DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee approved various interdepartmental transfers during its meeting last Wednesday. 

 

It approved a transfer of $4,000 from the reserve fund to the Landfill Closure Monitoring account. 

 

The original quote for the well repair did not include the cost of prevailing wages that the town is required to pay. 

 

The engineer believed that the scope of the project did not require prevailing wage but after consulting town counsel, confirmed that it applies for well construction. 

 

"They had supplied us with a quote in good faith and that was fine with me. And then this prevailing wage issue came up so this is all for that. And that was between them and their contractor," Town Manager Tom Hutcheson said.

 

The state does not require bidding for engineering but the well repair requires drilling, which is vertical construction not engineering, Chair William Drosehn said.

 

"I would say I'd almost kind of fault us, too, a little bit in that, well, it's an understanding thinking that what they're doing is they're exploring, if you're drilling to explore, that's a little different story, but we're drilling to replace wells," Drosehn said. 

 

Some committee members expressed that since this was the mistake on the engineers part it should not be the town's responsibility. 

 

"Engineering companies who do engineering work, who know what goes out for construction bid. Any contractor who deals with state work know that it goes prevailing wage," committee member Karen Schmidt said. 

 

Hutcheson said he will take that as good advice for the future. 

 

They also approved a transfer from the reserve fund in the amount of $400 to the Miscellaneous Grants Forest Stewardship Plan. 

 

This amount will fund the remaining cost of creating a forestry plan for the 41.17-acre "The Pines" that a grant did not cover. 

 

The cost came to $2,800. The town was initially approved for a reimbursement of $1,377.21 but because it did not apply for a particular grant it will only be reimbursed is $977.21, or $400 short.

 

The committee approved a transfer of $1,607 from the Town Manager salaries account to Town Manager expenses account to cover the cost of a LexisNexis subscription in the amount of $2,659. 

 

The amount covers the cost of supplemental updates for the Massachusetts law books and $200 for a State and Territory Administrators meeting that Hutcheson is attending in June. 

 

Also approved was a transfer of $1,000 from the Group Health Insurance Expenses account to the Medicare Expenses account. The amount is needed to replenish the Medicare account. 

 

When Town Accountant Sandra Albano prepares the Medicare budget in February and March, there are a lot of unknowns including overtime, outside detail, and vacation payouts. These transactions have a direct effect on Medicare withholding.