LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Public Safety Building Committee continues to chip away at the planning of the town's public safety facility project. 

 

There are a lot of unknown variables that the committee is attempting to make clearer including the cost and scope of the project to the most feasible funding options available to them. 

 

During its most recent meeting, committee members agreed to establish task forces to visit other public safety buildings to learn from their experiences in the design and community approval process. The composition of the task force subcommittees will be decided during the October meeting.

 

The key components of getting a project approved by a community is to identify and pursue funding opportunities, obtain professional services, and stay in close communication with community members and administrators, committee member Eric Harrington said. 

 

These procedures were identified during a public safety seminar Harrington attended in Dover, N.H. During the two-day seminar, it was expressed that the need to establish steps and create a chronological order chart early with visual aids is important to get a project approved by a community, he said. 

 

The mistakes that the town made during the previous design proposal was also discussed during the seminar.

 

Harrington said the town became "kind of a case study in the seminar early on." The conversation on the design project was over in 13 seconds because there was only one proposal and one price tag. 

 

It was also discussed that making motions are critical to keep the project moving forward, Harrington said. 

 

That does not mean that the committee can not revisit and change the decision later in the case of unexpected obstacles but the committee needs to put decisions to bed to keep the project moving. 

 

The committee also started to explore potential funding options for the project juggling ideas including getting funding through the town, bonds, state, or banks.  

 

Town Administrator Gina Dario explained to the committee that the town's normal budget is finely tuned and is already fighting a tide of increases. 

 

The town applies for grants to cover the cost of projects it cannot cover with the budget. The town's operating budget is growing slower than other areas, Dario said. 

 

On a year-to-year basis the town has maintained a fairly level operating budget seeing increases of about 5 percent, she said.  

 

About 60 percent of the budget is education expenses, approximately 10 percent of the budget goes towards public works, and 7 percent covers administration expenses. 

 

The town also has a couple of accounts to cover the cost of bigger issues that it cannot account for, she said. 

 

Oftentimes there will be an article in town meetings to use free cash to cover the cost of these issues. 

 

The town has to overbudget so it does not overextend. The money that is not spent during the fiscal year is turned into free cash. 

 

Over the years, the town has been able to underspend more than normal because of American Rescue Plan Act funding that has since expired.

 

At the time of town meeting this past spring, the town had approximately $997,000 in free cash; the amount is sitting at about $468,000 now. 

 

A committee member asked if Dario could estimate how much free cash is generated every year. Although she cannot be certain based on previous years, conservatively the town would add about $200,000 to $300,000 a year. 

 

The town is effectively debt free, Dario said, as it has paid off debt. So if the committee were to decide to borrow, then that gets into the town's annual allocation. 

 

Although it is unclear what the committee currently has in its budget, based on its previous expenses including the cost of the soil analysis, there is likely around $60,000 left, Chair Mark Siegars said. 

 

During its last meeting, the committee approved using $10,000 for a needs assessment, schematic design, and a cost estimate of adding the Fire Department to the public safety building proposal. 

 

Siegars said it will take 10 weeks for this to be complete.

 

Committee members also discussed potentially hiring a grant writer for a year. The committee will continue to discuss funding options in the future. 

 

They intend on bringing people into the meetings including the town financial adviser, a bond adviser, and someone from a bank to explain the process.