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Date: 3/24/2021
LONGMEADOW – The long-debated sewer metering issue was taken up again at the March 15 Longmeadow Select Board meeting. The situation is that sewer usage is estimated by the volume of water residents use, the idea being that what comes in must go out. However, residents who use water for irrigation pay for that water in their sewer bill, despite it not going down the drain.
Select Board members Mark Gold and Richard Foster have been collecting data on the issue and Gold presented a brief Powerpoint highlighting three potential solutions. The first is the installation of an irrigation meter, which would measure the water used outside of the home and deduct that from the sewer bill. The cost of the meter would be borne by the resident. Gold noted that putting in a second meter won’t necessarily save people money if the overall sewer usage drops, causing the rates to rise.
A second option would measure the average sewer usage during the winter months and assume that amount is also the usage during the summer, divorcing the summertime water usage from the sewer. The third option, “winter maximum” is similar to winter averaging, except it uses the highest of the winter months’ water readings as the summer sewer maximum.
During the public comment period, resident Tom Shea addressed the board on the topic. He urged the board to review MGL Ch. 41 S. 69b, the state law that regulates the responsibility of water commissioners, a capacity in which the select board acts in Longmeadow. Shea specifically noted the part of the law that states that the board can, “collect just and equitable prices and rates,” on water usage.
He said that documents that had been submitted to the board by Foster and Gold had been “skewed” and “unduly influenced” by the fact that sewer rate changes would lead to some residents paying more while others paid less and said this point had been “politicized.”
Shea supported the establishment of a sewer rate task force and a switch to quarterly billing in the meantime. Currently, billing is done on a semi-annual basis.
Gold later countered Shea’s assertion that the data is skewed. He said that no data manipulation had been done and there was no recommendation in the presentation. Instead, he maintained that he and Foster had collected meter data and laid out possible “unintended consequences” from winter averaging, winter maximizing and irrigation meters.
Gold called for public hearings on the issue, but said he wanted the ideas presented to be “factually correct and appropriate.” He continued, “Data must be the basis for the decision we make, not the emotions of the most vocal of our residents or findings on the internet about what other towns do.”
Select Board Clerk Steven Marantz supported the call for a sewer metering task force to include a greater number of voices on the issue. “Everyone’s not going to be happy with whatever they come up with,” Marantz noted, but spoke in favor of “community input.” He also said there may be other options that have not been considered, such as fixed or tiered pricing.
In the end, Select Board Chair Thomas Lachiusa said the matter was about fairness. A special Select Board meeting will be conducted on March 29 to review the sewer metering report by Gold and Foster.
On the subject of the budget, Foster proposed an amendment to the Capital Planning budget, bringing it closer to the version originally suggested by Town Manager Lyn Simmons. He asked that $225,000 that had been earmarked for asphalt through the pavement preservation program be redirected and split up so that $14,416 be used to help fund the removal of oil tanks in two elementary schools and $35,834 be contributed to the fire truck replacement reserve fund. Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk noted that nothing had been contributed in FY21 because the pandemic upended financial expectations. The bulk of the money, $175,000, Foster asked to be put back into the sidewalk account to bring the funding to the usual $400,000. The amendment was passed.
Gold noted that the School Department budget on the warrant is different from the Select Board’s budget for it. Pasterczyk explained that the law requires them to read the originally submitted budget at the town meeting and request an amendment. The budget requested by Longmeadow Public Schools is $90,000 higher than the final budget approved by the Select Board. If the amendment does not pass at the meeting, Pasterczyk said, the School Department would still be funded, but the Select Board would not meet its goal of a 1.75 percent tax increase limit.
The Select Board took another look at the warrant as the annual town meeting approaches. The dollar amounts were tweaked on several articles and the source of funding for certain projects was changed to keep the tax rate down.
Resident Andrew Fox pressed the select board to remove article 32 from the warrant. He said the article is almost identical to others that have failed at previous town meetings. He contended that the article would provide a definition for commercial vehicles that conflicts with a definition already on the books in article 4, section 1.2a of the town’s bylaws. Furthermore, he said, it conflicts with article 39 on the annual town meeting warrant. In the end, the article was retained in the warrant.
The board appointed Finn McCool as the new health director. A Wilbraham native, McCool has earned degrees in the area of health administration and has been the health inspector for the towns of Ware, Belchertown and Pelham. He was also completing an internship with Monson at the time of the 2011 tornado. He said it taught him about handling disaster aftermath, including the mental health aspects.
“Can you be tough enough?” asked Gold. “Sometimes you’ve got to be the bad guy.” McCool told him that the job is usually about educating residents and business owners, but when needed, he is ready to enforce the law.
Lachiusa further asked about McCool’s qualifications with the state. McCool explained that he is a member of the Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA).
Fire Chief John Dearborn told the Select Board that there were 16 active COVID-19 cases in town and a positive test rate of just .132 percent. Despite the figures trending downward, Dearborn urged residents to keep vigilant. He also said the municipal clinic has used all of the first and second doses it was allotted and is not scheduled to receive more. The town is working on a program for vaccinating homebound residents but has not received word from the state on whether it will provide doses for such a program.
Foster asked about the coronavirus variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil that have appeared in the United States. Specifically, he wanted to know if the area is testing for the variants and if there are cases of them in the area. Dearborn said that to his knowledge there were no cases involving the variant in Longmeadow and that while testing for the different strains is ongoing he doesn’t know the extent of that testing
Longmeadow Town Moderator Rebecca Townsend has begun an electronic voting task force to examine the feasibility of electronic voting, security costs and the outcomes. There will be a public report published when the study is done. Simmons said that there are two open seats on the task force and interested residents can contact the moderator at rtownsend@longmeadow.gov.