Adams-Cheshire Sets Override Informational Meetings
 The Selectmen plan to attend informational meetings on a proposed override to ensure townspeople get all their questions answered. |
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Selectmen and members of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee on Tuesday set dates and procedures to better inform the public of the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 override to fund the school budget.
School Committee Chairman Paul Butler said there will be meetings Thursday, July 23, and Monday, July 27, in the Cheshire Elementary School cafeteria. Both meetings will be at 6:30.
After the first override vote for $90,000 to fund the school failed, the School Committee asked the Selectmen to hold another vote because members felt the 18 percent turnout rate was not reflective of the town.
School Committee member Edmund St. John IV suggested having another meeting at the Council on Aging during one of their lunches.
School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz said the committee is looking into a way for residents to ask questions anonymously so those afraid to ask during a public meeting can find answers.
"We want to make sure we can get all of the questions answered," she said. "Some folks are comfortable standing up in front of an audience and asking questions and others clearly are leaving the room without asking their questions and having some, perhaps, misconceptions."
Selectman Paul Astorino suggested activating an automatic phone call.
Selectman Robert Ciskowski added that it is important that the town has a presence during the meetings and that they explain how the increase will affect the tax rate, not school officials.
"Some people will think everything the Selectmen say is not true and some people will think everything the School Committee says is not true," Ciskowski said. "Between us I think we can get some confidence out there."
School Committee member Ed St. John IV agreed and said the town should be really clear about how the $90,000 will affect the tax rate, which will be around 30 cents per $1,000 valuation.
Based on a median home value of $200,000, the override would cost the average homeowner about $60 more a year in property taxes.
"Yeah it adds on but I think people need to understand that taxes can raise," St. John said. "I think people think this is the only time taxes are added on to the tax rate ... taxes are allowed to go up."
Ciskowski said 67 percent of those who voted were age 51 and older and the town has to focus on getting more people out.
St. John agreed.
"Like any election, the numbers have to come out, whether it's an election like this or a presidential election," he said. "The most importing thing is that people come out and vote and have their voice heard."
The school district is certified to spend up to $1,550,399 each month of fiscal 2016 until the towns agree on a budget or Dec. 1. The board had been forwarded a letter by Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Kristen Gordon from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education certifying the amount.
Both towns will pay their calculated assessment monthly.
In other business, Board of Health Chairman Richard Salvi said he has been receiving complaints over the past five years about a property on Notch Road that has a substantial amount of debris collected on and near the property that is falling into the river.
He said he recently found a barrel and a bag of paper in the river.
"You can look past the horse trailer and the other stuff he has but now he just has piles of I just don't know what," Salvi said. "They are starting to fall in the river and flow down the river.
Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said this has been an ongoing issue with the individual, and in the past, the Department of Environmental Protection said the only thing that could be done was to arrest the property owner and it was something that no one wanted to pursue.
She suggested writing the property owner a letter from the Selectmen, the Board of Health, and the Police Department asking the individual to clean up the property because it poses health concerns to the town. She said if the homeowner does not comply, they will get the DEP involved again.
Town Administrator Mark Webber said he talked with solar array developer Kirt Mayland, who is developing an array on the Bushika gravel pit property, about a shed on the property he showed interest in giving to the town.
Webber said the Department of Public Works could use it for storage and Mayland seemed to agree to the idea.
"I don't know if he will have conditions but we will talk about that," Webber said. "I have the suspicion that all he wants would be to preserve the building by patching the roof."
The Selectmen denied a request by residents to put a sign restricting engine brakes on Route 116 because of the loud noises they make.
Engine brakes slow larger trucks down by using mechanisms within the engine to slow the vehicle down as opposed to using external braking mechanisms.
Public Works Director Peter LeFebvre said a lot of communities do this near the center of their communities but he did not advise it for 116.
"A lot of communities are stopping use in the center of towns only because they do vibrate and they have been known to break windows at times," he said. "But I would not restrict use on it on our steepest hill in town."
A resident of Sand Mill Road near where the bridge is closed, Elizabeth Ariazi, told the Selectmen that "sink holes" are forming near her home and it is "turning her home into an island."
LeFebvre said this has occurred there before with heavy rains and he will look into any issues with the culvert.
Tags: ACRSD, override,
