SOUTHWICK — The Select Board met last on Aug. 14 to discuss goals and projects for the next two years, including having a Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus stop in town, getting the municipal fiber project off the ground, exploring impact of adopting a residential tax exemption and borrowing for future road repairs.
“… a grant was approved for PVTA to have a stop [in town that will start] in the fall or winter,” said Chief Administrative Officer Nicole Parker during the meeting.
Parker said it will be a fixed route that will have one stop and cost a nominal fee, adding that the current plan is to have the PVTA bus stop at Town Hall, but board members Diane Gale and Douglas Moglin weren’t convinced Town Hall would be the best location for the stop.
Moglin said that if Town Hall was where the bus would drop off and pick up, and residents drove their car there, it could be a problem because there aren’t a lot of empty spaces in the parking lot.
Gale suggested the Public Library, and there was also discussion about having the bus stop at the Southwick Plaza Shopping Center at 515 College Highway.
With the PVTA still working out the logistics, Parker said there was “nothing set in stone” right now.
Moglin also suggested the PVTA conduct a survey to learn where residents would go using the bus.
The proposed municipal fiber optic network that failed to get Town Meeting approval to borrow the $15 million to build it out remains a goal of the board.
First, the board needs to draft a charter and determine who would serve on the Municipal Light Plant that would oversee the project that was scaled down after the Town Meeting vote.
The plan now is to connect the Public Library and other town facilities to the network, conduct a trial in the neighborhoods of Birchwood, Fernwood, and the 100-unit condominiums that will begin construction soon.
The board also plans to create a new implementation committee to move the project forward. The town still has grant funding of over $120,000 and a borrowing authorization of $3 million for the project.
Gale suggested “exploring” the impact of residential tax exemption under state law.
She said the state law allows the town to shift a portion of the property taxes levied against the disabled and veterans to other higher-valued homes.
She also suggested using the law to consider the possibility of offering tax incentives to schoolteachers and EMS who live out of town but want to move into town.
Moglin said he would need to do some more research to better understand what the law allows.
About the possibility of going to Town Meeting next May to request a borrowing authorization of up to $20 million to repair the town’s roads, the board members didn’t address it directly.
However, they came to an agreement about having the road assessed by an outside firm to determine the conditions of the roads and an estimate to repair them.
Parker will have one of the firms that offer the service to make a presentation at a board meeting in the future.
There were nearly 70 different goals the board discussed.
A few of those are:
- Upgrading the town website.
- Continue to explore the possibility of adopting a meals or hotel excise tax.
- Starting a citizens’ academy to allow residents to visit all the town’s departments to learn what each does, and listen to their feedback, ideas, and suggestions.
- Evaluate the possibility of the town acquiring the former Pioneer Dairy site off Feeding Hills Road.
- Have Parker review all the town’s departments, boards and committees to ensure the rates and fees charged are competitive and all costs, including overhead, are covered and raised if needed.
- Plan for succession and gaps when key positions in town turn over. Currently, the town is advertising for a new assessor and DPW director.
- Consider installing automated access to the town’s transfer station with a system similar to EZ-PASS or license-plate readers.
- Consider options to increase the size of the Town Hall parking lot.
- To begin planning for the United States’ 250th anniversary.
- Continue to explore grant funding for a connector between Sam West Road and Hudson Drive.
