Published October 8, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Fewer than 100 voters plowed through all 16 articles in the October Town Meeting warrant on Saturday morning in under 40 minutes.
It was a beautiful, sunny fall morning as the town lucked out and was able to hold the meeting outdoors on the Arthur J. Kenney Field at NRHS, which was the preferred location of Town Moderator John Murphy, the Board of Health and the Select Board in the COVID-19 era.
The most extensive discussion occurred on the last item on the docket, Article 16, but ultimately a motion to use $90,000 from Free Cash to fund a Route 28/Main Street Study and Redesign plan passed on a voice vote. These funds will be used for a traffic/corridor study. It was scaled back from an original proposal of $200,000 in June and put on hold when that meeting was scaled back given the unknowns of holding the town’s first socially distanced town meeting June 29, in the NRHS gym on a rainy night.
The Select Board unanimously recommended passage of Article 16, as did the Community Planning Commission. The FinCom voted 7-1 to fund it.
“This is an important study. It goes hand in hand with some of the other potential development on Rte. 28,” said Finance Committee Chairwoman Abby Hurlbut. “Hopefully, you’ll support it. It allows us to possibly get other funds and be prepared should the Dept. of Transportation decide to do some work on 28. We’ll at least have a game plan and a wish list in our back pocket.”
Former Select Board member Andy Schultz, 4 Central St., urged the voters to proceed more cautiously.
“I’m concerned about this article for a few reasons. When I was on the Select Board last year and we went through the budget this fiscal year we realized that next year is really going to be a horror show with a significant loss of state aid,” Schultz said. “I think it is important that we keep as much Free Cash in our coffers that we can.”
Schultz added that he does not understand why the town would be spending this sum on a state road. “While I think this article is well-intentioned, I think our money should be saved and we should let the state spend the money,” he said.
Town Planner Danielle McKnight said it is important to have a study such as this done now, prior to new sewer or water lines going into the ground to eliminate unnecessary street openings after it is rebuilt. In recent conversations with MassDOT officials, she said the state is not able to help the town with a “redesign or reconstruction plan.”
“We want to be prepared with this study so we can coordinate all of the reconstruction work that we hope will come to pass on Rte. 28. Doing this initial traffic study and conceptual plan will allow us to potentially leverage a lot of federal and state funding for the actual reconstruction,” McKnight said.
Pat Fillmore of Fieldcrest Terrace questioned the need to spend “money that we don’t have at this time” on a plan for a project that may or may not happen many years from now when the town has many other pressing and immediate roadway and sidewalk reconstruction needs.
Town Administrator
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto explained that the town is requesting the funds now because the funding sources that such a plan would rely on “have multiple year wait times, three- to five-years out before a project is even relatively close for consideration for the funding sources that are outside the town’s control, mostly federal and state construction funds.”
“As we are getting closer to a determination relative to wastewater for the long-term, the time was now to get planning,” Gilleberto added. “It is a very important first step to get us on a path for a significant amount of state and federal funding. A delay now results in a delay on the back end for what is already a long wait time. Even if we did not, as a town, vote in favor of a wastewater solution, one of the many things we heard during the master planning process over the last couple years was a desire to improve our Main Street. This would put us on a path to do that regardless of the outcome on sewer.”
Jeff Yull, 427 Park St. said that while he was “encouraged by the idea of planning for Route 28” he agreed with Schultz and feared spending money on a study now could result in a plan that “might be outdated” by the time state and federal funds become available, therefore he could not support it.
Gilleberto said they’ve discussed the timelines with the town’s engineering consultants who agree that they “seem to be appropriate.”
“This project started as a $200,000 request in June. We’ve worked with the assistance of Representative Jones to talk to the MassDOT about what would be an appropriate step and they were in agreement that we didn’t need to go that far,” Gilleberto said. “We could do this planning effort here for us as a community to better understand what we want to see take place on the road and then work hand-in-hand… with state assistance, including financial assistance, to the extent it is available and with a long-term goal of having a project that is sufficiently designed to compete for a large state or federal grant.”
Finance Committee
Finance Committee member Dan Mills, 5 Green Meadow Dr., said his board had “some of the same concerns brought up at the meeting relative to not having money coming down the line for next year. But we came to the consensus that this is a long-term project that needs early action in order to put the town on the right path with MassDOT. If we don’t direct MassDOT into what the town wants generally their policy would be to pave the road ‘as is’ as a maintenance item. We have been hearing for a long time that Rte. 28 needs a lot of work and upgrading, and this is an opportunity to do that.”
Rebecca Griffin, 4 Emerson Road, said she did not believe it will take years to get state assistance as she had just sat in on the meeting MassDOT held related to the recent reconstruction of Rte. 28 in Reading “and they are listening and understanding that this is a need” north of that border.
