Testy Town Meeting Backs Capital Expenses

Holliston may have entered Monday's Special Fall Town Meeting in better financial shape than forecast earlier this year, but that didn't mean that spending proposals were greeted warmly. 

In an occasionally testy meeting, voters  approved a slate of capital expenditures, but only afte more than an hour of sometimes pointed debate--including an attempt to block all $126,000 being sought for the school's capital requests.  

The school request was a pared-back version of what Superintendent Brad Jackson originally hoped to seek from Town Meeting to pave the way for one-to-one computing at Holliston High School. It included funds for a new handicapped accessible school bus and funds to replace teacher desktop computers with laptops. 

The capital budget article approved by voters also included $130,000 for a new plow and snowblower for the highway department and $90,000 for three new police cruisers requested by Police Chief John Moore, as well as $3,500 for library roof repairs. 

The meeting happened against a better-than-expected financial outlook, with local receipts and state local aid both coming in higher than projected in May and more than $200,000 saved by refinancing long-term bonds. In all, more than $1 million was allocated by voters to free cash and reserves reached the targeted 5 percent level for the first time since 2002, noted Finance Committee Chairman Kenneth Szajda.  

Still, voters were on edge about finances, with several commenters raising the notion of government transparency. In fact, the first voter to speak at the meeting, J. Michael Norton, asked for a detailed accounting of some $7,000 in past-year bills that town meeting approved. 

"This meeting seems to be very heated," Selectman Jay Leary said later in the meeting, as debate wore on about capital purchases. "The purpose of this meeting isn't to be a complaint session, it's to conduct town business. It seems like we're going down the path where are starting to point fingers, and that's not what we want." 

School Committee member Tom Jones also noted that transparency "goes both ways," and urged voters to inform themselves about issues before Town Meeting. 

Still, despite the rhetoric, voters in the end backed most spending articles , including more than $440,000 in funding, mainly from water department receipts, to enable well number 7 to be brought on line.  

That well has been 20 years in the making, much of it spent earning permission from the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the property, to draw the water, said Water Commissioner Dennis Ferrera. He said the well is needed to supply the town's future water needs.  

"We are at the limit," Ferrera said. "Without well 7 we won't be able to supply the town and we'll face further and further water bans. We need this well in order to expand." 

Another $25,000 was allocated to fund an assessment of exisitng water pipes. 

"This is to assess where we are," Ferrera said. "We have an aging infrastructure. We have over 100 miles of cement asbestos pipe in the ground. RIght now it's acting like a giant soaker hose. We pump a million gallons and lose 100,000 gallons a day and can't say where it's going." 

The study will use infrared and ground-penetrating radar to determine pipe condition From there, Ferrera said, the department will bring forward a plan to replace pipe as needed.  

Voters also : 

- Approved $12,500 for the removal of hazardous trees on town-owned property, mainly along town roads. 

- Voted to transfer control of a small parcel of land off shaw farm road to the control of the Conservation Commission. Issues raised included whether the land could be used to build affordable housing. 

- Passed over an article that would have adopted the provisions of the newly approved state law to enable the creation of an outside trust fund for post-employment benefits liabilities. 

- Accepted Springdale Circle and Indian Ridge Road South as town roads.