By Beth David, Editor
You just never know what Town Meeting will do. Fairhaven’s Special Town Meeting, held remotely on 10/20/20, got bogged down early on with an article that should have been an easy housekeeping type issue. Then, it a bit of a twist, an article to replace the high school football field with turf, to the tune of $1.4 million, would not pass for borrowing the money in these pandemic times, but instead tapped surplus revenue to fund the project.
The original article called for $1.2 million to be borrowed on a ten-year loan with a debt service of about $170,000 per year, with the remaining other $200,000 to be paid from the high school’s trust fund.
The article created a lot of discussion. The Finance Committee passed it in a rare, 6-4 vote, with the dissenting group writing a minority report. Speaking for the group, FinCom member Bernard “Bernie” Roderick, a former Fairhaven school superintendent whose name sits atop the high school library, said that the group was not against the project. They just wanted to wait until the next annual town meeting in the spring because of the uncertainty of the pandemic.
This came after town officials touted the strength of Fairhaven’s financial health, mostly pointed to the $11.2 million the town has in a variety of stabilization funds. Some officials pointed out, however, that some capital projects were pushed to next year.
Superintendent of schools Robert N. Baldwin called the turf project “extremely critical.”
He said the project was “vetted and approved” by a variety of boards and was rated second only to the senior center HVAC project.
Both Dr. Baldwin and Fairhaven High School principal Andrew Kulak said that the school’s academic instruction was top notch, but students were suffering because of the athletic field.
The field routinely gets too wet to use, causing the teams to miss practices or pay to use other fields, causing them to lose the advantage of a home field. Student athletes are also getting hurt due to holes and slipping from the old grass field; and the teams lose the advantage of a home field because they often have to use another field that they pay to rent.
“We can’t afford to wait another day in the life of our students,” said Dr. Baldwin, after noting that the town had the money.
He also noted that during the pandemic was the perfect time to undergo the project because athletes are not using the field anyway.
It was his motion to use surplus revenue instead of borrowing that passed.
Borrowing money requires a 2/3 vote from Town Meeting. Using surplus funds only requires a majority vote.
After much back and forth, some arguing for the borrowing, some arguing against the project altogether, the vote for the borrowing failed to meet the 2/3 threshold, 157 to 57. The motion passed, 1oo to 63, to use $1.2 million in surplus revenue and $200,000 from the trust fund.
“This project really is one of hope,” said Kevin Gallagher, a FinCom member, adding that the students of this year have been “knocked down extremely hard” in the last few months.
He said they persevered with their own inner strength and the project would lift them up.
Article 3 setting the salaries of town officers had a simple amendment to give the Town Clerk a raise from $63,011 to $66,961, and ended up in lots of discussion about the clerk, the Board of Health and the tree warden.
Town Administrator Mark Rees said that the clerk had been left off of the wage classification study because it is the only full time town hall position that is elected. The new amount would bring her salary closer to those in comparable towns.
Mr. Rees said they surveyed more than 20 communities with populations of 10,000–17,000 and found the average was $71,939.
TM member Susan Spooner asked if the town could just add the $39 to round it up to $67,000, “and not jerk her around?”
The article passed with the original amount.
TM member Beth Luey asked to amend the article to set the compensation for Board of Health members at $3, noting that the board has caused a “great deal” of litigation recently costing the town a “fortune in legal fees,” and the town is now in the red zone for COVID cases.
“There should be consequences for their behavior. In July the board members were approved for $5,273 to be split among the three of them.
Diane Hahn agreed, saying the BOH should not be getting any more compensation. She also noted that BOH member Michael Ristuccia said he would not take the money. Mr. Rees said if he did, indeed, not take the salary, it would go back into the general fund.
Ms. Luey’s motion required a 2/3 vote, but did not carry, although it did have a majority at 80 in favor and 51 against.
Donald Collasius, like Don Quixote against the windmill, rose again to take another opportunity to deprive the tree warden of his compensation of $7,321/year. He tried to make the compensation contingent upon proof that the tree warden is doing his job.
