Police station study among Town Meeting articles

Southborough - Highlighting this year's Town Meeting warrant are articles that will ask residents to approve funds to study uses for the police station and to approve a variety of Community Preservation Committee projects, as well as whether or not the town should join the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA).

Southborough's Annual Town Meeting will begin Monday April 14 and will address more than 40 articles.

Police Chief William Webber is requesting that the town approve $98,000 for a study that will research the feasibility of renovating the existing police station or replacing it. This request was part of a debt exclusion package that was voted down at last year's Town Election.

As for joining the MWRTA, the town, as a matter of course, would first have to decide to leave the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) before it can consider joining the MWRTA.

The reason the MWRTA is a better fit, reason the proponents of the move, is that Southborough and Marlborough currently share some bus services and Marlborough recently joined the MWRTA.

Instead of having two Town Meeting warrant articles, and run the risk of not having an affiliation with either, should the town vote to leave the WRTA but not to join the MWRTA, Selectmen Bill Boland suggested combining the two moves into one warrant article.

The Board of Selectmen, taking Boland's suggestion, unanimously approved - at its Feb. 19 meeting - to combine the two moves into one article.

The Community Preservation Committee's warrant articles include a number of annual requests - the setting aside of money for aff ordable housing, historic preservation and open space - but also contain requests to fund several new projects, too, including the construction of Southborough Triangle Park and the creation of a Buff alo Soldier Museum at Nichols House.

Nichols House is located on land owned by the Metropolitan Water Resources Authority, therefore it would have to first be leased by the town before the assembling of the museum could begin. Supporters of the project are requesting $50,000 to begin the project, which they believe will cost about $3 million by the time it's completed.

The $50,000, as well as the other requested monies, come from Southborough's participation in the Community Preservation Act (CPA), in which funds raised through property taxes in the town are matched by the federal government. All CPA-funded projects need Town Meeting approval before the money can be allocated to a project.

Supporters for the Buffalo Soldier Museum told the Community Preservation Committee that the bulk of the money needed for the project will come from corporate and foundation grants.

The Board of Selectmen also announced at its Feb. 19 meeting that the town needs to fill a vacancy on the Conservation Commission. Any town resident interested in serving for the remainder of the term of the seat, until June 2009, should notify a board member or inquire about the vacancy at the Board of Selectmen's office.