Capital committee slims this year's projects down to three

Date: 6/1/2009

By Laura Christiansen

Staff Intern



WILBRAHAM - For fiscal year 2010 (FY10), the Wilbraham Capital Planning Committee plans to decrease the amount of money borrowed and the amount of money spent.

This plan was presented to the Board of Selectmen at their meeting on May 4.

According to Robert Quintin, chair of the Capital Planning Committee, the town plans to borrow $335,000, which is significantly less than the previous fiscal year's amount of $500,000.

This year, the committee plans to spend the money on three main projects.

"We plan to use $50,000 for storm drain repairs, $120,000 for the remodeling of public buildings and $165,000 for vehicle and equipment [repairs and replacements]," Quintin said.

The committee plans to replace a highway truck that is no longer repairable. The truck has several applications including plowing and the cleaning of storm drains.

"We've looked at the possibility of renting [a truck], but it's not going to work out. Not many towns want to rent out their equipment. Also, we would not only rent it for a month, it would have to be rented for 12 months because these trucks are used year-round," Quintin said.

According to Quintin, the truck will cost $145,000 and will probably last for about 20 years, as previous trucks have.

The next vehicle the committee plans to replace is the rescue boat used by the fire department, which is also no longer repairable.

"The current [boat] was donated in 1998 and it is inflatable. We can either purchase an aluminum boat, a police cruiser type, or we have no boat. To not have a rescue boat is a disservice to the town of Wilbraham because there is water in the town," Quintin said.

The new boat, according to Quintin, will cost $20,000.

Over the summer the committee plans to begin renovations on several of the town's schools and public buildings.

Among those they are remodeling are Mile Tree School, Stony Hill School, Memorial School, Soule Road School and the Wilbraham Public Library.

"We're doing a lot of security changes, repairing intercom systems, repairing and replacing windows, and we plan to work with the air conditioning and heating systems," Quintin said.

The committee has recently finished its first project at Spec Pond.

"It looks much nicer than it did a couple years ago. It only cost about $5,600. We did bathroom repairs, painting repairs, roofs and building repairs," Quintin said.

The reduction of borrowing, according to Quintin, has been made possible by postponing the retirement of town vehicles.

Voters will be asked to approve the expenditures for these projects at the Annual Town Meeting, taking place June 15 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Minnechaug Regional High School.