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Date: 10/27/2022
LONGMEADOW – Outgoing state Sen. Eric Lesser, joined by state Rep. Brian Ashe, came before the Longmeadow Select Board on Oct. 17 to thank the town for putting its trust in him as a legislator and offer some updates.
Lesser, a Longmeadow native and current resident, noted that he and Select Board Clerk Dan Zwirko were juniors in high school and worked together on a Proposition 2½ override for school funding.
“Some things never change,” he quipped. Lesser called Ashe his “partner” and “mentor,” while Ashe told Lesser, who worked on Ashe’s first political campaign for Select Board, “It’s been a real pleasure watching you blossom.”
Select Board Chair Josh Levine thanked Lesser for fighting for Western Massachusetts, while Zwirko said the next state senator would have “big shoes to fill.”
Moving on to business matters, Lesser addressed the current stage of the east-west rail project. He said the state had bonded for $270 million for “down payments” of the project preparations. He said he had “every reason to expect” that, if Democratic governor candidate Maura Healey wins, her administration will commit those funds to the transportation infrastructure.
Lesser also told the board that a commission had been created to recommend a rail authority. “We don’t want the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) doing it. There’s an option to have Amtrak do it. There’s an option to have an entirely new authority do it,” or perhaps a hybrid of those possibilities, he said.
“We’re in a better position than ever to make something like that happen,” Ashe added.
On the topic of crumbling foundations, Lesser said Ashe and state Rep. Anne Gobi had put together a bill to require quarries test for pyrrhotite, a mineral that compromises the strength of set concrete over decades, leading to building collapse. Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed the bill earlier this year. Lesser said, “They had different ideas for how it was going to work.”
Ashe assured the board, “We’re going to make sure we keep pushing this,” and said Gobi would be refiling the legislation in January.
Eversource gas infrastructure
Eversource Engineer Richard Salvarezza brought plans for two regulator station telemetry cabinets to the Select Board. He explained that the cabinets would contain equipment to monitor regulators that lower the pressure of natural gas from the mains at the street to a pressure that can be used in a building. If there is an issue with the regulator, Eversource will receive an alarm. He said the telemetry cabinets are designed to avoid the explosions that occurred in the Merrimack Valley in 2018 due to over-pressurized gas mains.
The aluminum cabinets, measuring 6 feet tall, would be located on Forest Glen Road near an existing regulator station and at the corner of Shaker Road and Maple Street. Underground lines would have to be run for each one. The cabinets are green with a yellow safety pole at each corner to ensure no vehicles hit them.
Select Board Vice Chair Mark Gold commented that the yellow poles are “ugly” in a residential neighborhood and asked if they could be painted green so they would not be “aesthetically annoying.” Salvarezza told him that the main purpose was visibility, but that there were options for the plastic pole covers. Likewise, Select Board member Thomas Lachiusa asked if shrubbery can be planted to obscure the cabinet. Salvarezza told him that it could be done on three sides, leaving one side open for access.
Levine commented that they were “not the most aesthetically pleasing,” but were needed “in the name of safety.”
Gold asked about the training of those monitoring the system, whether they had been briefed on the causes of the Merrimack Valley explosions and who was in charge and on the ground at the sites.
Salvarezza said Eversource workers and their subcontractors are federally required to be qualified and trained every 12 to 36 months. While the company did not require a debrief of the Merrimack Valley incident, Salvarezza said they are constantly updated on best practices. Subcontractors would perform the installation, while an Eversource crew would activate the system and bring it online.
There are five regulator stations approved in Longmeadow, although there are plans for 10 in total with a cabinet serving each one.
Levine asked Salvarezza to notify the abutters, which had not yet been done. With that caveat, the work was approved.
Grant funding
Town Manager Lyn Simmons shared that Deputy Town Manager Corrin Meise-Munns and Town Engineer Tim Keane had applied for and been awarded a hazard mitigation grant from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The $30,000 hazard mitigation project will be paid for with $22,000 from the grant and $8,000 in in-kind donations, specifically staffing hours.
Two Community Compact grants were also received by the town, one for a wage and classification study and another for an IT management review.
Other topics
Levine said the town has received reports of Waste Management not finishing waste collection routes on Oct. 10. He said part of the issue was miscommunication regarding the holiday pick-up schedule. Aside from that, he said the town needed to “put some more pressure” on the company to adhere to its schedule for residential collection.
A public hearing regarding the rebuilding of the Maple Center Shopping Plaza will take place on Nov. 2. Simmons said Capital Studio Architects, the design firm hired by property owners Pun Longmeadow Realty, has submitted paperwork to the Planning Board to begin the rebuilding process. Simmons said the building would occupy the same footprint, while the parking lot would be expanded slightly, requiring extra steps and regulations.
The board reviewed the town’s traffic rules and orders, which dated back to the 1930s and had not been updated since the 1980s. Simmons told the board that the rules had not been digitized and only existed in a three-ring binder at the Police Department. She said the goal was to scan the documents and create a searchable document. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said.
Gold said it was “very out of date,” while Lachiusa commented on the fact that it still included the term “carriages.”
Levine asked if any other laws were similarly in need of updating. She responded, “I hope not.”