“Compensation is typically based on job performance,” said Mr. Collasius.
He said that the tree warden is waging a campaign of “no one tells me what to do in my town.”
Mr. Collasius has been trying to get a very large tree removed that he believes will soon come down on his house.
“I’ve been chasing this monkey business for two years now,” said Mr. Collasius.
That motion, to fix compensation for the tree warden at $0, also required a 2/3 vote and did not reach the threshold ended in a near tie at 71 in favor, to 68 against.
Article 4, the $52 million operating budget, was the main event, and passed 158 to 5, with a couple of questions and no real discussion.
Due to the pandemic and the fiscal uncertainty it caused along with the logistics of running a remote town meeting for the first time, the Selectboard passed a 1/12 budget in June to cover July, and Town Meeting passed a 1/3 budget in July to carry the town through the end of October. The 10/20 meeting finished off fiscal year 2021, passing the budget through 5/31/21.
The FinCom report noted that the town now has a clearer picture of 2021 revenues, but still has a shortfall of $877,572. The amount has been covered through $387,399 in cuts in the general fund operating budget and $490,173 from free cash/surplus revenues. The cuts include a number of canceled seminars, conferences and trainings, and postponement of such things as office furniture and office supplies. There are no layoffs and the budget does include Cost of Living increases.
TM members also passed spending for the various enterprise funds: sewer, water, cable TV. Enterprise funds are comprised of fees from specific sources, such as sewer rates for the sewer fund. The money can only used for related expenses.
The FY21 capital plan also passed, albeit with some discussion about replacing a 15-year-old fire department staff vehicle for $52,000. The article (#9) also included the high school turf project. The two items were discussed separately. In the end, the vehicle was approved.
Dredging on West Island also got a boost with the passage of Article 10, providing $13,217.20 from the waterway user fund for an engineering study to create an accurate estimate of the total costs of dredging to improve navigation.
Harbormaster Timothy Cox said he could not even give a ballpark figure because it depends on how much material is removed. The study will cost $39,900 and the town has some of the funds.
Mr. Cox said after the study is done the town can apply for grants to get the dredging done. The project could be done in phases, he said, if necessary. The article passed 127 to 12.
Article 11 also garnered some discussion, and had a healthy “no” vote with 96 in favor and 41 against.
The article authorized the Selectboard to swap property at Union Wharf. The town will swap a 2,565 square foot piece of property in the parking lot on Union Street for a 30×30 (900 square feet) piece of property that is smack dab in the middle of plans the town has for Union Wharf. The 900 sf parcel was acquired at a foreclosure auction and the owner’s asking price is $80,000.
TM member Jeffrey Lucas opposed the swap, saying it was better for the town to buy the 900 sf parcel outright and keep the 2,565 sf parcel.
The larger parcel is alongside the building next to it and would increase that building’s lot size. Mr. Rees said the town would not lose any parking by simply reconfiguring the parking lot the town owns.
“I can’t see how the value of that property can be equal [to the other one],” said Mr. Lucas. “I’m sure that strip is very valuable to them, but not more than the 30×30 one is to us.”
Mr. Rees said that TM should consider the “strategic importance” of the 900 sf parcel.
In a follow-up interview, Mr. Rees said that water rights are attached to the 900 sf parcel. The piece is in the way of plans that the town has for building over the water on pilings. The piece goes back to the MacLean’s Seafood portion of the old building. The fish market was in the middle of the building that sat on pilings.
Town Meeting also approved road work, albeit with a lot of confusion due to typographical errors in the warrant. The original warrant named four streets, but the motion named different streets. Only Chase Road was approved.
Article 12, which would have used funds from the Capital Stabilization fund to acquire 172 Bridge Street (the old drive-in) for a public safety facility, was passed over at the request of the Selectboard. The same article also would have authorized disposal of a former public landing and boat ramp at the west end of Bridge Street, that the Seaport Inn leases from the town. The town is still negotiating terms, Mr. Rees said in a phone interview.
Town Meeting was set to reconvene on Wednesday to vote on the remaining articles, 14 through 35, in the warrant.
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