By Bonnie Adams, Government Editor
Westborough – The town's water and sewer rates will be going up in fiscal year (FY) 2012, but not as much as expected – just yet. This news was relayed to the Board of Selectmen at its June 14 meeting by Town Manager Jim Malloy.
Malloy explained that town officials had initially anticipated a projected sewer hike increase of 25 percent to account for expenses related to expansions at the wastewater treatment plant the town shares with Shrewsbury and Hopkinton. But because Westborough will be paying only an interest payment in FY 2012, and not the full principal interest payment, sewer rates will only increase by 6 percent. In FY 2013, however, Malloy said, the higher rates will kick in.
“I think everyone knew it was going to go up,” he added.
Selectman Leigh Emery also commented on the rate change.
“It's the cost of us being able to flush our toilets,” she said. “The rates are what they are. The cost of the usage is divided by the users.”
In other business, the selectmen approved a request to approve a Vintner's Agricultural Event/Farmers” Market Special Liquor License Application to Shrewsbury resident Frank Zoll, the proprietor of Zoll Brothers Private Cellars LCC. This permit will allow Zoll to sell his homemade wines at the Westborough Farmers” Market this summer. The market, which will be held at the Evangelical Congregational Church, will run on Thursdays this summer starting June 23 and going through Thursday, Sept. 29.
Zoll is the first recipient of this special type of permit in Westborough. The selectmen had approved this classification at its April 26 meeting at the urging of Selectman Timothy Dodd.
Zoll's permit was approved by all members of the board except Dodd, who abstained, and Chair Lydia Goldblatt, who had also opposed the initial measure April 26.
“I's not voting for this because I think it puts the people in our town at a disadvantage,” she told Zoll. Westborough's farmers, in particular, would be impacted by Zoll being allowed to sell his wine, she added.
The selectmen also announced they will be holding a public hearing during their Tuesday, June 28 meeting to discuss amending bylaws regarding traffic rules and regulations in the town. This hearing is in response to a request from the Whittier Rehabilitation Center to place a “No Parking Zone” sign on Flanders Road. The center, Police Chief Alan Gordon told the board, had complained that large trailer trucks were parking overnight in front of the facility. As a result, much of the grass had been destroyed. The parked trucks also made it difficult for other traffic to see around them, he said.
There were other places where the trucks may park, he noted, adding, “They'sl just move around to another business until they are kicked out of there.”
Currently the fee for traffic violations regarding parking is only $10, a cost that Selectman George Thompson called “antiquated” and should also be reviewed.
Malloy also briefed the board on another change regarding heavy tractor trucks. The town of Southborough, he said, was requesting that Westborough join them in placing a “Heavy Commercial Vehicle Exclusion” sign on Gilmore Road, which connects the two towns. This road is particularly narrow and curvy, Malloy said, and thus, not very conducive to large truck traffic. Southborough Department of Public Works Director Karen Galligan will be present at the board's Tuesday, June 28 meeting to discuss the issue in further detail, Malloy said.
And in one last piece of news related to the town's streets, Westborough's Department of Public Works Manager John Walden updated the board on the state of the ongoing South Street project. He was hopeful, he said, that the repaving and replacement of the granite curbing would be done by Thursday, July 14, as long as the weather cooperated.