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By Richard Price
Grafton News Editor –
Despite years of study and planning by committee members, a $13.8 million override to build a new DPW facility was defeated by voters at Monday night’s May Town Meeting.
Residents turned away from the project which required a two-thirds majority to pass. About 53 percent voted in favor in a 109-97 tally.
DPW Building Committee Chairman John Bechard told about 200 in attendance that the 35,430 square foot project, targeted to be built at 48 Old Westboro Road, was sorely needed because the existing facility on Upton Street was built over 60 years ago to meet the needs of a smaller town and that the existing building, at 8,400 square feet plus another 15,000 square feet outside for vehicles and storage, was too small to maintain their fleet of trucks. The new site, the committee argued, would have included a 21,000 square foot building to store their vehicles safely and away from the elements when not in use. They said it would also lengthen the trucks lifespan. The proposed site, located on the Hennessy II property near the Mass. Pike, was to be built in “an environmentally sensitive way,” they said. Committee Member Andrew Clarke said the design was a functional hall and not a pet project.
Former Rep. George Peterson, who is also a resident, said the town has lived with the existing shed for a long time and that the town has made significant investments in the Upton Street site. He also said a scaled down version on the existing land could last 20 years and might be a better route. He also said he was concerned about the additional debt taxpayers would have to shoulder if the Article passed.
Resident Bill Yeomans said if the Article passed, the existing site would be difficult to sell or reuse for something else because of the potential cleanup costs.
But resident Jim Gallagher defended the project, called the existing DPW site “a dump” that is unsafe and that the Department of Public Works is looked down as the “bottom rung of municipal government.”
There were 60 Articles listed in two warrants, most passed with little or no debate while others were passed over. In addition, a fiscal year 2017 $53.2 million budget also passed.
But Articles 7 and 8, which was to seek a $408,000 fire tanker and a $367,200 fire pumper through a debt exclusion, was passed over. Selectmen will seek a third party consultant to review the current equipment. Last week, The Grafton News reported that Selectmen were concerned the funding proposal would be too onerous for taxpayers, especially those living on a fixed income. Town Administrator Tim McInerney and Fire Chief Michael Gauthier said a lease agreement might be a future solution.
Article 20, the Civil Service Home Rule petition, also passed which will allow the Grafton police to petition state legislators to free them from what police officials said is a restrictive hiring process and replace it with a more flexible program to meet their needs for transfers, promotions and other human resource needs.
A series of Articles from the Community Preservation Committee also passed including $54,820 for Silver Lake Beach improvements; $221,700 from the Community Preservation Historic Preservation Reserves Fund and their undesignated fund account to preserve a stone arch bridge on Bridge Street; and $12,500 for a riverwalk feasibility study at Fisherville Mill in South Grafton.
Article 38 also passed, which allows the town to adopt a local option under state law for the maximum reduction of real property tax bill for senior work-off abatements to be based on 125 volunteer service hours in a given tax year rather than the $1,000.
Article 42, a zoning by-law amendment proposal that would require future medical marijuana establishments subject to review by the Planning Board, including a public hearing process, also passed.
Voters also passed Article 50 which accepted a provision of state law where residents age 70 and over will not be charged when applying for a dog license fee. Article 51, a lengthy bylaw amendment toward animal control regulations was passed over.
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