Westborough to hold Special Town Meeting Nov. 7

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By Jennifer L. Grybowski, Contributing Writer

Westborough to hold Special Town Meeting Nov. 7

Westborough – Voters will consider a wide variety of monetary requests at the Special Town Meeting (STM) to be held Saturday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. at Westborough High School. 

Articles 1 through 5 are “housekeeping” articles, with 1 through 3 addressing certain budget adjustments, Article 4 allowing the selectmen to clean up old borrowing authorizations and Article 5 seeking to transfer funds received from the state to be used for road improvements.

Article 6 addresses capital improvement plan requests. A through G are requests from the DPW and include four vehicles, sewer generator and grinder replacement, at a total of $670,000. Most of these articles will be funded with transfers from water and sewer accounts. From Free Cash, the DPW is looking for a total of $205,000. DPW Director Chris Payant has made presentations to several boards/committees in recent weeks detailing the needs and plans of his department regarding these requests. H is a request from the fire department for $79,000 from Free Cash to purchase a new command vehicle. I is a request from the police department for $155,000 to purchase three police cruisers. J is a request from the school department for $70,000 to make parking lot and curbing repairs at the high school. 

Articles 7 and 8 pertain to the golf course; 7 seeks $46,000 to purchase a greens mower and 8 seeks to enter into a leasing agreement for golf carts.

Article 9 seeks to borrow nearly $2 million for town water system improvements. These improvements will be a part of a continuation of work to maintain and improve water infrastructure in town as directed by the town’s water system study, completed in January. The next phase of work will be done on Flanders Road and Sampson Drive. 

Article 10 asks the town to approve the creation of an affordable housing trust and Article 11 seeks to fund the trust with nearly $650,000, which was collected under a variance granted through the Del Webb Chauncy Lake project. Selectman Allen Edinberg has been making presentations to several town boards/committees in recent weeks regarding the trust, and the Affordable Housing Trust Working Group (AHTWG) launched an informational website to educate the community about their work. 

Article 12 grants a utility easement to Fales Elementary School. 

Article 13 asks voters to amend the bylaws to create a community development department and community development director to oversee the building, economic development, conservation and planning departments. This was a recommendation of the town’s recent staffing study and Article 14 asks to fund that director position at $5,500 with the plan that Building Inspector Fred Lonardo will be promoted to the position.

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