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Date: 4/6/2023
CHESTER — At the Selectboard meeting on March 27, Water Commissioner Lyle Snide said the board needed to vote on a memorandum of understanding with Blandford for a shared water operator.
Snide said the town has been working on this agreement for two months, but Blandford had not yet signed it due to a meeting cancelation. He said they were expected to meet in the next couple of days.
The memorandum releases money from an Efficiency Regionalization Grant the two towns received for the full-time shared position. Snide said the grant, with Blandford as the lead town, will pay for shared equipment and salary.
The contract is for three years, with the grant paying for the first year. Snide said Chester could apply for the second year as an individual town, if needed. He said having a full-time person gives the employee more sense of ownership than hiring part-time.
Selectboard member Jason Forgue asked whether the shared budget would be similar to the Chester-Blandford Police Department agreement.
Snide said the budget is shared, but not necessarily split 50-50. He said Chester will be responsible for a percentage of the budget equal to the amount of time the employee spends in town. He said the town will pay quarterly.
Currently, Chester has two water operators, John Gobeille and Peter Consolini, and this grant will pay for a third. Chester also has an intern from Gateway Regional High School, which has placed a total of six water operator interns in nearby communities, including Chester, Blandford, Huntington and Westfield.
Snide also discussed a new state revolving grant fund for lead line piping analysis and inventory. The grant will pay for 60% of the cost of an engineering firm to determine the location of lead lines, with the town’s contribution to consist of 20% in-kind work and 20% funding.
“The town must do a complete survey of the distribution system for lead line piping. We will need to hire an engineering firm, and a state grant will cover the cost of the assessment to determine the location of lead lines,” Snide said, adding that the Water Commission will administer the program.
He said the town applied for the first-time competitive grant, which was awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
Chester-Blandford Police Chief Jennifer Dubiel raised an issue about the Reverse 911 program in town. She and Humason both asked for clarification on whether the system is intended for emergencies only, or can be used by town departments for outreach.
Dubiel said if it’s an emergency system, she is OK with having it funded in her budget.
“I understand departments need to get the word out, but if I’m paying the bill … I’m getting 50 calls asking what the message was,” Dubiel said, adding that many residents can’t read text messages on their phones. “If it’s outreach, department heads need to pay a share, and put out their own messages,” she added.
Selectboard Chair John Baldasaro said in his opinion, whatever department wants to put the notice in has to pay and post it.
Town Administrator Donald Humason Jr. said the town also needs to drive people to the website. He said if residents come to expect robocalls, they won’t check the website for information.
The Selectboard members said the problem is the lag time in updating the website.
“We’re all agreed, we need local in-house access to the website for updates,” Baldasaro said.
Humason said Wendy Berman of Iron Blender websites would come to the April 10 Selectboard meeting to speak about upgrading the town’s website.