Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Board of Selectmen shaping up for spring

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



WILBRAHAM Spring has finally arrived in New England flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and the world is growing and changing once more. The town of Wilbraham needs to keep up with the ever-changing world and the Board of Selectmen addressed several issues of growth and change at their May 5 meeting.



Construction Season

Now that winter is over, it is again time for road repairs to commence. The Board of Selectmen opened bids for 2008's road resurfacing projects as their first order of business at last Monday's meeting and found Palmer Paving had the lowest bid ($563,746.10) for the work that needs to be done.

Department of Public Works Director Ed Miga said he considered that a "good bid" and that the cost per ton for materials was "less than anticipated."

"The two most visible jobs will be on Main Street, from the police station to Fox Hill Road, where drainage work is going on now," Miga told Reminder Publications, "and Stony Hill Road, starting at Dipping Hole Road." He added that the Dipping Hole Road project will be completed this year.

A total of 2.72 miles of road will be resurfaced and in some instances repaved in Wilbraham this summer, which includes the aforementioned projects as well as some side roads.

Miga said in addition to the work done by Palmer Paving, the town's Highway Department will soon be starting its own projects, including laying down high friction epoxy coating on the Green Town Bridge.



Private Way Plowing

Although petitions were signed by residents this winter that asked for the plowing of private ways in Wilbraham and it was approved at a town meeting, the state has mandated that the plowing be approved of on an official ballot.

"The town meeting approval allowed repairs on the roads," Board of Selectmen Chair James Thompson explained, "but plowing has to be approved on a ballot."

"Private ways are not just gated communities," Bruce Brady of Meeting House Lane, a private way, stated during the citizens open forum. "Meeting House has been plowed since 1957 and I've always considered it a public way." He added that with 40 private ways in the town, he doesn't see the plowing of the roads as "a substantial cost to the town."

"We supported the plowing pretty openly at the meeting last year," selectman David Barry said. "I'm in favor of it."

Barry added that the only reason this issue has been ongoing is because it was "a simple yes or no question that got a little complicated."

The town's elections will be taking place this year on May 19.



Commission on Disabilities Welcomes New Volunteer

Barbara Venneri represents growth for the town's Commission on Disabilities. With the help of her cane and her husband, she came from the audience seats to sit before the Board of Selectmen for her interview.

"When you came in the room you made a pretty strong case for why you'd be good for the commission," Thompson told her.

Venneri explained that she had had a stroke in 1987 at the age of 41 and last October had knee replacement surgery. She said she's lived in Wilbraham since 1984 and that she loves the town.

Thompson said she would bring "a unique perspective" to the commission and selectman Patrick Brady added, "Thanks for volunteering. It's an important committee."

"I'd like to see you really become active in that committee," Barry stated.

Once officially accepted as a member of the Commission on Disabilities, Venneri will remain a member until her term expires in May 2009.