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Date: 4/26/2022
SUNDERLAND – Annual Town Meeting, scheduled for April 29 at 7 p.m., features the usual housekeeping articles that enable town government to collect money and pay the bills. One unusual housekeeping measure, Article 14, may work to save money.
Article 14 is an effort by town officials to save a few hundred dollars whenever the state adopts a new holiday or changes the name of an existing holiday. Geoffrey Kravitz, town administrator, explained the logic behind the article, which raised the eyebrows of town counsel.
“They did have a comment,” Kravitz said. “The thought process behind this change is that every time the state adds a holiday or changes a holiday name, we then have to go through the process, which isn’t a big deal … but it costs a certain amount of money to update our online code. Each change is several hundred dollars … They [town counsel] didn’t say there was anything wrong with this, but they did voice a preference for enumerating the holidays.”
Voters will decide if the savings warrant the change in the town’s bylaws.
Voters will decide in Articles 9, 10 and 11 how Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds will be spent. Article nine will move $99,831 into the Capital Stabilization Fund, a move unanimously recommended by the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) and will recharge that account.
“This article is to discuss the CPA project for this summer,” said Selectboard chair Tom Fydenkevez of article 10.
Again by recommendation of the CPC, in Article 10 voters will decide if $166,500 in CPA funds be spent for improvements to Riverside Park. The funds will renovate the bathrooms, replace the storage shed and sidewalks, and spruce up the area.
Another $100,000 in CPA monies will be earmarked through Article 11, which requests that amount be spent to acquire parcels of land in town. The CPC recommended the spending.
Article 6 asks voters to approve paying 25 percent of the cost of the second phase of the needs assessment at the senior center.
“Did we ever get a phase one assessment?” Fydenkevez asked. Kravitz said no final report had been received. “Can you ask for a report? It would be nice to talk about phase one and how it leads into phase two.”
Article 8 asks voters to appropriate $18,082 for the town’s share of a new walk-in cooler at Frontier Regional School District. Article 7 will authorize payment of membership fees for the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District, made necessary by a state program to control insect borne diseases.
Article 5 excited a healthy discussion about the better source of funds to buy back accumulated sick time and vacation days from Sunderland Elementary School employees. Kravitz’ preference was to forgo using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies because they are the most flexible.
“We have to call a Special Town Meeting if we want to use [free cash or stabilization funds] outside a Town Meeting,” Kravitz said. “We can spend ARPA funds more readily than we can free cash or stabilization, so I would like to use one of those two accounts.”
“I think it’s important to have the conversations so that the people know what’s going on,” Fydenkevez said.
Article 4 refers to the schedule for capital expenditures outlined in a separate document, available on the town website. That document, FY23 [fiscal year 2023] Capital Budget, shows that voters will be asked to make capital expenditures totaling $45,406.48 for the highway department, $32,500 for the library, $23,400 for the elementary school, and $25,000 to replace gates and concrete work.
Annual Town Meeting will take place at One Swampfield Drive.