning and Investment Committee, Chairman George McKenna said the town faced two big unknowns, which his committee hoped to clear up this year: the cost of maintaining all of its schools, municipal buildings, playing fields, and other assets, whose current value is fast approaching $100 million, he claimed, and the cost of revitalizing the Town Hall, Hildreth House, and the old library. Regarding the first item, “It’s time, within the next several years” said McKenna, “to get a director of facilities, someone with the technical expertise and knowledge to assist the ‘shepherds’ of these assets [i.e., the Library Trustees and School Committee, and others].” Capital planning, said McKenna, “begins with a maintenance plan.” McKenna said he doubted that the seed money and annual infusions of free cash left over at the end of each year would be sufficient to fund the cost of maintaining town assets or building new ones and that the town would have to borrow to pay for them.
- Seniors: Municipal Building Committee Chairman Ron Ostberg and Council on Aging (COA) Director Ginger Quarles both reported that the population of over-60 residents in Harvard has increased by 54 percent in the past nine years and now accounts for 20 percent of the population. “It’s a population that is not being served,” said Ostberg. Quarles said volunteers remain crucial to the COA’s ability to deliver programs and services, and that the addition of a volunteers coordinator this year had made “a huge difference.”
- Town sewer: Chris Ashley reported that the construction of a town center sewer system and an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant are on track to start in the spring of 2011. So far the project is within budget, said Ashley, and access to money in the state clean water revolving fund “has been a major milestone in keeping costs low.”
- Mosquitoes: Former Board of Health (BOH) Chairman Tom Phillipou said he thought it likely that Harvard will want to respond more aggressively in 2011 to the discovery of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in insects trapped at Bolton Flats this summer. Phillipou said he hoped that through a program of public awareness, which the BOH will begin this fall, the town can “reach a community consensus” and be ready to act before mosquitoes hatch next spring .
- Town fields and sports programs: Parks and Recreation Commission member Mark Mandozzi said his organization planned to revitalize Ann Lee field in the coming year. He said the commission also hoped to expand the number of programs it offers; to “put in place” a program coordinator who could relieve volunteers of some of their management tasks; to look for ways to collaborate with neighboring towns; and to ensure that its programs remain self-funding, “as they are now, for the most part.”
- Transfer station runoff: Now that the town has dealt with storm water runoff from Massachusetts Avenue and town center land into Bare Hill Pond, Conservation Commission Chairman Paul Willard wants to shift attention to similar issues at the town transfer station.
- Library: Trustee Marty Green announced that for the first time in more than two years the Library will open again on Fridays, this time from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., beginning October 15. On the library’s wish list for 2011: keeping up with new technologies for delivering books to readers, maintaining its C/W MARS (Central and Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing) membership for interlibrary loans, and growing donations to its $8,000 book fund which, Green said, “has been a huge help” in buying new titles for the library’s collections.
As previously reported, any group funded by the town must submit a five-year budget by the end of October, along with strategies for reducing the nearly $200,000 deficit that town leaders expect to recur each year. A second all-boards meeting is planned for November.
