The dilapidated Department of Public Works buildings will finally get the attention they have needed for years. Voters at both Town Meeting and the polls approved the request to borrow $9,894,200 to rebuild three areas of the facility and make minor upgrades to the fourth.
The project will be paid for with excluded debt, which allows the town to borrow money and tax residents outside the limits of Proposition 2½. Residents will not see the tax impact, estimated to be about $315 annually for the average $875,978 single-family home, until fiscal 2026. The term of the loan will be 30 years. An additional $235,000 from funds left over from the old library roof project will be applied to cover the full estimated cost of the renovation, $10,029,000.
Pablo Carbonell introduces himself as the “reluctant chair of the Permanent Building Committee.” (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Discussion at Town Meeting centered on the high cost of the project. Westcott Road resident Brad Besse said this was a “big ask,” and wanted to know why the price was so high. Permanent Building Committee Chair Pablo Carbonell responded that the committee tried to keep the price down, but the buildings were not maintained, and they are falling apart. The mechanic’s garage, one of the structures slated for replacement, was built in the 1950s. The pole barn, described by DPW Director Tim Kilhart as the building in the worst shape, was installed in the 1930s.
Carbonell also pointed out that this is a municipal project, and the state mandates adding overhead for project management as well as paying prevailing wages. Kilhart added that the upgrade will have side effects, such as increasing the power supply to the new buildings and upgrading the fire alarm system. It will also trigger the requirement to add sprinklers to the structures.
Besse also asked whether the recent discovery of buried trash in the DPW area would affect the project. More than 10 feet of trash was found underground near the pole barn when engineers performed test borings as part of the design process. The area is now believed to have been a second dumping area that was part of the old landfill. Carbonell said more research is being done, and the pole barn’s replacement will be moved farther toward Depot Road to help ensure that the underground trash near it will not be a problem.
The article to approve the project and the borrowing required a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting, and it passed handily, 268-62. At the polls, only a simple majority was needed. The vote was 785-503. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro told the Press she estimates construction bids will go out in early 2025.
