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Date: 5/1/2019
WILBRAHAM – Wilbraham’s annual Town Meeting is scheduled for May 13 at 7 p.m., at Minnechaug Regional High School. There are a total of 47 articles for residents to consider and vote on at the meeting.
Articles 1, 2, 4, 8 to 13, 16, 18, 19, 23, and 42 to 44 are consent agenda items, which are generally considered routine.
Article 3 would approve the transfer of appropriated funds that were unspent by town departments to cover shortfalls in other departments. It is a shifting of money and does not incur any new expenses.
]Articles 5 through 7 focus on the town’s budget and the appropriations for Fiscal Year FY 20. The total estimated operating budget is $43,425,849, the largest portion of which is the budget for the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District at $25,713,056.
Article 14 would vote to appropriate money from the free cash to pay for several projects, totaling $566,078. The projects are listed in the warrant and include $50,000 for self-contained breathing apparatus for the fire department, $65,000 for a new commercial dishwasher at the Soule Road School, $40,000 for a pickup truck, $50,000 for sidewalk improvements, and $75,000 for a material screen machine. If the town were to take out a bond to finance these items instead of using free cash, it would be an additional $76,500 in interest over the course of the bond.
Article 15 considers the appropriation of capital outlays. Voting yes on this article would authorize borrowing to support the town's five-year Capital Improvement Plan. The plan will be presented during the meeting.
Article 17 is an appropriation to purchase a new ambulance at a total cost of $279,135. The funds would come from Receipts Reserved for Appropriation for Ambulance and from the depreciation account for vehicle and equipment replacements.
Article 20 is a question on whether to establish a reserve fund. By state law, the town is allowed to have a reserve fund for “unprecedented extraordinary” costs. The funds would come from free cash or the Overlay Surplus account.
Article 21 would transfer an additional $150,000 for repaving roads from the stabilization fund or free cash. The funds are part of a 10-year to catch-up on town paving.
Article 22 is seeks to transfer funds to the Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund, which is a pool of money set aside for previously unfunded healthcare and other post-employment” costs to the town. The funds for this would come from the Water Enterprise Fund, the Wastewater Enterprise Fund, the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, and Receipts Reserved for Appropriation for Ambulance. The amount transferred from these funds totals $30,600. The article would also allow for $400,000 to be raised and appropriated from the General Fund.
Article 24 funds the Stabilization Fund and Capital Stabilization Fund, which are the town’s savings accounts. Money for these funds would be raised, transferred from overlay surplus and transferred from free cash.
Article 25 would appropriate $125,085 from the Water Enterprise Retained Earnings account to fund various improvements and equipment replacement, including $50,000 for a water service truck, $57,085 water meter replacement, and $18,000 upgrades to the Brookmont Pump Station.
Article 26 proposes $175,661 be appropriated to continue work finding and fixing sewer infrastructure. A sewer camera would be purchased at a cost of $105,661, a replacement wastewater service truck would cost $50,000, and repair to a 24-inch sewer main would cost $20,000. This money would come from the Wastewater Enterprise Retained Earnings account.
Article 27 would approve a recycling contract with the material and recycling facility for a period up to 15 years, negotiated by the Selectmen.
Article 28 is a zoning by-law amendment to allow for large-scale ground-mounted solar arrays. This would be an update to existing regulations.
Article 29 is a zoning by-law amendment to rezone land located at 5 Woodland Dell Rd., and owned by The Wilbraham Masonic Building Association as a “neighborhood office.” It is currently zoned as residence 40.
Article 30 would accept North Hills Lane and Sherwin Road as public Ways. Board of Selectmen accepted the planning boards suggestion at a Select Board meeting on April 8, but in order for the town to accept full responsibility for their maintenance, it must be voted on at Town Meeting.
Article 31 allows the town to accept land that has been granted or deeded to it since the last annual town meeting.
Article 32 is the community preservation program budget the total cost of the budget for the Fiscal Year 2020 is estimated at $435,464. Each item within the budget will be appropriated separately.
Articles 33 through 41 fund various Community Preservation Committee projects from funds within different Community Preservation accounts. From their Historical Preservation Reserves, they are requesting $5,600 to preserve town record books, regional Board of Selectmen documents, voting records, mortgage and War service records, in records of past and present wilbraham citizens and $18,850 to restore structural supports, replace heat circulating ducts, and develop specifications for a topographical ground survey necessary for a handicap ramp at the old Meeting House, and to replace damaged shingles on Hearse barn roof.
The committee is asking to transfer from their Open Space account: $55,000 to fund the Wilbraham Library Storywalk Trail, an installation of weatherproof, pre-school story-reading stations; $25,000 to relocate existing playground equipment Memorial School; and $25,000 to replace of a pedestrian footbridge over 12 Mile Brook.
From the Non-Committed Reserves, the Community Preservation Committee is seeking the transfer of $18,000 to construct a walkway at Fountain Park, to be carried out in late 2019, $195,000 for the purchase and development 1.6 acres of vacant land at 674 Main St., $250,000 to construct a park support storage building at Spec Pond Recreational Complex, and $55,000 to repair and improve surface drainage from the two sports fields at Wilbraham Middle School. The work would be scheduled to begin after 2019 Fall sports a nd be completed before Spring sports begin in 2020.
Article 45 would adjust the language in the “Pawnbrokers, Junk and Secondhand Dealers” by-law to allow dealers to record large amounts of inexpensive items they acquire as individual entries in the interest of efficiency.
Article 46 would allow for the adoption of a new general town by law "Door to Door Solicitors and Peddlers." The new bylaw would regulate solicitors through the issuance of licenses. This by-law would exclude religious, charitable, civic, or political activities.
Finally, Article 47 would amend the Private Ways town by law to require a Right of Entry waiver to be signed only by those abutters who have a title to property on the private street.
Almost all articles are recommended for approval by the finance committee, with the exception of Article 35, in which the Community Preservation Committee seeks to purchase land.