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Date: 1/10/2023
SHUTESBURY – The Special Town Meeting (STM) scheduled for Jan. 19 will address remediation costs for contamination discovered around the fire station. Voters will also be asked to weigh in on changes in solar installation bylaws, the funding of accounting software and the protection of 30 acres on Pelham Hill Road.
Town Administrator Rebecca Torres explained to the Finance Committee the need for the first two articles on the STM warrant concerning conservation protections for a property soon to be owned by the town, with a conservation restriction assigned to Kestrel Land Trust.
“If you recall in May, at Annual Town Meeting there was a warrant article for a Community Preservation Committee (CPC) grant to, in part, fund the purchase of 0 Pelham Hill Road, which is a 30-plus acre site,” Torres said.
The warrant article passed by voters in the spring was incomplete and did not authorize the town to make the land purchase. The land trust bought the acreage, and with an affirmative vote the warrant article will give the town authority to purchase the land from the trust.
“The contract that awards the $197,000 to purchase the property was written to the town of Shutesbury, so the Select Board is responsible for signing the contract,” Torres said.
For clarification, Torres added, “There is no new dollar amounts being talked about here. The…town has to vote to authorize the purchase from Kestrel Land Trust, with the grant money Kestrel helped get…awarded” to the town.
Discussion among Finance Committee members revealed the CPC awarded $45,000 strictly for the purchase, plus $5,000 for ancillary expenses. The Conservation Commission also voted to transfer $20,000 out of the commission’s reserve fund, while Kestral Land Trust raised another $2,283.87. The town will contribute $197,000.
Article 2 grants a conservation restriction to the trust as part of the arrangements to protect the property. Torres explained that a Town Meeting vote is required to grant a conservation restriction to an entity other than the town.
Article 3 asks voters to authorize a change in the town’s zoning bylaws concerning solar installations. The change to section 8.10 defines energy storage possibilities for solar arrays and allows for their use.
Being a change to zoning bylaws, Torres said, “The solar bylaw change does require a two-thirds vote.”
Article 4 will authorize funding for mitigation of the perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discovered around the fire station, an unfortunate result of using firefighting foam in past years. $42,000 is being requested for related services to be performed by Tighe & Bond, a Boston environmental consulting firm. $94,948 is also being requested for direct costs, including point of entry treatment systems, or POETS.
If authorized by voters, the monies in Article 4 will fund mitigation efforts through June 30, 2023, the end of the fiscal year.
Article 5 will fund acquisition of VADAR software for use in town accounting procedures. Discussion revealed the technology will best serve the needs of the town, even though the current accounting system will be in place for some time after the new software is purchased.
Tax Collector Ellen McKay “has come to conclude that the VADAR software will best serve the town’s needs,” Torres said. “This request for money is for July 1, but to be prepared for July 1 a lot of the data has to be migrated.”
Both software systems will need to be running in parallel while the town’s data is transferred to the VADAR software. The new software will become the primary financial system on July 1, the onset of fiscal year 2024.
The new software will generate fewer maintenance costs. According to Torres, current maintenance runs $9,000. The VADAR system costs will be $4,800 per year.
“In five years,” Torres said, those lower charges “will pay for the costs of the transference.”
Special Town Meeting will be hosted at Town Hall on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.