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SPENCER – When Town Meeting convenes on May 7, members will consider several capital requests totaling $662,621 in equipment and improvements.
Chris Woodbury, chair of the Capital Improvement Planning Committee (CIPC), outlined that board’s recommendations during the April 13 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
Woodbury said the CIPC heard presentations from all departments, with 28 total requests amounting to $3,818,932. Of that amount, general fund requests totaled to $2,807,801.
From free cash, the recommended capital requests are: radio replacement for the fire department ($60,000); radio replacement for the emergency medical services division ($67,000); ballistic vests and helmets for the EMS ($14,931); a salt brine maker for the highway department ($31,944); a police drone ($20,735); old cemetery improvements/tree work for safety ($30,000); a police cruiser ($66,431); and Whip City Fiber ($27,879).
Larger recommended capital requests from free cash include the second half of payment for a wheeled excavator ($100,000); Meadow Road mandated battery site cleanup ($243,700); and the Siemens energy project lease payment ($338,319).
Other requests would be funded through the sewer and water retained earnings accounts.
Those items include sewer collection system rehabilitation ($300,000); a sewer plant clarifier ($325,000); closeout of the wastewater treatment plant improvement program ($155,600); and a water filtration system pilot project ($150,000).
Also on the warrant are articles where the source of funds is from one account transferring to another. Items in this category are a new police cruiser ($75,431); and fire roof replacement ($150,000) and a transfer to the capital efficiency plan ($60,531).
Selectmen Vice Chair Jonathan Viner asked about funds for the grandstand roof project that were requested by Parks and Recreation but not recommended.
Town Administrator Jeff Bridges responded that there are existing funds to get through pre-construction work during the summer. “We’ll see where that leaves us in the fall,” he said, alluding to possibly asking for money at that time.
Bridges said the request for library building envelope improvements was also not recommended by CIPC at this time, but there is sufficient money to have the architect design the next phase of the project improvements.
“Neither of these projects is stalled as a result of these decisions,” Bridges said. “There’s actually enough (money) to keep them going.”
The administrator estimated there would be $130,000 to $140,000 left in free cash if the capital plan is approved.
He thanked the CIPC for its work. “We did site visits and had a lot of good conversations this year in a very constrained budget.”
