Lanesborough's Water Line Project Trending On Budget
 The Selectmen were told that the project is still under budget. |
In the last two town meetings, voters approved spending for the water line: $199,000 in 2014 and $150,000 in 2015. The town's Highway Department has teamed up with the Water Department to do the construction in-house and started in the spring.
"It's going along good now. We got another 200 ft. in today," said Highway Superintendent William Decelles on Monday.
The project started at the intersection of Balance Rock Road and has now moved past the intersection of Minor Road as workers make their way up toward Silver Street. Decelles says the project is trending under budget.
"Budgetwise we are alright," he said. "We're still under the original amount."
However, Decelles says the project could move even faster if the workers had a larger bulldozer. The superintendent said excavating and moving the pipeline is going faster than the backfill. He said if the town opts to rent a small bulldozer to help with the backfill, that would allow the crews laying the pipe to continue moving. Currently, if the first crew goes too fast, the pipeline bends.
Board of Selectmen Chairman John Goerlach suggested renting one on a weekly basis to see if that helps the project.
The water-line project is one of the larger ones the town has taken up. The decision to do it was to connect a few homes in that area after one was found with a contaminated well. The source of the contamination is suspected to be from the town's landfill, though town officials have denied responsibility.
Nonetheless, the state Department of Environmental Protection has been looking into the situation for years and requires the town to test water inside homes, at wells, and at a number of sites near the landfill. Those tests have grown both costly and unpredictable in that DEP has asked for additional testings mid-year. The water line installation is hoped to alleviate much of the testing and thus lowering the risks of unanticipated tests.
In other business, the board is going use the senior tax work-off program to get some extra help in the town clerk's office, despite concerns the hire does not reflect the intent of the program.
Town Administrator Paul Sieloff asked the board to approve bringing former Council on Aging Director Deb Decelles into the work-off program to help the town clerk with a project to link records with the assessor's office. Decelles would work about 75 hours on the project, which would translate to a $750 discount on her tax bill.
The tax work-off program is in place to help seniors work off some of their property taxes and Decelles fits the 60-year-old requirement. But, the Selectmen said she isn't retired and the program should instead be used for retirees.
"I'd rather have seniors do it because that's was the intent of the program," said Selectman Robert Ericson.
Sieloff, however, says there are no others on the list for the program. Current Council on Aging Director Lorna Gayle keeps a list of seniors wanting to be in the program and all have found work.
"We're just trying to fill some holes and this is one way to do it. We don't have anybody else on the list waiting for tax write-off. She qualifies agewise," Sieloff said.
The Selectmen questioned the use of the hours saying that it was only recently that the town approved shortening the town clerk's hours. Sieloff says he is trying to avoid paying benefits for current Town Clerk Ruth Kynsh.
"I do not want to add another benefit burden to us," Sieloff said, adding that the town pays out some $1.2 million annually for health insurance.
The administrator says he holds a "strict 18-hour rule" in that part-time workers are not to exceed that per week. When Kynsh needs to take weeklong training sessions, she doesn't get paid for extra hours but instead gets extra days off to help keep the annual average below 20 hours, he said.
But with the amount of work going through the clerk's office, it is difficult for her to keep with the day-to-day stuff. She hasn't even begun to go through the historical records that the town wanted her to organize.
Since the budget for the senior work-off program is already in place and there aren't any candidates, Sieloff said using Decelles would add no additional financial burden to the town.
"I'd like to see it go to retired seniors but we don't have anybody waiting," Goerlach concluded.
Also on Monday, the Board of Selectmen approved taking down the kennel at Town Hall. The kennel was previously used by the animal control officers but the town now has an agreement to keep dogs at the shelter and it is no longer needed.
Tags: drinking water, water line,
