Date: 2/7/2022
BELCHERTOWN – After receiving a financial management report from the Division of Local Services at its previous meeting, the Belchertown Select Board further discussed the report during its Jan. 31 meeting.
To start the discussion, board member Ed Boscher pointed out the recommendations from the report that could be accomplished in the upcoming budget cycle.
“I think the three big topics for this budget season would be beginning to build the long-range forecast, maintaining the capital improvement plan and the bigger discussion of curtailing the one-time revenue for operational budget purposes,” he said.
He added that one of the larger transitions would be adopting a town charter and looking at the town’s bylaws.
“I think the town administrator to the town manager is not that big of a topic in terms of a title, but the biggest topic of them all is the town charter and a review of the bylaws, I think that is going to take some subcommittee work on everyone’s part,” Boscher said.
Board Vice Chair Jim Barry recommended speaking to the town employees that participated in the report through interviews as part of the Division of Local Service’s research into the town.
“One of the things we discussed was asking the staff who had some input in creating the report and may very well have some comments of their own to add to this and I would like to hear from them on a number of these issues,” he said.
Board Chair Jen Turner suggested looking at department head turnover and a transition from a town administrator (TA) to a town manager (TM) together.
“I feel like the TA to TM and the department head turnover go hand in hand in my mind because if we are going to be discussing changes and structure and all the departments who might be turning over in the next couple years, I feel like that can be worked on in tandem,” she said.
Before moving forward with work on the financial side of the recommendations, Turner recommended meeting with the Finance Committee.
“I think more of the financial stuff like the structural budget deficit that we want to tackle during this budget season, I think we need the input of the Finance Committee and to have a tag team meeting with them to start talking through some of these issues,” she said.
Boscher said many of the recommendations also fall under the jurisdiction of Town Administrator Gary Brougham and the town’s financial management team.
“I think a lot of this does fall on Gary’s plate and there is only so much he can do. But, having the initial discussions about department head turnover and backup plans there, financial management teams meetings, the long-range forecast and capital improvement falls under that team. In essence we would be asking that team to strengthen the approach,” he said. “And then the one-time revenues, that falls on this board.”
Brougham said it was too early to begin making lager changes to the way the town budgets each year.
“It is very early in the budget process to suggest that we are going to start making significant changes in the way that we budget. We do not know what free cash is going to be, we do know the cherry sheet is up at least $200,000 and maybe this year we could have a little relief from the challenges we faced in the past,” he said.
One of the recommendations was to combine the town and School Department’s IT management under one roof, but Barry said it could take some time.
“I think we need an agreement between the school and the town whether it is the administration or the boards to say this is the path we want to go down, it is in the report, but it does not mean the existing players are going to come together. Who project manages that conversation needs to be a good listener instead of a good talker,” he said.
The board also approved a host community agreement with CL Cash for a marijuana cultivation facility set to be located at 401 Mill Valley Rd. It also set the deadlines to submit articles for the spring Special Town Meeting and Annual Town Meeting for March 10 and March 17 respectively.
The Belchertown Select Board next meets on Feb. 7 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the Feb. 17 edition of The Reminder.