By Richard Price
Grafton News Editor –
The final touches were made Tuesday night by Selectmen in preparation of the May 9 Town Meeting. There will be 60 Articles on two warrants to be voted on. Highlights include:
Articles 7 and 8, submitted by the town administrator, will seek voter approval of two fire trucks. The Grafton Fire Chief said they need to be replaced because existing trucks are long past their usefulness.
Chief Michael Gauthier told Selectmen Tuesday night that an existing water tanker truck, used where fires are burning but hydrants are not available, was a military style vehicle built in 1975, acquired by Federal access properties in 1993, and retrofitted by firefighters without taxpayer money. But Gauthier said it was never designed to be a fire truck. He said the existing truck, with its old equipment, needs about 25 minutes to fill its tanks and return to the fire. A new vacuum tanker, which he said is designed just for fire departments, can be manned by one person and pump 3,000 gallons of water out of a pond and into its tank in less than three minutes, so the water can be used to fight a blaze significantly faster. “We have a district from Pigeon Hill to the Upton Line that is out of the water district,” Gauthier told Selectmen. “So we would have to truck the water in.” But, town officials said, it will cost taxpayers approximately $408,000.
Article 8 will ask for $367,200 for an all-wheel driver pumper apparatus that the fire chief said is also in need of replacement. In both Articles, voters will be asked to approve a debt exclusion to fund it.
In Article 9, the Department of Public Works will present a proposal for a new $13.895 million DPW barn to be located at 48 Westboro Road. In past meetings, architectural firm Weston and Sampson laid out the site plan that includes a 35,000 square foot building, salt shed and truck wash to comply with state environmental requirements. But Selectman Bruce Spinney said on Tuesday that he was not confident the Article will pass because there are many unanswered questions about the project. “What will it cost to run the building over its lifespan?” he asked including the cost of replacing an aging truck fleet. Assistant Town Administrator Doug Willardson said, “The lifespan of a new building would be 50 years with 33 years of operational savings to pay that back and about 17 years we could say was free.”
In Article 23, the Lake Quinsigamond Commission is seeking $35,000 to manage an escalating invasive weed growth in local waterways. The money would also be used to educate the residents on safe use of Lake Quinsigamond, Flint, Flagg and Hovey Ponds as well as the Quinsigamond River.
In Article 34, the Community Preservation Committee will seek $54,820 for Silver Lake Beach improvements. In Article 35 they are seeking $18,000 to fund an open space and recreation plan. In Article 36, they will ask voters to appropriate $221,700 from the Community Preservation Historic Preservation Reserves Fund and Community Preservation Undesignated Fund account to preserve the Stone Arch Bridge in North Grafton. In Article 37, the CPC will ask for $12,500 from the Community Preservation Undesignated Fund account for a Fisherville Mill Riverwalk Feasibility Study, which would be located in South Grafton.
In Article 38, the Office of the Town Administrator will ask voters to change the senior tax bill work off program which, under state law, would allow the maximum reduction of the real property tax bill for senior work-off abatements to be based on 125 volunteer service hours in a given tax year rather than $1,000.
In Article 50, the Town Clerk is seeking voters to accept a state law that allows residents age 70 and older to obtain a dog license without a fee. In Article 51, Selectmen are seeking a multi-page amendment to the town by-laws on animal control regulation. It will comport with recent changes in state law, Chapter 193, “An Act Further Regulating Animal Control,” which will include but not be limited to “changes concerning dog licensing, kennel licensing and operation, animal vaccination, dangerous and nuisance dogs, as well as animal control, restraint, and treatment.”
The May Town Meeting will be held Monday, May 9 at 7 p.m. in the Grafton High School auditorium, 24 Providence Road.
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