SOUTHWICK — After the Select Board learned last week there is money left over from a Community Block Development Grant that was used to upgrade Bungalow Street, the agency that administers the grant asked the board what it wanted to do with it.
“We have a unique opportunity to use that money somewhere else,” said Erica Johnson, principal planner and chief procurement officer for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, which applies for and manages the Community Development Block Grant funds for the town.
In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the town was awarded a CDBG grant of $1.12 million of which $695,548 was used to improve Bungalow Street and $225,000 used for Our Community Food Pantry.
Johnson said the Bungalow project was originally supposed to be done in two phases, but instead was bid as one project, and it came in $130,297 under budget when it was completed earlier this year.
She suggested using that money to go towards the North Lake Avenue Improvement Project that is currently under development.
Last year, the town was awarded $948,350 in Community Block Development Grant funds to begin planning work on renovating North Lake Avenue, modernizing the elevator at Town Hall that will begin in a few weeks, and for operational expenses at Our Community Food Pantry.
Of that total, $700,350 is being used to pay for design work on Phase 1 of the North Lake Avenue Infrastructure Improvement Project.
The first phase will result in the replacement of undersized cast iron and asbestos concrete water main (approximately 800 linear feet) and the replacement of two fire hydrants in the portion of North Lake Avenue between the intersections of Bungalow Street and Summer Street.
Because of cost constraints, and the scope and complexity of the North Lake project, construction is to be completed in a series of phases.
The location and scope of Phase 1 were chosen because the infrastructure improvements of Bungalow Street, which intersects with North Lake Avenue, would benefit both projects.
Before the board committed to using the $130,297 on the North Lake project, Select Board Chair Diane Gale suggested holding off on making a final decision with the possibility of it being used for something else that meets the criteria for CDBG grant funding.
The CDBG program is designed to help small cities and towns meet a broad range of community development needs, such as housing, community, and economic development projects that assist low-and-moderate-income residents or revitalize areas of blight.
In other action by the board, it appointed Joshua Raymond as a student member of the Master Plan Implementation Committee.
The board also approved Ronald Laurin as the interim building inspector. Kyle Scott, the former inspector, resigned two months ago.
It also approved a donation of $10,000 to the public library from the Wolfe family for the outdoor community space project.
Town Meeting in May 2024 approved the allocation of $20,659 from Community Preservation Act funds for the purchase of a new picnic table, several benches, a trash can, the equipment needed for a permanently installed story walk, outdoor percussion musical instruments, and a new camera to monitor the revamped space.
After the money was allocated, the library learned it needed to install a concrete pad to support the weight of the musical instruments at an estimated cost of $40,000.
The library is raising the money it needs to finish the project.
The board also approved supporting the Paint Stewardship Program, which is a program that allows residents to discard unwanted liquid latex — they don’t have to dry it out — and oil-based paints at participating paint retail stores, any day the store is open, without disposal costs and without regard to where the paint was purchased.
A voluntary program, participating paint retailers collect the returned paint in totes, and when the totes are full, the retailer contacts a nonprofit organization called PaintCare.
A PaintCare representative picks up the paint up and takes it to a plant where it is re-blended and sold to other nonprofits like Restore and Habitat for Humanity.
It was advocated to the board by Dr. Thomas Irwin, a retired chemical engineer and primary care physician.
He has been getting endorsements from municipalities across the state to support legislation to create a statewide paint stewardship program, which has yet to be adopted by the Legislature despite being proposed every legislative session since 2017.
The town will now be included in the over 108 municipalities that have endorsed the program.
