Dalton Approves Spending For Town Hall, Walker Brook
DALTON, Mass. — Two dozen voters breezed through approval of seven warrant articles at a 20-minute special town meeting on Monday.
A total of 24 residents, including elected officials, turned out to Nessacus Regional Middle School to pass the relatively minor warrant articles that necessitated the meeting.
Appropriations were approved for paving and assorted road work, to be reimbursed by state Chapter 90 funding, as well as the town's share ($50,000) of a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for engineering aimed to improve flood mitigation at Walker Brook.
The sole questions from the public came from Jean Gingras, who wanted to know the balance of the Capital and Sewer stabilization funds (from which they voted to transfer $262,476, and $30,000). Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn said those funds currently stand at $753,800 (sewer) and $1,216,280 (capital).
"That's the reason we chose to draw our capital improvements from the stabilization account," said Drosehn. "It became rather large, so we decided to take from that this year. It won't happen every year, but it helps keep the tax rate down a bit."
The largest item of the night was appropriated for the "design, innovation, and construction" at the Town Hall, $500,000 including all asbestos abatement, and temporary relocation of offices. Town Manager Thomas Hutchinson told attendees they hope to get the work done for less, but asked for a higher amount due to the uncertainties of bidding, and any unexpected issues.
Voters present also signed off on a plan to appropriate $25,000 for a consultant to overhaul the town's job descriptions, classifications, and compensation plan.
Hutchinson noted that the last time this was done was in 2001. The 20-year-old classifications and pay scales are outdated, he said, some of them falling below the updated 2022 state minimum wage amount.
"Dalton is far from competitive in its pay," Hutchinson said. "If Dalton wishes to attract and retain high quality staff, we'll need to pay reasonable wages for the work required."
Finally, the town amended appropriations made at its regular town meeting last month, adding an additional $28,000 for the transfer station, to cover the cost of updating its recycling program to regulations recently revised by the Board of Health.
Tags: special town meeting,
