Board of Selectmen Meeting of September 21, 2016
Wednesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting was a grab-bag of fairly routine town business.
The meeting opened with the announcement that due to the still-severe and ongoing drought, the town’s water ban will be extended into the month of October. While September 30th has marked an end date to water bans in previous dry years, an exception has been made this year due to the extraordinary nature of drought in the region.
This week saw another round of capital requests, this time from the Library and the town’s IT department. Though there are multiple issues that will likely need to be addressed in the near future, the library chose to focus on the immediate need for a new heating system to replace their 30-year old boiler.
The boiler in question cost the town $5,400 in repairs last year and $4,100 in the previous year due to its habit of breaking down in the middle of winter. There have thus far been two bids to replace the boiler, one of which is a $49,000 bid from World Energy for an extremely high efficiency boiler. The other is a $28,000 bid from Martel Plumbing and Heating for a less efficient model.
Though the Selectmen all agreed that the heating system should definitely be replaced before winter, they resolved to shop around for other options in the hopes of getting a better deal on a high efficiency model through its participation in the state’s Green Communities program.
The IT department’s primary request was to update the Local Area Network (LAN) used by the Police Department, Fire Department, and Library, which is currently running on equipment from 2002. The cost of bringing the network up to speed will be approximately $5,800.
The department also requested the purchase or lease of a large-format printer and scanner for printing things such as 3’ x 2’ maps, plans, and schematics. Currently, any large scale printing is accomplished by stitching multiple 8.5” x 11” papers together.
In other news, it was announced that town consumers have saved a total of $265,000 in electricity this year when measured against basic rate, a gain which works out to roughly $9 per household per month.
The Flagg School, which has recently been stripped bare on the inside, is set to be demolished in the near future. There are currently two bids for the demolition, which will likely cost somewhere in the ballpark of $250,000.
It was then noted that Holliston has received a $3,400 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection under the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program (SMRP), which will be used to augment composting efforts within the town.
The Selectmen also approved the event permit for a Veteran’s Day procession that will run between Blair Square and the Town Hall at 10:30 on the morning of November 11th. In accordance with a newly established tradition regarding veterans events, the Selectmen waived the associated fee.
Lastly, the Selectmen announced that there will be an open meeting regarding the preservation of the 8 arch bridge at the Town Hall on September 26th at 7:00.