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Date: 9/5/2018
LONGMEADOW – Following the close of the joint Select Board and School Committee meeting on Sept. 5, the Select Board continued their meeting to discuss several updates from the Town Manager, Stephen Crane’s, report.
Opioid Crisis
Prompting the discussion of the opioid crisis, Select Board member Thomas Lachiusa brought up the towns initiative to reduce the damage of opioid addiction by joining with other communities that are banning together in a class action to keep pharmaceutical companies accountable.
Lachiusa read several statistics, including that six people pass away each hour from opioid addiction and two children are born within each hour and begin withdrawing from the substances. He also shared that pharmaceutical companies are making approximately $2.7 million annually on sales of opioids.
“We already took a vote to be part of a petition to try and hold the pharmaceuticals accountable, to me, it’s a really important thing, even at this local level,” Lachiusa said.
DPW Asbestos Update
Crane reported to the Select Board that the landfill engineering team is working on plans to present to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to have a minimally stockpiling strategy to bring the asbestos containing materials found at the DPW site to the town’s former municipal solid waste landfill.
Crane said that often this type of material is used to cap landfills. In fact, if the town were to ship the asbestos containing material to Ohio, which is one of the town’s options, the material would be used to cap landfills there. Crane noted the town could use the material to cap their own landfill.
This appears to be a more favorable option for the town, Crane stated, and he sees it as, “killing two birds with one stone.” With that said, at the Select Boards Sept.17 meeting they will discuss costs side by side with all approaches on the table to see what is most affective.
“The cost will be jaw dropping,” Crane said, but he reassured the board that there could be some efficiencies for fulfilling two obligations: removing the asbestos and capping the town’s landfill.
Adult Center Update
Collier Construction has been hired as the owners project manager (OPM) for the Adult Center project. Collier is also the OPM of the DPW project. Of the six proposals that were received, Collier was selected because they were the most highly rated OPM. Crane noted Collier is the OPM of a few other senior center projects at this time, and he feels there could be some efficiencies gained.
The next step for the OPM is to review the architect’s contract, which Crane noted is standard practice.
Select Board member Richard Foster asked Crane if it would be possible for James Leyden, executive director at the Adult Center, to provide seniors with regular updates regarding the status of the project. He noted that a lot of seniors are itching to see progress and don’t necessarily understand the behind–the–scenes process.
“It’s important for people to know what’s going on but I want to manage expectations, but this is the time of the project that is behind the scenes because it’s the design project,” Crane explained. He then joked that a lot of people wanted to see bulldozers out at Greenwood the day after the election.
West Comm
Crane shared an update on the West Comm project, stating that they’re in the process of retaining a technology consultant. He noted that they want to be sure that the technology is the consoles and where the dispatchers sit, and the communication is the radios and receivers. He said the system must be supportable with the budget and expandable in case other communities want to join West Comm.
They should be under contract within the next few weeks, Crane stated, and once there is a plan purchases of technology will start to be made.
Telephone System Audit
Longmeadow Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk requested that a telephone system audit be conducted for the town, which was able to find savings of roughly $5,000 a year. Crane explained that the audit would pay for itself in one year and then the savings would accrue. He gave recognition to Pasterczyk for pushing for the audit and for finding the savings in the phone budget, which Crane noted has been a “trouble spot” in the annual line item.