From left: Architect Drayton Fair, Selectman Leo Blair, Town Administrator Tim Bragan, Selectwoman Lucy Wallace, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Stu Sklar, and Selectman Ron Ricci listen to a resident’s point of view at Special Town Meeitng, Wednesday, Oct. 29. The town approved plans to move forward with Town Hall renovations. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
After nearly a year of multiple plans, debates, and detours, the Board of Selectmen finally have the go-ahead from voters to proceed with their plan for the repair, restoration, and renovation of Town Hall.
Article 4 at Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting asked attendees to hear a report of the selectmen on Town Hall (Part A), approve their Plan 1B (Part B), and authorize a move to a temporary location during construction (Part C). All three sections of Article 4 passed by majority votes, but not before a parade of residents had their say and proposed amendments.
The main concern among residents was whether the refurbished building would meet all three program needs that were originally planned: employee office space, volunteer government space, and community space. While the selectmen acknowledged that compromises had been made because of budget constraints, they expressed certainty that the proposed open space on the second floor would be flexible enough to meet future priorities. When Nancy Reifenstein of Ayer Road asked to hear from a Town Hall employee on their feelings about the space, Finance Director Lorraine Leonard said, “We’ll make it work. What choice do we have?”
Confidence in latest costs
In response to a question from Woodside Road resident Chris Ashley about the board’s level of confidence in the cost estimate, Selectman Leo Blair said they were very confident. “We’ve increased our contingency and we have a significant reserve,” said Blair. Ashley went on to say, “We have to decide that this is the best we can do with what we’ve got, and we need to embrace it,” which brought applause from the crowd.
Billy Salter of Elm Street proposed a friendly amendment that included incorporating the recommendations of the recent report on Town Hall by building consultant John Holland and specifying that the intentions of the plan would be to meet the needs of employees and volunteer government, including support, storage, and meeting space. But BOS Chairman Stu Sklar declared that the amendment could not be accepted because by law the selectmen cannot specify particular products, as Holland did, when they go out to bid. The amendment was defeated, and Part B of Article 4 passed by majority vote.
Questioning Part C
As the meeting moved on to Part C of Article 4, which asked for authorization to lease space for temporary town offices during construction, questions arose as to why a vote had to be taken, since the board already had authority to lease temporary space by a previous Town Meeting vote. Town Counsel Mark Lanza explained that the prior vote specified a maximum distance from town center and did not specify a time limit for the lease. The new authorization article sets no maximum distance and limits the lease to 18 months. The vote on Part C passed by a clear majority.
In other action, attendees:
- Voted to pay two bills totalling $1,043.16 that arrived after June 30 for work that was done during fiscal 2014 (Article 1). The outstanding bills were for $787.50 from CAI Technologies and $255.66 from Belmont Spring. The motion, which required a 9/10 vote, passed unanimously.
- Agreed to transfer $157,500 from the ambulance account to the town’s general fund, thereby reducing the amount to be raised by taxation to fund town operations from $21,952,080 to $21,794,580 (Article 2). The money should have been moved at last spring’s Town Meeting but action was accidentally omitted.
- Voted to fund the newly negotiated contract with employees of the Department of Public Works by increasing the omnibus budget by $15,594 for fiscal 2015 (Article 3).
- Agreed to amend Chapter 78, Personnel, to add the new position of assistant town administrator to the town bylaw and define the role (Article 5). The change also removes a number of employee benefits from the bylaw, including retirement health insurance and paid time off. Those will now be covered in the town policies and procedures, with changes under the jurisdiction of the Personnel Board and the Board of Selectmen. As a bylaw change, this measure required a ⅔ vote.
- Voted to transfer the $616,817 in surplus or “free cash” remaining from the fiscal 2014 general fund to the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund. Once there, that money can be withdrawn only by a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting.
Request for pumper
money tabled
The fire department had intended to ask for money to refurbish Harvard’s 15-year-old pumper truck, which has severe rust damage to its frame. Whether the damage is covered by the truck’s warranty has yet to be determined, and in the absence of further information or an endorsement by the Finance Committee, Sklar moved that the meeting take no action. His motion passed by majority vote.
The meeting lasted almost exactly two hours, with most of the time devoted to discussion of the Article 4 motions. Town Clerk Janet Vellante reported that 211 residents attended the meeting in the Cronin Auditorium.
During the debate Bruce Nickerson of Stow Road summed up the thoughts of many when he said that given the report of John Holland, “We would be idiots not to resign ourselves to the fact that this is what we’ve got, this is what the town voted to allow us to spend. Let’s get on with it.”
