by Joan Eliyesil ·
Friday, July 12, 2024
About half the town’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds will be used to pay for police details for the Devens water connection project and a peer review of the Conservation Commission’s plans for the Ayer Road reconstruction project. At its July 2 meeting, the Select Board voted to commit $105,600 of ARPA money to those two items.
Police details will be needed on Depot Road when work begins later this summer to install water pipes along the full length of that road to connect the town’s Ayer Road water main to the water supply at Devens. Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the board Police Chief James Babu estimated that police hours over the lifetime of the project will cost about $100,000. The loan that is funding the project cannot be used to pay for police details.
The Conservation Commission needs to hire a firm to conduct a peer review of its wetland replication and stormwater management plans for the Ayer Road project. The project, which involves reconstruction of a 1.7-mile section of the road from Route 2 to the Ayer town line is slated to begin sometime in 2026 or 2027, according to Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart. The peer review, a design requirement, will be conducted by consulting firm Beals and Thomas at a cost of $5,600.
ARPA was authorized in 2021 to provide funds to state, local, and tribal governments across the country for projects related to COVID-19 response and recovery, including infrastructure investment. Harvard received $1.98 million; prior to the July 2 Select Board vote, the remaining balance of uncommitted funds was $217,162. The remaining ARPA funds must be committed for a specific purpose by Dec. 31, 2024 and must be spent by the end of 2026.
Bragan told the board the remaining ARPA funds could be used for the appraisals, easements, and land takings that will need to happen before the Ayer Road project can begin. In a phone call with the Press, Kilhart confirmed that, if there are no other pressing needs for the remaining ARPA funds by the end of the year, funds could be committed to that project or the Devens water project, and the money would be spent in time to meet the 2026 deadline.