LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow has an infrastructure problem. That was the takeaway from a presentation by DPW Director Sean Van Deusen to the Select Board at its Aug. 18 meeting.
Van Deusen began by breaking down the town’s water and sewer infrastructure needs. According to a study of the town’s aging water pipes, over the next 20 years, it is recommended that the town spend $267.63 million on water main replacements.
He explained that a town the size of Longmeadow should replace 1 mile of water main per year. Over the past 10 years, the town has replaced 2.31 miles of main.
Instead of a proactive water main replacement schedule, the DPW has been responding to water main breaks. In the month of July alone, the town experienced five water main breaks, which Town Manager Lyn Simmons described as “substantial.”
Van Deusen listed several of the projects the DPW has completed in the past year, including emergency repairs to the Emerson Pump Station and designing water main replacement for the Western Avenue neighborhood. A feasibility study was also completed on the benefits of a second water tank and/or connecting the town to Enfield’s water supply as emergency backups.
Van Deusen said the DPW is being intentional about the order in which it is working in water and sewer projects, such as replacing mains along the path of the state’s L-project before the construction begins so the town will not need to tear up the street again. Similarly, the department is synchronizing water, sewer and highway projects to limit the amount of work and cost associated with them.
The town needs to devote about $2.5 million per year to replace culverts/bridges and outfalls, according to its Stormwater Asset Management Plan. Van Deusen pointed out that the figure does not cover upgrades to the stormwater system’s capacity. The ground under several catch basins had eroded.
Van Deusen said that the DPW was able to catch up on catch basin replacements with the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The department also received a grant to design a culvert on Longmeadow Brook.
According to a Pavement Management Plan completed in 2024, it would take $2.5 to $3 million per year to keep up with the town’s paving projects. Typically, it has invested about $500,000 annually.
Earlier this year, the town bonded for $5.5 million to tackle resurfacing some of the worst streets in town. Simmons noted that the state increased the Chapter 90 roadway aid from $609,000 in fiscal year 2025 to $1.02 million this year. This money will be used to help chip away at the DPW’s backlog of projects, she said.
Sidewalk projects cost an average of $500,000 per year. While the town has sought and received a few grants, including Safe Route to School, MassWorks and Massachusetts Gaming Commission Community Mitigation Fund grants, a grant application to complete a sidewalk management plan was rejected.
When it comes to the town’s parks and grounds, the DPW completed renovations of the playgrounds at the three elementary schools, completed designs and finished irrigation repairs at Glenbrook Fields and began upgrades to the town’s pools. The DPW completed the town’s tree risk assessment, removed the most dangerous trees and planted hundreds of new trees. Van Deusen estimated it would cost $10 million to address the town’s tree needs.
Van Deusen said there have been significant mold- and water-related emergencies in the town’s older schools. The roof at Center School is being replaced, as are chillers at Wolf Swamp Road and Blueberry Hill schools. The replacement of the air handlers at the high school was completed.
The projects on the five-year capital plan would cost the town $12 million, despite capital projects historically being funded at about $2 million per year, Van Deusen said. He presented a list of projects needed over the next five years, including demolition of the old DPW facility on Pondside Road, a stormwater capacity study and reconstruction of the Bliss Road and Williams Street intersection. The town’s recycling center will need to be redesigned, multiple athletic fields will have to be upgraded and several school HVAC systems need repairs.
“We have a lot of roofs and a lot of them leak,” Van Deusen added.
Van Deusen explained that the problems stem from DPW being underfunded, an insufficient budget for capital projects and an increase in cost and time due to state regulations. Staffing at the DPW is another issue. Unfilled positions, high turnover and a loss of institutional knowledge as people retire has made it harder to complete projects.
Select Board member Shelly DeWolf-Maynard said it was helpful to see the comprehensive list of projects and the way they fit into the larger picture of the town’s needs. She said, the town will have to make some “difficult decisions” and prioritize its most dire needs.
“You’re basically delivering bad news in every conversation” with the board, Select Board member Andrew Lam said to Van Deusen. Looking at the laundry list of projects, he opined that each of them is necessary. Moving forward, he said the town should divert funds to the DPW.
He acknowledged that it would hurt other areas of the budget.
Select Board Chair Josh Levine said the presentation was “very sobering” and praised Van Deusen for acting strategically and looking at the whole picture of the town’s needs. From his perspective, a contributing factor in the water infrastructure problems was the Select Board’s previous practice of using the water retained earnings account to keep the rates artificially low. This left the DPW with less money to improve infrastructure.
Select Board member Vineeth Hemavathi described the lack of infrastructure improvements as “indefensible” and said it is the fault of the various Select Boards over the years. “We need to be chipping away at it,” he said, adding that creative strategies, such as completing roadwork as part of water projects, are needed.
Select Board member Dan Zwirko asked about the communication around the recent water main breaks, Van Deusen explained that most of them happened in the middle of the night, so a Code Red robocall was not sent out. Flyers were attached to people’s doors, instead. He said the department is working on streamlining its communication for such situations.
Levine said the increasing frequency of intense storms without investing in stormwater infrastructure “makes me nervous.” The town needs to find a way to address the issues while still providing “quality of life” services, he said. Levine added that one of his proudest accomplishments on the board was the bundle of road resurfacing projects that the town bonded for. “The big swings” move the town forward, he said.
In the meantime, Lam told Van Deusen to “keep triaging” projects. He said any “found money” needs to go to the DPW, and added, “The DPW is a priority for this board.”
High school swimming pool
Simmons told the board that the electrical grounding work needed for the Longmeadow High School pool was going to cost significantly more than expected. In 2024, the pool experienced a leak. While fixing that issue, it was discovered that there was a problem with the pool’s electrical grounding.
At the time, a contractor estimated the work would cost $150,000, and that amount was approved at the May Town Meeting. However, when the project went out to bid, a single contractor responded with a bid of $370,000. A second request for proposals came back with a different contractor offering $360,000 to do the job.
Rather than pursue more bids and further delay the use of the pool, Simmons authorized the DPW to use funding from other line items to cover the $210,000. She said the town will ask voters at the November Town Meeting to approve the use of free cash to replenish the general fund. Hemavathi said Simmons made the “right call” in not seeking a third round of bids.
DeWolf-Maynard asked about the contractor who provided the estimate. Van Deusen said it was one of the largest firms in the world for this work. Simmons said they had used that contractor once before, so it was not unknown to the town.
Lam asked why there was such a gulf between the estimate and the bids. Van Deusen said there are a “significant” number of unknown variables, including the amount of rebar in the concrete and the condition of the footings. Because the contractor cannot bore through the concrete, the bids came in with the worst-case scenario in mind. Van Deusen said there are only a few contractors in the area that perform this work.
