City Council vote ignites dissent
By Kate Daly Contributing Writer

Marlborough - A vote to reaffirm earlier votes to take land by eminent domain and pay for it bothered some City Council members at their Feb. 11 meeting.

"It troubles me that this is before us again," said Ward 3 City Councilor Scott Schafer, council vice president. "When I'm told something has to be voted on immediately, I assume that it's true."

The council voted Dec. 17, 2007, to take by eminent domain land adjacent to Robin Hill Street to allow for building a new bridge and extending the city's water line. The 2,577 square feet of land is owned by Hillside School. Because there were no council meetings before the January deadline, the council members were told they had to vote on the taking in order to qualify for state funding.

At-Large Councilor Patricia Pope also objected to the confirmation vote.

"Here we are a month later voting on it again," she said.

The councilors asked Assistant City Solicitor Cynthia Panagore Griffin to explain why they had to reconfirm the taking and the August 2007 vote appropriating the $9,000 that would go to Hillside School for the land.

"Part of our intention here was to give the City Council some information," Panagore Griffin said. "It's really a matter of bookkeeping more than anything else."

At the time of the December 2007 vote, she said, the council expressed concern about where the money for the eminent domain taking would come from. Since the vote to appropriate the money from the Robin Hill water line account took place months earlier, the legal department determined that the council should confirm both actions at one meeting, she explained.

"It's a two-legged stool," she said.

Schafer asked what would happen if the council voted down the confirmation.

"We would likely lose the opportunity for [state] funding," Department of Public Works Commissioner Ronald LaFreniere said.

The state will pay for the $4 million project, if all the requirements, including the taking of land, are met. If the city does not meet those requirements, the money could be lost, with no guarantee the project would be funded again.

"I think we're all in agreement that this project needs to be done," Pope said, noting that she was expressing frustration at having to vote on something a second time. "I wouldn't want to jeopardize the funding and go to the bottom of the list."

Ward 6 Councilor Edward Clancy agreed.

"One thing I don't want to see is Robin Hill Road become a cul-de-sac because we have to condemn the bridge," he said. "I think if we're on the list [of state-funded projects], let's use the money."

Ward 1 Councilor Joseph F. Delano Jr., who joined the council in January, asked if it were possible to continue to negotiate with Hillside School. LaFreniere said the state needed assurances of the right of way in January, leaving no more time for negotiation.

The council voted in favor of confirming the earlier votes.

Council President Arthur Vigeant voted against confirming the taking via eminent domain and the appropriation to pay Hillside School. After the meeting, he said he had voted the same way previously.

"It's one of those things that benefit all of us," he said. "I think everyone has to do their part in pitching in, and I don't think a small piece of land is a lot to ask."

Collector re-appointed

In other business, the council voted to re-appoint Deborah Puleo to a one-year term as city collector. In an earlier Personnel Committee meeting, Puleo reported that since Feb. 1, 2007, her office had collected $982,827 in delinquent taxes.