Dalton Considers Town Meeting for Road, Waste Updates By Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
12:27PM / Thursday, July 14, 2022 | |
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board reviewed some daunting data from Streetscape regarding the state of the town’s road conditions on Monday, July 11.
Town Manager Tom Hutcheson said, during a Zoom meeting on July 7, that Streetscape presented a preliminary PowerPoint that confirmed half the roads in town are in either poor or serious conditions.
In April, Streetscape went over all of the paved roads in town separating them into 365 segments with a special car photographing them and analyzing them with a program that allows them to see three feet of every paved road in town.
A segment is an intersection of one road to an intersection with another road. What the data showed is that there are a number of manholes per segment.
Streetscape recommended reconstruction as the repair strategy as opposed to rehabilitation and half the roads in town would cost $19.2 million to reconstruct.
Massachusetts Municipal Association has been advocating for an increase in Chapter 90 road funds to be raised from $200 million to $300 million, which would bring Dalton up to about $300,000 in funding. Hutcheson explained that even if the town were to match that it would take a 30-year program to replace the roads.
Hutcheson said the highway superintendent is working on a list of prioritized roads based on road conditions, traffic volume, and other relevant factors, associated culvert, drainage works, and other factors.
Select Board Chair Joseph Diver said his "gut reaction" to this is to hold a town meeting to bring awareness to this data and gauge residents' opinions on the prioritization of roads.
"And we may or may not have a full strategy at that time, but at least an awareness of that. And also the ability to share this data with our public officials at the state level," Diver said.
The town will also have to hold another town meeting in late summer to raise the transfer station budget based on a contract with Casella that is considerably higher than expected due to the increased cost of fuel and the Pittsfield co-generation plant not being open anytime soon.
The number that they came up with that they will need to ask for is $124,724.
"So, this is not just our problem, this is everybody's problem around here. Unfortunately, it's driving up costs substantially. And they're just doing their job by projecting what they think they're actually going to need to maintain their business," Hutcheson said.
"What that means, though, is that what we had set aside was woefully inadequate. There's another reason as well, and that is that in all the talk about offsetting the expenses with revenues, I did not include the full expenses that are necessary in the appropriation, even though the revenues will balance out the expenses."
The town can expect that the Pittsfield plant will not be open for the next year. Due to this, Casella will be trucking to Vermont, New York, or even further than those two plants due to them reaching capacity.
Currently, the town is working under a "handshake agreement" with the numbers they have proposed on a month-to-month basis.
The board proclaimed Tuesday, Aug. 2 as National Night Out calling upon all neighbors in Dalton to join the Police Department and National Association of Town Watch to support the national community-building campaign.
"National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes strong police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live and work," the proclamation reads.
The town intends to close South Carson at Main Street to School Street for the event. Join the town for live music, hot dogs given out by the Fire Department, and demonstrations from K9 Max and Wendell the comfort dog.
The architect for the Town Hall renovation is calculating the cost of various renovation options to see what can be done with the original borrowing authorization.
"The main difference for a minimal approach is how to treat the reinstalled insulation, whether to have a thick poly barrier or a sheet black period," Hutcheson said.
"The architect will provide a cost for both as well as for encapsulating the asbestos in historical and health agent building inspector offices as an alternative to the bid."
In other news, sitting as the License Board, the Select Board approved:
• A common victualers license and the entertainment license for PortaVia and an entertainment license for the return of the Purgatory Road cornfield maze event that will run in the Community Recreation Association woods on Oct. 14, 15, and 21.
• Richard Hall for a taxicab and livery license for Berkshire Shuttle LLC. He will be operating a Ford Escape SUV to transport patrons to their desired destination.
• The Veterans of Foreign Wars' request for a change of premise amendment for its alcohol and entertainment licenses to include an outdoor pavilion.
• The American Legion's change of manager application for an alcohol license.
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