On Feb. 24, the Capital Planning and Investment Committee reviewed the 24 requests it had received from various town departments for fiscal 2024. The numerical coincidences ended there though, as six requests were voted down, and circumstances had changed on another two, eliminating the need to fund those.
After nearly three hours of discussion, the committee voted to recommend spending $1,510,000 from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund for 14 projects and an additional $263,000 for prior debt payment commitments, mainly for the new elementary school. It also voted to recommend adding $840,000 to town debt for the design of a new building for the Department of Public Works and a new dump truck for the DPW.
The committee was faced with two big-ticket items, a $600,000 design for a new DPW building and a $550,000 design for a new fire station, and it was hesitant to put both forward the same year. Three of the four DPW buildings are in bad shape and need to be replaced. The 1976 fire station is too small and doesn’t meet current codes. More important, firefighters are exposed to carcinogens from their gear, which is supposed to be sealed in a ventilated room but is instead stored out in the open because of lack of space.
Fire Chief Rick Sicard requested that the design for a new station be moved up to fiscal 2024 because there is pending state legislation to provide funding for fire stations, similar to MSBA funding for schools. But that legislation has been languishing in committee since last summer. In addition, Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro pointed out that people work in the DPW building every day, while the fire station is empty much of the time. For those reasons, CPIC chose to recommend the design for the DPW building, funded by new debt, and keep the fire station design on the capital plan for fiscal 2025.
The other costly item the committee recommended funding with borrowed money is a $240,000 Mack dump truck for the DPW, a replacement for a 24-year-old dump truck that is hard to get parts for, according to DPW Director Tim Kilhart. CPIC also supported the DPW’s third request, $200,000 for road maintenance. Kilhart said this amount is needed to cover an overage on the design work for the Ayer Road renovation project. The town has already committed to pay for the design, he said, and if CPIC doesn’t fund it, he would need to use Chapter 90 highway money to make up the shortfall. The state will pay for the project itself, scheduled to begin in fiscal 2026.
New parking lot, upgraded elevator at Public Safety Building
The committee chose to recommend two of the four Public Safety Building requests: repairing the parking lot and upgrading the elevator. The elevator manufacturer told the town that parts are no longer made for this model, and an inspection this year revealed electronic problems that must be fixed. Facilities manager Jeff Hayes said that upgrading the electronics would extend the elevator’s life another 20 years.
The other two Public Safety Building requests—solar panels and a new roof—were related. Police Chief James Babu told the committee there is nothing wrong with the 20-year-old roof, but if solar panels are installed, the roof would need to be replaced as part of that installation. The committee decided that the east-west facing roof was not an ideal candidate for solar panels, and it would be more prudent to wait for the town to create a solar plan for all the municipal buildings in town before spending money to install solar on this building.
Solar panels for new senior center
One building that did meet with the committee’s approval for solar panels is the new Council on Aging building on Lancaster County Road. The roof faces southwest and the panels are expected to generate more than enough electricity for the building. Any extra electricity could be used to offset the electricity bills of other town-owned buildings under the state’s virtual net metering program. In addition, the federal Inflation Reduction Act will provide a 30% direct reimbursement to the town for the cost of the project.
CPIC recommended purchasing a new hybrid command vehicle for the Fire Department to replace an older one and a new SCBA air compressor, used to fill firefighters’ air tanks, to replace the existing 32-year-old unit. The library’s lone request for a new fire alarm system, currently held together by parts purchased on eBay, was also supported by the committee, as was painting of the Town Hall, the library, and the Public Safety Building.
Bromfield gym renovations approved, HVAC replacement rejected
Three of the five requests for Bromfield upgrades were supported. Renovating the girls locker room was high on the committee’s list, since the boys locker room was renovated last year. Also recommended were a set of gym improvements, including replacing the curtain that no longer works, painting, and replacing the basketball hoops because of their aging mechanisms. Replacing some failing flooring sections was also recommended.
The request for $3 million to replace the entire HVAC system at Bromfield was not recommended, partly because the schools could not obtain an estimate in time for the CPIC vote. The committee intends to support an article to allow some existing HVAC funds to be used for an engineering study to get an accurate estimate and determine the best path forward on this project. CPIC also chose not to support the last section of lockers that need replacing in Bromfield. Members agreed that this item was less critical than most of the other items on its list.
The committee recommended buying a 14- to 16-passenger van for the schools to use for transporting small groups of students to avoid paying for a full-size bus. It also supported spending $25,000 on field restoration, although it suggested that if this became an annual request, it would be better suited as a maintenance budget item.
CPIC also voted to recommend a new Voice over Internet Protocol phone system for Town Hall, the library, the COA, the DPW, and Hildreth House. The existing system is over 30 years old, and Finance Director Jared Mullane told the committee there is a limit to how many people can use the phones at one time, and calls are regularly dropped.
The $300,000 request by the Parks and Recreation Commission to install pickleball courts next to the McCurdy Track fell by the wayside. Committee members acknowledged the demand, but member Sharlene Cronin said, it’s “a want, not so much a need,” and other members agreed. Half a million dollars to fund purchasing land for athletic fields also fell into the unsupported category. CPIC Chair Nate Finch repeated his stance that the town should issue a request for proposals and identify a specific piece of land before requesting funding, and all the other members agreed.
FinCom weighs in; Select Board will follow
The Finance Committee reviewed CPIC’s recommendations at its Feb. 27 meeting and concurred with most of them. But they didn’t support the new phone system. Member Charles Oliver asked if the town had investigated Zoom Phone, which was a much cheaper option than the $70,000 system proposed by Town Administrator Tim Bragan. Mullane said he didn’t think so, and members voted not to recommend the phone system, pending more information on less expensive options. They also voted not to support the fire command vehicle. Chief Sicard had told CPIC that, should the town vote for the new hybrid car, he would sell the newer of the two existing cars because the old one was still in good shape and the newer one would bring a better price. That led FinCom member Mike Derse to question why the Fire Department needed a new command car in the first place, and members agreed with that logic.
FinCom members also voted not to support upgrading the Public Safety Building elevator after a misunderstanding that led them to believe they were voting on replacing the entire elevator just because it was getting old. During the discussions, a few members complained that they had not been given enough information about the requests, and had little time to review CPIC’s recommendations, which were voted on only three days before FinCom’s meeting.
The Harvard Charter specifies that CPIC present its recommendations to the Select Board no later than Dec. 31 of the year prior to Town Meeting. This year, Finch told the Press most of the school’s requests did not include quotes, and he decided the CPIC vote could wait until the school obtained them. “There’s no actual logic behind that date,” Finch said in an email. “Nobody needs our votes on Jan. 1st.” He added that he would rather the committee vote later with more information than earlier with less.
