At its Oct. 7 meeting, the Finance Committee voted 5-4 to recommend that Town Meeting members support the borrowing needed to finance the Pollard Middle School construction project, expected to be nearly $250 million.
The key vote in favor of supporting the article came from long-time FinCom member Carol Smith-Fachetti, who acknowledged that she was “actually going to support this very, very reluctantly.”
“There’s probably no better arbiter of great decisions than being faced with kind of a crisis,” she said. “And I do think the increased debt that we are going to incur to fund this project will – in a good way – kind of put us in crisis mode.”
The FinCom conducted its roll call with a bit of dramatic flair, with each member announcing their vote and articulating their rationale as the roll call proceeded. The vote stood at 3-3 when Smith-Fachetti, traditionally a budget hawk, declared her vote of support.
She expressed hope that a possible positive impact of the town taking on the Pollard debt will be a more vigorous vetting of future capital projects and how the town handles debt generally. “Maybe it will force discussions, heated discussions, where we’re not always going to agree,” she said.
The fifth and deciding vote was then cast by Ali Blauer, who joined Chair Barry Coffman, Vice Chair Paul O’Connor and member Tina Burgos who had earlier voted in favor.
FinCom members who voted in opposition were John Connelly, Steve Maxwell, Jit Basak and Joe Abruzese.
The Pollard project will be the first order of business for Special Town Meeting when it convenes on Oct. 19. Members will decide if the town will “raise and/or transfer” $322.6 million for the future costs of building a new Pollard Middle School.
With as much as $80.6 million expected to be provided from state reimbursements, the town’s share of the project is estimated at $244.8 million. Still, Town Meeting is required to greenlight the full cost of the project and approval must come by a two-thirds majority of all members voting.
Regardless of the outcome at Town Meeting, the project will also need the approval from voters in the Nov. 3 election to override Proposition 2½ and exclude the funds it borrows to finance the project from the tax-cutting law’s provisions. That vote will require only a simple majority.
Town Meeting will also be asked to approve the transfer of $30,000 or so remaining in the budget for the Pollard feasibility study to the construction budget. There had been a third Pollard article, but the town received notice from the state that the project no longer needs state approval to use Warner Field as the site of geothermal wells as was thought to be required by Article 97 of the state constitution governing the use of open space.
The Pollard articles are at the top of the Special Town Meeting warrant, but the members’ work will not be done once those articles are disposed of. A dozen more will follow, and Town Meeting could very well linger into the wee hours if it wishes to adhere to the town tradition of limiting the fall gathering to one session.
A majority of the remaining dozen articles are administrative in nature, the type of article that typically passes by unanimous consent — i.e., without discussion. Perhaps someone will ask why the police need $431.75 to pay for copier services from prior fiscal years, but articles of that sort tend to be approved by consent.
Bylaws will be bylaws
State and local laws require a town’s legislative body to approve all general and zoning bylaw changes, and this fall’s warrant includes two proposed zoning changes and four general bylaw amendments.
The two zoning bylaws articles are the product of more than a year’s work by the Large House Study Review Committee. The articles’ origins date back to an August 2023 Planning Board meeting when Town Meeting member Joe Matthews asked the Planning Board to address what he believes many people saw as a problem related to rampant teardowns and the proliferation of overly large houses.
Town Meeting will also vote on a similarly long-simmering issue when it considers establishing a bylaw intended to encourage the preservation and protection of private trees.
It is not uncommon for articles that appear either benign or universally popular to pique at least one Town Meeting member’s interest and receive a request to be discussed.
That could occur around the proposal to create the town’s second Single Parcel Historic District to protect the property at 178 South St., once home to noted artist N.C. Wyeth. [See separate article.}
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Source: needhamobserver.com
