By Bonnie Adams, Government Editor
Westborough – Voters will be asked to consider 26 articles at the Monday,? Oct. 15 Special Town Meeting (STM), ?including articles related to two of the town's municipal buildings.
Officials are requesting $56,500 for a new elevator and air conditioner repairs for the Forbes Municipal Building. Town Manager Jim Malloy told the Board of Selectmen at its Sept. 11 meeting that shortly after the current elevator in the building failed a safety inspection in early September it stopped working all together. It had been determined, he said, that the elevator needed to have new springs and a control board repaired, as well as a number of other repairs.
The problem, he noted, was that the elevator is so old; the manufacturer has not been able to assess what the price would be for the repairs. As a result, Brian Humes, an architect who has been working with the town's Municipal Building Committee, has recommended that the town purchase a new elevator instead. That estimate is approximately $36,500. Several air conditioner units in the building are also in need of repair, Malloy noted. The estimate for that work is $20,000.
Officials will also be requesting at the STM that voters approve a measure that would allow the town to petition the legislature for one additional all?alcoholic beverages license for the Bay State Commons complex.
Currently two restaurants, Ted's Montana Grill and Sachi, a soon- to -be opened Japanese steak house and sushi bar, have the only two available liquor licenses in the complex. There is another space that could accommodate a third restaurant but without a liquor license, the Common's owners have not been able to rent it, Malloy said. (Tavolino also has a liquor license but is not technically part of the complex.)
“There is interest but you can's put in an upscale restaurant without a liquor license,” Malloy added.
An article that would allow veterans to receive up to $1,000 in property tax credits in exchange for doing some form of work for the town is also on the warrant for consideration. The proposed program is similar in nature to the existing Senior Tax Work Off program. Selectman Tim Dodd has been instrumental in championing the establishment of a veterans program in Westborough.
“We would be one of the first communities in the commonwealth to have this type of program [if approved], “Dodd said at Sept. 11 BOS meeting.
Voters will also be asked to consider appropriating $11 million for a new Fire Station. For more on this story go to
The STM will start at 7 p.m. in the Westborough High School auditorium, 90 West Main St.
