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NORTHBRIDGE, Mass. – The Northbridge Finance Committee made two unanimous decisions at a meeting on Thursday.
Though members support purchase of a Douglas Road building and property as a Department of Public Works facility, they will not support that purchase at the Oct. 23 fall town meeting.
Instead, they are suggesting the Board of Selectmen recommend passing over that town meeting article on Oct. 23 and schedule a special town meeting and election in December asking voters then to purchase the property for $995,000 and approve $2.1 million to renovate the building.
Current plans are to ask voters to purchase the property on Oct. 23, but wait to ask for renovation funds at the spring town meeting next May.
Finance Committee Chairman Salvatore D’Amato said he’s received many calls from voters who say they feel they are being “coerced’’ in purchasing the property now and being asked for more money seven months down the road.
“I agree with them,’’ D’Amato said. “It should be a package deal.’’
But it’s been confirmed, he said, that there is another potential buyer for the property, so delaying the purchase request until next May so it can be presented as a package deal is a risk.
He believes the property owners would be willing to hold the property for the town until December and that voters are more likely to approve the plan if the two pieces are presented together.
“I feel voters will support this at a special election,’’ he said.
Finance Committee member Lisa Ferguson agreed. “I feel it should be a whole project and if voters see the Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen showing strong support, they will to. I feel that’s the only way it’s going to pass.
“If we do it in pieces, we’ll be back here doing the same thing in a year,’’ she said.
“I’ve been agonizing over this all week,’’ said Finance Committee member Plato Adams. “This is a big deal. It deserves a special town meeting and election. Let’s do it right.’’
Selectmen Chairman Daniel Nolan attended the meeting but did not comment on the committee’s decision. The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is Monday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.
Also attending the meeting were Town Manager Theodore Kozak and Department of Public Works Director James Shuris who both said they have confidence in the $2.1 million estimate to renovate the 19,200 building under consideration and will guarantee the project will cost no more than that.
Comments (11)
Instead of a select group of people on committees making decisions on what is the best approach why not solicit the people of the town to see what they feel is the best option.
The bottom line lies in the fact that something needs to be done. The DPW can not continue to operate out of the existing facility. I agree that a special election may be needed to solve the large DPW issue. At an election put all the choices that have been proposed in front of the residents of the town and let them make their own votes to see which has the biggest support.
The Douglas Rd. property is the least fiscally responsible proposal out there to date. Having to pay for a special election to vote on it makes it even worse.
I for one am totaly amazed that the FinCom thought that the Douglas Rd. proposal makes any sense at all and am even more stunned that it was a unanimous decision. When you factor in lost future revenues and the extra burden of maintaing two facilities then couple it with the fact that they are doing nothing to correct their initial two biggest issues with the current location, the fact that it is in the flood plain and the remediation issues.
Why spend an extra what? $10K(+/-) for a special election that may very well be shot down if and when the voters are fully aware of what is going on.
Some potential good points, Guy.
They should construct the garage proposal submitted by Neal Mitchell and Roger Mathieu on the current DPW site and rehab the current office space.
Also, the current site is not the proper location for a compost site and the
Highway Department should be using the leaf vacuum all over town as they always did in the past instead of sending employee's out to pick up leaf bags all around town. It would also make it easier to turn over the compost pile in order for everything to break down faster for a richer loam that could be used on our athletic fields and parks.
Bunky,
Your correct but it can also be built at the WWTPlant Location and it is less costly to the Taxpayers at the WWTPlant location in the opinion of many.
I believe that this building will never be purchased by the town, and look at all the money that we already spent.
Looking at the picture maybe just call in 'Brick Face Master's' maybe we can get another 50-60 years out of the building? :D
There is no doubt the existing building could be rehabbed for much less. The big obstacle is that there is not enough space to store the trucks and equipment.