LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow will conduct a fall Town Meeting on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Longmeadow High School gymnasium. There are 29 articles on the warrant. Several of them seek funding, or additional funding, for large projects. Others amend, remove or add to the town’s bylaws.
There is a single citizen’s petition article for consideration, which concerns the middle school project.
Article 1 seeks up to $695,000 to complete a feasibility study on replacing the Center School roof. The roof has required repair or replacement for several years. At the May 2022 Town Meeting, voters approved the first of two phases of work on the roof for $695,000. The cost of building materials and services began skyrocketing and the project quickly exceeded initial estimates.
The town then turned to the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s Accelerated Repair Program to help finance the cost of the entire roof project. Circumstances again delayed the project, as the MSBA put a temporary moratorium on new Accelerated Repair projects in 2023
When the program was restarted earlier this year, Longmeadow applied for the roof project. If accepted, the town would need to fund the project within 90 days. Rather than rushing to call another Town Meeting, the town is asking for approval for the funding in anticipation of the project. If the funding fails, the town will need to reapply to the program.
In Massachusetts, municipal budgets are approved each spring before the state budget is passed. Because of this quirk of scheduling, Longmeadow received more money in state aid for fiscal year 2025 than expected. Article 2 would amend the town’s budget to distribute the additional $250,768 to the School Department and the DPW.
Apart from the state aid issue, the spring warrant listed the cost of a new literacy program for the elementary schools at $495,000, an amount that was included in the town’s FY25 budget. However, the accurate cost was $270,000, which was approved at the meeting. Article 2 would also allocate the extra $225,000 from the budget to the other post-employment benefits account for the municipal employees and retirees.
Article 7 seeks the most money of any article on the warrant. The town, which has long struggled to stay on top of costly paving and roadwork, is looking to combine milling, paving and drainage work for several roads, representing about four years’ worth of roadwork. The streets the town intends to address are Shaker, Emerson, Grassy Gutter, and Pondside roads, Cooley, Twin Hills, and Bel Air drives, Longmeadow Street from Bliss Road to Wheel Meadow Drive and Canterbury Lane. It has been noted, however, that the roads may change, depending on the cost of the work. The combined projects would be sent to contractors with a maximum cost of $5.9 million, for which the town would bond.
DPW Director Sean Van Deusen, who reduced the scope of work on some roadways to bring the cost down, said combining the projects will save the town thousands of dollars, in part because it avoids future inflation. It also would go out to bid in January 2025, when contractors are seeking projects.
Longmeadow is pursuing a town-owned fiber optic network that would allow it to partner with a service provider and offer an alternative to some of the large internet companies, such as Xfinity and Verizon. Voters took the first step toward this at the May 14 Town Meeting, approving the first of two votes to establish a municipal light plant, a structure required under state law.
Article 8 would be the second of the two votes for the MLP and requires no funding. Article 9 requests approval of $491,444 for preliminary design work and applications for the project to use existing utility poles to carry the fiber optic lines. The pole permits and the pole permits and the design work would be undertaken at the same time and take about two years to complete.
Petition article
Article 6 was petitioned by the ad hoc citizen’s group, Educational Advocates for Responsible Spending, which opposes locating the proposed new, combined middle school at the site of the existing Williams Middle School. The article asks voters to “authorize the continued expenditure of funds” for the combined middle school at the site of the existing Williams Middle School” but also “not restrict the expenditure of funds by the town for activities related to rehabilitation, renovation or reconstruction of the present Williams Middle School at the current scale and enrollment level, or for activities related to the construction of a combined middle school at another site.”
Town Moderator Rebecca Townsend conferred with the town counsel regarding the language of the article and told the Select Board at its Oct. 21 meeting that said the language in the citizen’s petition is not “actionable,” and it will therefore be considered a resolution.
At the same meeting, Select Board member Josh Levine, who also serves on the School Building Committee, said the article’s proponents do not want it to pass and residents have expressed confusion about what a yes or no vote would mean. Townsend often clarifies the meaning of a yes or no vote on articles.
Article 21-29 pertain to bylaws. Article 21 adds a public tree management bylaw, while Article 23 would remove the bylaw restricting temporary signs. The removal is due to an opinion by town counsel that the bylaw is unenforceable. Article 22 would provide an enforcement mechanism for the town’s unnecessary noise bylaw. A yes vote on Article 26 would replace the bylaw regulating the removal of vehicles that hinder snow removal with a bylaw that reflects the Police Department’s role in towing the vehicles.
