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Date: 6/21/2023
RUSSELL — The town is putting $151,000 into a plan for inspections and repairs of its water and sewer systems, but more than half of that money will be reimbursed.
Voters approved the spending on June 12, along with every other item on the spring Town Meeting warrant, including a $5,296,739 town budget and $2,341,985 school district assessment.
Dennis Moran, who serves on both the Sewer Commission and Water Commission, said this spending is a mandate from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and catching up on maintenance of the underground pipes is “something that’s important to DEP.”
“That concern is especially [strong] in a small town,” he said. “It’s easy to get involved in the day-to-day operations and not look down the road. … We’ve been working at it, but it’s a tedious process.”
He said Russell has an aging water and sewer system, and needs a maintenance plan to ensure that the system is properly inspected and that future funds can be set aside for repairs, so that wastewater isn’t leaked into the environment.
“The town is required to get outside professional help for the planning,” Moran said, but “unlike many DEP mandates, it’s not completely unfunded.”
The $151,000 mandate comes with a $90,600 grant from DEP and the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust. The balance will be paid with $18,000 from water and sewer enterprise funds — coming from the rates paid by utility customers — and $42,000 in in-kind services provided by town departments.
Voters also agreed to spend $45,000 of taxpayer funds on a new garage at the Russell Elementary School property, to house some of the police cruisers. The Russell-Montgomery Police Department is headquartered at the school, occupying about six former classrooms. All police vehicles are currently kept in the school parking lot, exposed to the elements.
Police Chief Kevin Hennessey said bringing some of his police cruisers indoors — he hopes to build a garage that can accommodate at least four cars — is an important step in the department’s growth. He said the police converted from part-time employees to full-timers two years ago, and currently patrol the two towns 12 hours a day, centered on the daylight hours. He said he hopes in the coming years to increase that daily coverage further into the overnight period.
Having police cars inside in the winter will let officers concentrate on emergency response rather than clearing snow, Selectmen Chair Wayne Precanico added.
The local money to build the garage will be combined with $93,000 left over from a state grant the police received when the two towns’ departments regionalized in 2022. Officials have not yet determined the design of the building or exactly where on the school property it will be sited.
Elsewhere on the June 12 warrant, voters approved spending $200,000 from free cash to buy a plow truck for the town Highway Department, and $5,000 for a roof on the bathroom at Strathmore Park. Those funds will also come from the free cash balance, which stood at over $1 million and will be reduced to about $650,000 after all the spending authorized by Town Meeting is completed.