Town of Princeton, Mass. – Dec. 14, 2017 – 2:30 PM
Selectboard – Meeting – Town Hall Annex
Present: Chair Jon Fudeman, Richard Bisk, Edith Morgan w/ TA Nina Nazarian.
Consider content for mailing insert – Board members have an opportunity to get a message out to every household in town with a census form the town clerk is mailing next week. They began a discussion of their “message” at the Dec. 11 Selectboard meeting but didn’t come up with a quick solution so decided on using this separate meeting to go over options and craft a cohesive message. They agreed that residents should be aware of some major, capital expenditures pending for proposed upgrades to facilities and roads. An issue arose over how to present the message without conveying panic. Jon F. said the main objective of this message is that the town has substantial needs that cost money and people don’t like surprises. Nina pointed out that people should be offered a way to get
involved—maybe through the Facilities Steering Committee.
Jon F. provided a draft and all weighed in, with Richy B. suggesting that financial needs should be listed separately. With field appraisals done this year, many tax bills will go up and some will decrease; essentially there will be a median spike in tax bills of about eight percent.
After Richy made some suggestions for revising Jon’s draft, the SB agreed on the following message for the insert:
A message from the Selectboard:
The Selectboard has been discussing for some time necessary infrastructure projects. All the projects under discussion play an important part in the town services that residents expect. All require either replacement, upgrading or major repairs and all will require significant monetary outlays. There are three types of projects:
- Facilities: This includes the Princeton Center, Bagg Hall (town hall), a modern public safety building for police and fire, and a community center.
- Roads: This includes the completion of the Route 140 project in East Princeton, the bridge near Krashes Field and two culverts that are essential to the continued use of major roads.
- Fire Protection: This includes the need to replace old and inadequate fire trucks, the repair of several fire ponds and the creation of additional water supply possibly using Echo Lake and/or large above-ground water tanks.
The Selectboard is committed to addressing these needs in a fiscally responsible way. We expect that the work of the Facilities Steering Committee (also described in the insert) will lead to a proposal at Town Meeting in May.
Further Discussion
Edith stated that a plan was needed, to start setting aside money and raising additional funds. She noted that debt service for the Four Corners and the Fieldstone Farm land acquisitions was ending in the next year or two, and those payments could be re-routed into a capital project account or fund.
Group discussed design/engineering costs which precede actual construction costs, and Jon warned that funding should cover the whole package, otherwise a plan is created with no funding to build it out.
Noting the revenue generated by an uptick in real estate, they agreed to include, in their message, building permit numbers from the past year.
Adjourn 3:15 PM Selectboard voted all in favor to adjourn. They planned to meet at Town Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 20 to sign ABCC permits.
Respectfully submitted, Marie Auger, admin. assist.
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