DEP bottleneck delays needed town center sewer bids
The selectmen got their first look Tuesday night at a tentative list of nearly four dozen articles queued up for approval by Town Meeting this year, but delays in state approval of Harvard’s plan for a new sewer system threaten to push the event into May, one of the most crowded months of the town calendar.
The cause of the delay—should it happen—is the 2009 promise of the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to return to Town Meeting if the cost of a new sewer in the center of town tripped one or more so called financial “circuit breakers.” The complication is that the town can’t know whether any of these will be exceeded until it has invited and received bids from potential contractors. And before that can happen, the bid package itself must be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which regulates such projects.
Choosing his words carefully, Town Administrator Tim Bragan said the DEP was doing its work “in a detail-oriented, slow fashion,” but was six to eight weeks behind where he and the Town Center Sewer Building Committee (TCSBC) had expected it to be. The result, said Bragan, is that the town is unlikely to know the cost of the project before May. If the number is higher than planned, then the town would have to call a second Town Meeting on the heels of the first to get approval to proceed and begin work during the coming 2011 construction season.
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) postponed taking any action until its next meeting on March 1, but seemed to agree—with the possible exception of Selectman Tim Clark—that the ATM would have to be moved to May. Asked what he would recommend, Chris Ashley, chairman of the TCSBC, said he’d prefer to have “the numbers in hand” prior to ATM. Ashley noted that other 2011 town projects for which funds are being requested—such as reconstruction of the Hildreth Elementary School playground—depend on the sewer project. Clark countered by saying that there was every reason to believe that project costs would fall below the $2 million approved by ATM in 2009, in which case the project could proceed without an ATM vote.
May is one of the busiest months in Harvard, with student athletic events at their height, not to mention such traditions as the annual Apple Blossom Festival and spring Garden Club sale, both of which take place at the beginning of the month. When ATM was held last year in May, turnout was one of the lowest in history. The BOS had hoped that by moving the date to early April, more residents would be able to attend.
Before going into executive session this week, Bragan gave selectmen their first look at the 2011 ATM warrant. The draft contains 43 articles, among which are such traditional items as the omnibus budget, as well as placeholders for the Municipal Buildings Committee. The Board of Health has asked for funds to cover new drainage ditches in town to ward off the breeding of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Town Hall did not respond to a request by the Press for a copy of the preliminary warrant.
