By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Voters at Fall Town Meeting will be asked to approve a debt exclusion that will seek to give the Department of Public Works’ road construction program a boost.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan said during the Select Board’s Sept. 23 meeting that a number of residents are concerned about the condition of the town’s streets. He recalled that a group of residents gave local officials an earful about the condition of the town’s roads during a Select Board meeting in June.
“The message was loud and clear that this Select Board and members of the public wanted us to provide them with a comprehensive pavement program to improve the roads in Lynnfield,” said Dolan.
Beta Group Senior Vice President Anthony Garro said the engineering firm evaluates the condition of Lynnfield streets every three years. He said the firm developed a 10-year road improvement program, totaling $23,458,212.43.
Garro said the Beta Group is recommending that the town invest $2 million annually in order to improve the condition of the town’s streets. In addition to appropriating $300,000 in the capital budget and using $415,000 in Chapter 90 road construction funds awarded by the state each fiscal year, Garro recommended that the town request voters to approve a 10-year capital debt exclusion that will appropriate $1,285,000 annually for 10 years.
“This borrowing results in a residential tax increase equal to $258 for the average assessed home in Lynnfield for 10 years,” said Garro.
Dolan said the town began appropriating funds into the capital budget for road construction in order to supplement the Chapter 90 funds awarded by the state. He noted that Free Cash funds the capital budget each fiscal year.
“The challenge is the Chapter 90 funding formula for cities and towns has not increased in 35 years,” said Dolan. “Over the last eight or nine years, we have made historic investment on the town budget side in our roads. During COVID, we did not do a lot of roadwork because people were not working in construction. The Free Cash from not spending in those years carried over, therefore giving our capital budget a real boost and allowing us to spend more money on roads. That is now gone.”
Dolan recalled that the town expanded in the 1960s and 1970s when a number of homes were built.
“All of those roads from Apple Hill Lane to Sherwood Forest have come to a point where they are all falling apart at the same time,” said Dolan. “There are many areas of our town that are crumbling and being able to keep up at the rate that is necessary is unattainable in the current budget.”
Garro said the town’s roadway network totals 69.71 miles. He said the firm uses a zero to 100 score in order to rank the street conditions from worst to best.
“We grouped the roads into three different categories,” said Garro. “Roads that are in poor condition scored between zero and 55. Roads that are fair scored 55 to 85, and roads that are good scored 85 to 100. There are different repair strategies associated with each one of those categories.”
Garro said the town’s overall roadway network score was 69.7.
“A third of the roads are in poor condition, a third of the roads are in fair condition and a little more than a third of the roads are in good condition,” said Garro.
DPW Director John Scenna said the 69.7 roadway network score is “at the lower end of the range.”
“For someone to have an 85, which is a solid B in the world of academia, you have to have your entire network in that good category,” said Scenna. “That is very difficult to do considering the financial situation of communities.”
Dolan said the town is “running in place” by spending $1 million on road construction each fiscal year. If the town continues down that path, he said the condition of Lynnfield streets will continue to worsen due to increased costs associated with materials and labor.
“Those things are never going to go down,” said Dolan. “They are only going to go up.”
Dolan said Scenna and Deputy DPW Director/Town Engineer John Tomasz have determined that spending $2 million annually on road construction is the “maximum amount of work” the DPW can get completed.
“They both felt that with the winters that we have, the small construction season and with available contractors, that is the max that we can do,” said Dolan. “We are recommending to go big.”
In response to a question from Select Board member Phil Crawford, Scenna said the DPW feels “comfortable” with being able to get $2 million worth of roadwork completed annually if voters sign off on the program. He said the DPW will continue evaluating the condition of the streets each year in order to determine which ones get paved.
“If this is successful and John and I are green lighted to build a $2 million program for 10 years, the first thing we are going to do is go out to bid for own contractors,” said Scenna. “We will have our own contractors instead of sharing them.”
Dolan agreed.
“What we are trying to do is catch up,” added Dolan. “We want to have a sustainable model so that we can catch the town up. This is happening in a lot of older communities in the commonwealth. We have contributed a lot to roads, but it is not enough.”
Crawford was receptive to the 10-year road improvement program.
“The only way we are going to get ahead of it is to double up what we doing,” said Crawford. “Otherwise, we are running in place. I think it is a great idea and I think we should strongly consider it.”
Select Board Chair Dick Dalton asked if the Beta Group will still be evaluating the condition of the town’s streets every three years if Fall Town Meeting funds the plan.
Garro said yes.
Select Board member Alexis Leahy recalled that the town has struggled with getting contractors to perform roadwork in the past. She asked if local officials will still be facing that challenge if the program gets funded.
Scenna said the town will be able to hire its own contractors that will not be shared with other communities such as North Reading and Middleton.
“When we go to bid, the vendor will be committing to go to Lynnfield,” said Scenna. “We will have a commitment with a contractor that supports our needs. We don’t have that ability right now. It’s a very tough negotiation because these contractors are committing to a certain quantity, but because it is a shared contract, that commitment is more regional.”
Dolan said the town is losing three months of roadwork each year because the State Legislature typically approves the Chapter 90 bill after construction season starts.
“We losing three months every year because we are so reliant on the state,” said Dolan. “If we can build the $1,285,000 into the budget, we will have workers everywhere the minute it turns 50 degrees. We are taking our future into our own hands and solving our problems internally with assistance from the state as a secondary source to get the job done.”
Leahy encouraged Scenna to communicate which roads will be repaired annually to residents.
Scenna expressed his support for Leahy’s suggestion.
Merrow Road resident Ken MacNulty asked how the condition of the town’s streets compares to other communities.
Garro said communities that are only spending Chapter 90 funds on road construction have more roads in the “poor category.” He said adopting a “balanced program” allows communities to improve the condition of their roadway network.
In addition to the road construction program, voters at Fall Town Meeting will also be asked to approve the Lynnfield Public Library renovation plan. That project’s price tag is still being finalized.
