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Date: 11/16/2022
MONSON – The Monson Select Board approved four American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund requests during their Nov. 8 meeting.
The first request was for pool repair at Quarry Hill School. Timothy Pascale, Parks and Recreation director, said, “For about the last 12 years, I have been the designee of taking care of the pool at Quarry Hill and slowly been trying to update things,” through the small budget the town provides for repairs.
He explained that the pump the water comes up through is “beyond failing” at this point. To purchase the pump itself and redo some of the plumbing, labor, disposals and more, the cost would be about $20,000.
For the year, Pascale said his entire repair budget is around $9,000, so he does not have enough. He shared that he approached the ARPA Committee to ask for the funding, as he doesn’t believe the pump will last much longer. “If this pump goes, I can’t get water to the filter and therefore will be shutting the pool down again,” he said.
Pascale noted that they have recently spent a lot of time and effort at the pool between the air handling systems and new lockers. “I would hate to see us now shut it down as the pool is gaining momentum,” he added.
Based on the three quotes he received and if all goes smoothly, he’s hoping that much funding isn’t required.
The board unanimously approved the $20,000 request from ARPA funds.
Next, Jamie Farnum, finance director, said the Pool Scoreboard Committee submitted a proposal for $19,000 to obtain a new one. Pascale explained that the board has corroded over the years and has not operated for a while. He noted the importance of the board for the people who use it, such as the swim team. The board unanimously approved the $19,000 request.
Val Beaudoin went before the board to talk about the Conway School project and its $5,500 ARPA request. She explained that this is a part of the Replanting Monson Tree Committee with the chestnut project. “This is a collaborative event with the Conway School for Landscape Design out of Northampton.” Beaudoin said it would be a spring graduate program where a group of the master students would be assigned to develop a cohesive plan for the use of the trails throughout Flynt Park.
Beaudoin said she has worked with Pascale, the Parks and Recreation Commission, along with the Keep Homestead Museum on this. “It’s a collaborative effort between the three of our groups to put together a plan for the town of Monson to work on the trails that would deal with linking the disc golf [course], linking the historical preservation with the chestnut trees as well as just the plain recreational value of Flynt Park,” said Beaudoin. This would extend down to the Keep Homestead Museum, opening access for additional viewership.
She noted that she worked with Town Administrator Jennifer Wolowicz when the plan was first brought to her. It is a total plan of $11,000. Beaudoin said Wolowicz recommended that they receive half of the funding from the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) and the other half from ARPA. The town voted on the $5,500 from the CPC at Special Town Meeting on Nov. 14, after Reminder Publishing’s deadline. Now, Beaudoin said they are looking for the other half.
The board unanimously approved the $5,500 request.
Lastly, there was a request for the ambulance for $140,000. Farnum said, “The last ambulance that we had procured we had done a five-year lease line in the general fund budget,” which was approved at the Annual Town Meeting.
She continued, “This year, because of supply issues and how far out they are, we would not be able to start paying on a lease and they wanted to start paying on a lease before we actually received the ambulance which we’re not able to do. So, the other suggestion was to have the full amount in a capital line so that way we can have the funds appropriated.” Farnum said this is contingent upon approval of the ARPA request memo and the Special Town Meeting vote on Nov. 14 to approve the other half because the total cost is about $290,000.
For the other half, Farnum explained that ARPA is requesting that the remaining funds come from the Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account that the ambulance has. She said there are available funds of about $275,000, which they would take $150,000 of to pay the cost of the ambulance.
The board unanimously approved the request.