Adams Town Warrant Approved
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen on Wednesday approved the warrant for the annual town meeting in June.
Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco presented the complete warrant, which contains an article asking town meeting to allocate $130,000 to replace the C.T. Plunkett School boiler room roof.
The number was originally $100,000, but after consulting with roofers, the town administrator found that would not be enough.
"The cost could exceed the $100,000 threshold we had in there so we should be safe and appropriate enough money to cover the cost of the renovation and repairs," Mazzucco said. "It is somewhat of a large project and there could be some structural concerns that need to be looked at."
He said the town may not use the whole amount or at all if it decided against the repair. Remaining funds will go back into free cash or could be used to make other repairs to Plunkett.
With the possibility of closing an Adams-Cheshire Regional elementary school for budgetary reasons, Adams wants to get the building in better shape so there is a better chance Plunkett will be chosen to stay open.
"At the end of the day, we own Plunkett for now and forever and forever," Mazzucco said. "We are always going to be responsible for the condition of that building."
He added that another article would allocate $38,000 from free cash to pay down some bonds. If the town pays bonds off earlier every year it can save up to $100,000 by fiscal 2019.
The Jordon Street culvert may also need to be repaired in this time and it could cost near.y $500,000 and the town will need to borrow more.
"We are going to take our time with that project," Mazzucco said. "We have things stabilized now, and I have been looking into engineering options and we have to look at other funding options. Big picture my concern is that culvert will end up costing that much, and we will have to borrow for that. So this will give us the flexibility."
Also, the board amended the warrant and moved $1,500 from the Department of Public Works' temporary budget to the town administrator's temporary budget to hire a high school or college intern to work in Town Hall this summer.
"We always talk about helping the next generation, getting kids to stay here, and we should be part of that," Mazzucco said. "It is important to give kids the job training and it might encourage them to come back to Berkshire County."
Police Chief Richard Tarsa said the police station and the area around it is now a safe zone for online purchase transactions, such as Craigslist. He said the security cameras run 24 hours a day and it will be a safe place for residents to meet with a seller or purchaser to make a transaction.
"The beauty of it all is that it won't cost the town or the department anything," Tarsa said. "It is one more service we can provide."
He recommended that people call ahead of time if they want to use the safe zone.
Gregory Charon went before the board to ask if Dana Labbee Basketball can install lights on the Renfrew basketball court so the league can play later into the evening.
"With those extra lights maybe I can expand the program, a maybe add a men's league," he said. "We want to draw money in and put it back into the parks system ... it is a whole lot of kids and a whole lot of laughter."
He said all materials and labor will be donated or covered by the league. They will install two 25-foot polls with LED flood lights.
Tags: town meeting 2016, town warrant,
