NORTHBOROUGH – A sign and facade program is no longer moving forward.
After the Select Board voted 3-2 to allocate American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the program, the board voted to reconsider the vote on Oct. 16. The board denied funds for program by a 4-1 vote with Select Board Chair Mitch Cohen casting the lone vote in favor.
What was proposed
The program was first presented to the Select Board in September. Planning Director Laurie Connors requested $250,000 in ARPA funds for matching grant funds for sign projects and facade improvement.
At that time, a committee made up of Connors, Inspector of Buildings and Zoning Enforcement Officer Bob Frederico and Dario DiMare was proposed to award the grants.
The program was approved by Cohen and fellow members Julianne Hirsh and Kristen Wixted with Laura Ziton and Lisa Maselli voting against.
Hirsh made the motion to reconsider the vote. She said when the program was presented to the Select Board, one of the “important” facts was the committee. DiMare, who is an architect, “lent a lot of talent to this committee,” she said.
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“Unfortunately, he has since resigned. Quite honestly, his presence on that committee was pretty much the primary reason why I voted in favor of the whole program,” Hirsh said.
She continued, “I think losing Mr. DiMare is a very big factor in this. I think we should discuss [it] again.”
Hirsh added that there were “many” things she was concerned about in terms of the program, including the small number of committee members and a lack of financial assessment on the applicants.
Wixted said it wasn’t clear when she was voting that DiMare wasn’t going to be part of the committee.
“That definitely changed my mind because, like Julianne said, he’s brought a lot of gravitas to several committees in town, not just for working hard and all the other things that all the volunteers do, but he just has a certain level of expertise that is very handy because he has a lot of information at the tip of his tongue that the rest of us would have to look up,” she said.
Wixted said she believed she was voting for DiMare specifically, “not just any architect.”
After saying he was disappointed that DiMare decided not to be part of the program, Cohen reiterated his support for the program and said it could work with another architect.
Resident Scott Rogers said the board had a good program before them to do what they wanted to accomplish — improve downtown.
“I’m getting an impression that you’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater a bit in that you’re finding an element that went from a known to an unknown and looking to cancel the program or not move forward on the program at this time due to a low-risk unknown rather than a real showstopper,” Rogers said.
He said he hoped the board to find ways to program the APRA funds, conduct downtown revitalization and “support the programs that staff brings to you.”
Other ARPA requests
During this meeting, the Select Board did vote to allocate ARPA funds for two projects.
Chair of the Northborough Town Common Committee Amy Poretsky requested $19,292.96 to finish the Town Common tree illumination project and to install an irrigation system. Northborough Cable Access Director Dana Volke requested $33,865 to install hybrid AV technology into meeting rooms in Town Hall.
With the two approvals and the reconsideration of the sign and facade program, the town has approximately $2,462,000 unallocated. The town received $4.5 million in ARPA funds.
During the agenda item regarding the Town Common tree and irrigation project, resident Jason Perreault asked the board what the expectation and opportunity was for community members to submit requests for ARPA funds.
“Going back 16 months, we had a public input session, and roughly one year ago we had just a very brief one-line summary for each of the projects that had been submitted at that point,” said Perreault, who previously served on the Select Board. “To my knowledge, apart from a few of the particular projects that were on that list, there were many others that haven’t undergone any kind of evaluation or disposition. Now, we’re having other projects that weren’t on that list originally being brought forward for consideration.”
Cohen said the board never closed submissions for ARPA requests and had until end of the year in 2024 allocate funds. He added that he “certainly anticipate we’ll be reviewing those nearer than that.”
Hirsh said before the board spent “huge” amounts of the ARPA funds, she wanted the board to receive a building assessment report. That report, she said, “will reveal some potentially expensive items that could help with taxes and whatnot.”
