By their own accounting, the selectmen have done a halfway decent job of accomplishing the goals they set at their strategic planning session a year ago. At this year’s planning session on June 17, they agreed that they had made “a good start” in dealing with the town’s looming OPEB (other post-employment benefits) obligation to its retirees. And they worked hard to salvage the Town Hall building project after construction bids came in much higher than expected and voters declined to appropriate additional funding.
They are even beginning to make headway in communication with MassDevelopment after years of unfruitful participation in JBOS—the Joint Boards of Selectmen of the three towns comprising areas of Devens no longer under Army control. Selectman Leo Blair reported that the JBOS is beginning to receive vital long-sought information about MassDevelopment operations, including minutes of a meeting that indicated an exit strategy as early as 2019, much sooner than the towns had anticipated.
All of these initiatives are works in progress that board members will continue to pursue, they said. Also in that category are strategies to foster better communication among boards and from the selectmen to the general public, and efforts to support the Planning Board and ongoing Master Plan development.
In the press of other time-consuming business this year, a couple of important goals “fell by the wayside,” noted Selectman Ron Ricci. One of these was a plan to commission external operational audits of the police and fire departments, the Department of Public Works, and the ambulance service. Board members agreed that it’s still a worthwhile goal and that budgeting for at least one such audit a year could pay off in terms of increased operational efficiency.
Still no facilities manager
Another stalled initiative was the creation of a town-wide facilities manager position. Board Chairman Stu Sklar apologized for “dropping the ball” on that one and pledged to finish the work he started on ironing out the details. The board agreed a year ago to investigate the possibility of expanding the school facilities manager’s responsibilities to include all municipal buildings. Sklar said he had already been in touch with school officials, who seemed to support the idea. Acknowledging that school facilities manager Mark Force already has a full-time job, members agreed that the schools might need additional maintenance staff if and when Force assumes town-wide responsibilities.
Taking it one step further, Ricci suggested that the town should have staff to do routine repairs, painting, and projects like window replacement. Town Administrator Tim Bragan said the town could accomplish that without adding to the employee “head count” by going out to bid for carpentry services.
New goals for FY15
Looking to the future, board members pondered new initiatives for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Blair proposed a significant increase in funding for the Council on Aging, in view of the increased demand for COA services in the past few years, especially outreach services. Calling the COA “chronically underfunded” for the size of Harvard’s senior population, Blair said, “The standard 3 percent [budget] increase doesn’t work.” He suggested boosting the COA budget by $100,000, which would nearly double the COA’s $117,085 appropriation this fiscal year. At the same time, Blair said the board should consider offering services not now available to senior residents of Devens.
Monthly admin meetings; quarterly Q&As
On the operational side, board members agreed to try Blair’s suggestion of holding monthly administrative meetings to deal with routine matters such as approving banners or signing proclamations, which would free up time at their regular meetings for more substantive issues. They also agreed to try, at least once, holding a public question-and-answer session on a given topic or two as a means of fostering a more communicative town government. Sklar wondered if anyone would show up for a Q&A with the selectmen but consented to giving it a trial run in the fall. If it works, it could become a quarterly event.
The selectmen plan to finalize—and possibly prioritize—their list of goals and objectives at their next meeting on July 8.
