Adams Mulls Hiring Firm for Property Revaluation; Gets Chapter 90 Bump
 The board heard an appeal to hire a professional firm to do the town's revaluation and discussed a strategic plan. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen were notified that the town will receive additional Chapter 90 funds and discussed hiring a firm to conduct property evaluations.
Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington read a letter from the state Wednesday night at a the board's workshop meeting that stated that Gov. Charlie Baker will release the remaining Chapter 90 highway money.
Baker had made a campaign promise to release $100 million in Chapter 90 held back by the last administration.
Instead of receiving $291,820, Adams will receive $437,729 in its Chapter 90 account.
"That is certainly very good news," Harrington said. "We have plenty of projects that we can use that money for."
Assessor Donna MacDonald went before the board and requested that it consider hiring an independent firm to conduct the town’s property re-evaluation instead of doing it in house.
She said it has become more difficult to conduct the evaluations because of a smaller staff.
"The last time, I had two full-time people in my office and one of the people were really willing because they had a lot of time on their hands and enjoyed it," MacDonald said. "I would not throw that on my board members without discussing it with them because they are only board members."
MacDonald said the state mandates that municipalities conduct the evaluations every nine to 10 years and Adams has not had one in nine years.
"You check for additions and upgrades," she said. "A lot can happen in nine years, and we have had a lot of changes in the building inspector department, too, so I can imagine there have been a few changes that we haven’t caught."
Assessor George Haddad said Adams building inspectors in the past did not enforce everything.
"I think in the past, a lot of things have been very lax with a lot of the building inspectors we have had," Haddad said. "I think what could be done now would be so thorough that we will pick up probably a lot of stuff that was done that was never recorded."
MacDonald said she anticipates the evaluation will cost the town between $75,000 and $100,000. She said it may take three years and the amount could be paid over that time.
She said having a firm conduct the evaluation would create a more "level playing field" and the town may regain some of this value after the properties are evaluated, although this is unforeseen.
Selectmen said they felt it would cost much more to hire a firm but supported the request.
"It will be done quicker, and it is not going to rely on volunteers, but staff taking this on," Harrington said. "Whether we recoup or not is unforeseen. Hopefully it will work out that way, but more importantly it will be fair."
Selectmen Joseph Nowak said having an outside firm do the survey will keep the town neutral.
"This way no one can come say we gave someone special treatment," Nowak said. "Plus it will help you [assessors] out certainly because no one will be coming down and knocking down your door."
Harrington said the board will make a decision at the next its next regular meeting.
New Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco discussed strategic planning with the selectmen and asked them what they would like the end product to be.
"Once you decide you want to go for a strategic plan, you have to know what you want to get out of it before you just go and run in," Mazzucco said.
He also stressed the importance of public involvement in the earliest stages of developing a strategic plan.
"You almost have to sell it to the public … before you start making the plan because people need to buy into it, and they need to know what's going on," he said. "We have to have that almost pre-public concept part of it down to actually work on what we want to do."
He said this will also allow the public to provide the town with what they would like to see in the plan.
Nowak agreed that public involvement should be critical in a strategic plan.
"Getting the public involved at an early stage of it is important because then there are no surprises at the end ... and it will be up to people to come if they are interested in it," Nowak said. "Some of the best ideas come from people you don’t think have the ideas."
Mazzucco said by doing this it ensures that there will be a stronger push to accomplish elements of the plan.
"Historically one of the problems with strategic plans … throughout the country is there is a lot of energy, they get done, sometimes a consultant comes in and helps, and they are great, but then they get put on a shelf and nobody looks at it for five to 10 years," he said. "Then you are back to square one."
Tags: assessors, Chapter 90, property values, revaluation,