Griffin added, “The did talk specifically about North Reading because they are conducting a survey right now on the work that they did paving the road in Reading. It was mentioned to see where this town stood with this article and they know that it is in the works.”
Also at Town Meeting
Article 2 — Voters authorized the payment of a prior year bill for $149 for sanitation services at the Hillview to be funded from budget line 105 of the FY21 operating budget. It required a 4/5ths vote and passed unanimously.
Article 3 — Both the Select Board and the Finance Committee recommended a transfer of $200,000 into the Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund (CISF) from certified Free Cash, increasing the fund to $994,983. There was no discussion and the vote was unanimous.
Article 6 — Voters appropriated a sum of $389,096 from Free Cash into the Participating Funding Arrangement (PFA). This sum is equal to the town’s portion of remaining funds from the FY20 employee health insurance program. This reserve account pays the town’s portion of future health insurance costs for employees and helps stabilize year-to-year increases in the cost of insuring employees.
Select Board member Stephen O’Leary said the PFA had a balance of just over $700,000 prior to this transfers. He said these reserves were “realized as monies not spent to help offset rate increases or extraordinary expenses related to claims.”
Article 9 — Voters amended the FY21 Capital Budget: per the recommendations of the Capital Improvement Planning Committee (CIPC). These project had been passed over in June with intent possibly include some projects in the OTM warrant. The Select Board, FinCom and School Committee all recommended passage.
The following projects will be funded:
• School: Hood School Lift: $35,000 (Capital Improv. Stab.)
• School: Little School: HVAC $65,000 (Capital Improv. Stab.)
• DPW: Upper Elm St. Drainage: $550,000 (Authorization to borrow)
• DPW: Library Exterior: $130,000 (Authorization to borrow)
• DPW: Police HVAC: $50,000 (Capital Improv. Stab.)
• DPW: Police Locker Room updates, including female locker facilities: $25,000 (Capital Improv. Stab.)
These projects total $175,000 from Debt Stabilization Fund and $680,000 to be bonded.
Article 11 — Voters appropriated $25,000 from Free Cash to fund an invasive weed treatment program at Martin’s Pond to commence in the spring of 2021.
The FinCom also recommended passage. FinCom Chairwoman Abby Hurlbut stated, “This is an important project and the $25,000 will take care of the treatment for three years.”
Article 12 — Both the Select Board and the FinCom recommended passage and the voters unanimously agreed to fund town building repairs totaling $50,000 from Free Cash. The DPW is evaluating three potential projects with this year’s budget: improvements to the Third Meetinghouse and Town Hall plus asbestos abatement at the Fire Station.
Article 13 — Both the Select Board and Finance Committee unanimously recommended the appropriation of $9,999 from Free Cash for the purpose of repairs, maintenance and improvements to historical buildings on the grounds of the Rev. Daniel Putnam House at 27 Bow St. (Map 54, Parcel 63).
The article also authorized the Select Board to enter into an agreement with the North Reading Historical and Antiquarian Society to enable the society to receive and expend funds for the intended purpose in accordance with all public procurement and other requirements applicable to the town.
Select Board Chairwoman Kate Manupelli explained, “This is town-owned property that has been managed and occupied by the North Reading Historical and Antiquarian Society and has been maintained by the Minit and Militia. It is the subject of an agreement in place for decades. This article will provide funds to those two groups to continue to maintain these buildings on behalf of the town.”
Jeff Yull, 427 Park St., said his family moved to town in 1995. “We’ve seen North Reading grow in a very positive direction. My first introduction was the Ipswich River Park, which is a jewel. I began to learn more about Martin’s Pond. I feel that is a diamond in the rough… and now we have the Historical District, which has been there for some time but it has progressed significantly through the work by the Minit and Militia who volunteer their own time, raise their own funds to create an Historical District that is beautiful and that shows the history of North Reading greater than any parcel that we have within the town,” Yull said.
“Approving this would be a phenomenal addition to our town… for our young to see that North Reading wasn’t born the day new children were born, but that it has a history, and it has a positive history, and it would represent everything that is good about North Reading.” Article 13 passed unanimously.
Article 14 — Voters unanimously approved an appropriation of $25,000 from Free Cash for a consultant to complete an updated Hazard Mitigation Plan, which both the Select Board and FinCom unanimously recommended. Hurlbut added that the FinCom “hopes you’ll support this important article.”
Manupelli stated that this plan will be expiring next year, therefore, approving funds for an updated plan would “allow the town to seek additional funding sources in the wake of disasters.”
Article 15— Voters accepted unanimously MGL Chap. 33, Sect. 59: “Effect of Military Service on Salary, Seniority and Leave Allowances of Public Employees.”
“This is a benefit that is already being provided so the Select Board recommends that we accept the statute,” Manupelli said. The Finance Committee also recommended passage.
