By MAUREEN DOHERTY
LYNNFIELD — A capital budget request for town-wide needs totaling $1,276,060 was endorsed unanimously by the Board of Selectmen Monday night.
The budget requests will be included in the annual Town Meeting warrant as Article 16 and put before the voters on Monday, April 27. The warrant was also closed by the selectmen Monday night, as required to meet posting deadlines, with 24 warrant articles. The Finance Committee will weigh in with its recommendations on the capital budget and operating budget at a joint public hearing tonight (March 25) with the selectmen at Town Hall at 7 p.m.
The final capital budget figure presented by Town Administrator Jim Boudreau was based on his review of requests submitted by the town’s department heads and ongoing discussions with them at selectmen’s meetings during the ongoing budget review process since January. He trimmed over $1.5M from the capital requests made by the department heads.
“I received $2,783,844 worth of capital requests. What you see in front of you is a recommendation for $1,276,060, which is double last year’s capital budget. We’re trying to knock off a lot of things that haven’t been addressed in a lot of years,” Boudreau said.
The largest expenses total $550,000 for three major School Department initiatives and $591,600 for dozens of DPW expenses town-wide.
School Dept. requests include the annual technology appropriation of $250,000 plus the requested security upgrades at the town’s four schools for $225,000, Boudreau said. This includes 118 cameras at points of egress as well as at the school fields. Police Chief Dave Breen pointed out that this monitoring system will provide web-based access that enables the police to also monitor the school cameras in addition to authorized school administrators.
The $75,000 cost to renovate the current preschool into central administration offices at the former South School is also budgeted. The former school is also home to the Senior Center.
Only one cruiser funded
Boudreau was able to come up with $90,960 to fund Police Department requests, but this figure includes only one of the two requested cruisers at $38,760.
Breen requested two replacement cruisers prior to the loss of an old SUV just last Friday. The accident happened at 7:33 a.m. on Walnut Street near MarketStreet Lynnfield. Breen explained that a police sergeant was traveling on Walnut Street when the accident occurred.
“A vehicle was coming off the ramp, went through a red light and struck the sergeant. Fortunately, we had an officer who was conducting traffic enforcement in the area witness the whole thing. He cited the operator,” Breen told the board. No one was injured, however, the 2007 Chevy Tahoe, which has more logged than 100,000 miles, now has a bent axle.
“We were going to try to squeeze one more year out of it and we felt as though we could do that and perhaps keep it as a back-up cruiser for the winter or details. Now we have to see what the extent of the damage is. It is a four-wheel drive vehicle so the damage to it is going to be significant,” Breen said.
Selectman Phil Crawford said if the undercarriage is bent the insurance company will likely total it.
Boudreau said, “We can see if we can move some money around or we can put this question on Town Meeting in October.” The chief pointed out that once a purchase order is placed for a cruiser it is typically a two- to three-month turnaround before the customized vehicle is ready for delivery.
The board directed Boudreau to continue looking for the funds needed to enable the second replacement cruiser initially requested in the Police Department’s capital budget to be purchased.
The loss of this vehicle leaves the department with just one spare vehicle, so if anything happens to the spare they may need to lease a vehicle or borrow one from another department, Breen told the Villager after the meeting.
The balance of the Police Department capital requests would fund portable radios ($27,500), four tasers ($6,600), rifles ($4,000), computers ($3,600), toughbooks for cruisers ($6,000) and an AV recorder ($4,500).
Fire Department
Capital requests for the Fire Department totaled $35,000 and includes $10,000 each for hose replacement, personnel protection equipment replacements and extrication tools plus $5,000 for radios/pagers.
DPW requests
DPW capital requests total $591,600 of the $1.27M. Under this budget, the Highway Department would get $100,000 to spend on drainage issues and $72,000 to purchase two trucks while Parks and Cemeteries would get $10,000 for mowers and the Tree Department would get $3,000 for saws.
Boudreau said $50,000 would be spent to facilitate site restoration of the town’s recycling center to comply with an Order of Conditions from the Conservation Commission. DPW Administration would receive $38,300, which includes $15,000 for federally mandated storm water compliance, Boudreau said. The balance of this request would cover software ($6,000), GIS ($7,000), gas system filler box ($6,500) and a copy machine lease ($3,800).
DPW capital requests for town buildings include $15,000 to update the key fob system for the doors at Town Hall; $30,000 for the library to cover a septic engineering study and to repair a boiler coil ($15,000 each); plus $70,000 to repair the South Fire Station roof and $7,500 to replace the station’s concrete pad.
Other DPW expenses include $10,000 for a new kitchen hood at the Senior Center as well as $50,000 to remove and replace a wall in the Senior Center to transform the additional space for the seniors that is being made possible by moving the preschool out of the building and the School Department’s Central Administration into the building, Boudreau said.
Additional DPW capital expenses include a chain lift ($13,000) and vehicle lift ($45,000) at the DPW complex; $25,000 for the energy management contract; $35,000 to install air conditioning in the LHS cafeteria; $2,800 for school bus equipment and $15,000 for Pillings Pond.
Library, Historical Commission
A request for $5,000 for library furniture and $3,500 for landmark signs requested by the Historical Commission are also included in the capital budget.
Selectman Tom Terranova moved to recommend the capital budget under Article 16 to the voters at April Town Meeting as presented by the Town Administrator. The board voted 3-0 to do so and also directed Boudreau to continue looking for ways to fund the second requested police cruiser.