Saturday, March 1, 2014

Special town meeting scheduled

Special town meeting scheduled

Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON — The Select Board voted Monday to schedule a Special Town Meeting on March 29 in conjunction with the Narragansett Regional School District to vote on several important issues, such as a new boiler system at the school and a Proposition 2 1/2 town override.

The meeting — proposed by Superintendent Ruth Miller and paid for by the district — is needed to move forward with installing a new biomass heating system in the middle and high school, replacing the expensive oil boilers with a more energy efficient woodchips system. The system will be partially funded by a grant given by the U.S. Forestry Service.

Ms. Miller was pushing to hold a meeting in March rather than wait for the Annual Town Meeting in May in order for the system to be ready for next winter.


“If we don’t get this done sooner rather than later, the timeline is so tight that we would need to wait a full year to get this in,” said Ms. Miller.

Town officials still searching for a solution to their estimated $505,000 budget shortfall, discussed partnering the town meeting with the school’s meeting to avoid having several meetings in a short period.

Interim Town Administrator Bob Markel reported Fiscal Year 2013’s books should be closed by the end of the month — giving the accountant time to submit them to the Department of Revenue for review. By doing so, it is possible that  the town could receive a free cash figure by the end of March.

“If there’s a possibility that it will be done by the end of the month, we could piggyback off the school’s meeting, since they will be paying for it,” explained Vice Chairman Kenn Robinson.

BOS member Julie Farrell argued that it will be difficult for the board to present their solutions to the budget shortfall while sharing a meeting with the school district, but also agreed that having multiple special town meetings would not help either cause.

“In order to pass the override and get the money for the school, it’s going to take the whole town,” said Ms. Farrell.

Ms. Farrell supported holding a town meeting in early May in order to give the revenue department ample time to review the town’s finances and release the certified free cash amount.  In the past it has not been a speedy process, she said.   

Last year, the FY12 books were submitted at the end of February and the town did not receive their certified free cash until early spring.

Mr. Robinson noted that the board unanimously agreed that they should not rely on one-time revenue such as free cash as doing so has contributed to the fiscal issues at hand. He said waiting until the town has a free cash number to hold the meeting sends the message that the board is going to fall back on bad habits instead of moving forward with a more permanent solution. Mr. Robinson voiced his concerns that the town might not have enough time to raise the funds before the budget runs out.

“We cannot wait until May,” he argued. “We need to have time to make those cuts without the town shutting down.”

Selectman Doug Morrison supported Mr. Robinson’s idea.

“No matter what we do, we need to have the town and school special meetings together,” said Mr. Morrison. “If we do two separate ones, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot and perpetuating the idea that this is our thing and that is theirs. We’re one town.”

After much deliberation, the board voted 4-1 to hold the meeting on March 29, with Ms. Farrell voting against.

The meeting’s warrant was opened Tuesday and articles may be submitted until March 10.

The board will likely submit two override articles for different amounts — cuts to department budgets and the option to use free cash as solutions to close the shortfall.

The school district will put forward the biomass heating system article and could possibly ask for a vote on a $500,000 debt exclusion to pay for the schematic and design phase of a new elementary school building.


15 comments:

  1. So if I'm reading this right, there will be 2 votes? An override for the town, & a debt exclusion for the school biomass?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually think the school is looking for a $500k debt exclusion for the schematic design phase of the new elementary school and an override for the town.

      Delete
  2. Until the warrant closes on March 10, there is no way to know how many articles will be on the STM warrant.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So Julie, as a current selectman & candidate for SC, what actions are you in favor of?

    ReplyDelete
  4. How is the Town of Templeton going to manage money without a treasurer? Rumor has it he was fired?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We could only be so lucky !! Being a good guy is one thing, being able to do the job is something else !! This person has caused a lot of problems for the people who work for the town, and for the town it's self. A good size chunk of change, has been spent sorting out a variety of problems, a qualified treasurer could have solved in a lot less time. I hope we have learned what happens when we do not follow a process to find qualified people to do the important jobs in our town. My opinion, as usual. Bev.

      Delete
  5. Has anyone done the numbers in regards to the biomass boiler system? Seems like there are a lot of moving parts with this type of system and more labor intensive. Knowing the full cost might help making a decision a little easier. Are there any other school systems using this type of heating system? The article mentions a partial grant but not how much money is needed from the town of Templeton and Phillipston, what might this amount be?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The first numbers were from the selectmen ken and super miller. $400k spent now in oil. the chart spreadsheet shows now the oil at 261,120.00. The real hidden numbers would be who runs this system a boiler fireman? 24 hr operation would be 3 full time employees and a front end loader/chip shed/trailer dump unit full time. Not to mention the waste and soot particles in the air for the people to smell and breath. I would think a pelet furnace like Trellis Structures in East Templeton has would make more sense and be more economical to operate. 2 silos and augers like a farm would have for grain. These units can also burn corn as a fuel source too. Inground silos could be put in where the old oil tanks will have to be taken out. Not a cheap thing to do either. It's the hidden costs to change from one source to the other that will cause the most pain. Pellet use has shown to be a good renewable energy source,problem is if you didn't buy prior to the cold season you may have a hard time to find the bags if you run out. this season being so cold and more use of the pellets has shown a shortage and limit to how many bags you can purchase. Suppliers are sold out and have waite list and limit on how many you can get. With the silo truck load system,the product is cheaper and may prove to be the system for NRSD to look into at this time. Looking at the chart on the Central plant upgrade intrest and loan will be 3,223,040.00 after 20 years. Has any research been done on a pellet systen?
    Miller said she needed a answer soon and if not soon would put the deal on hold till next season. This is Templeton and with the problems we have now what is she thinking. Time for some Q+A first. Education is what is needed now on this request.Lets not forget the OBAMA EPA is looking to change the particulates allowed to discharge to reduce 2 micron the size which will outlaw the residential wood stove sales.

    ReplyDelete
  7. MWCC.. runs a wood boiler system maybe the selectman should go a talk with them!! they also have a wind mill too ...lol

    ReplyDelete
  8. It looks like the numbers show the cost of O&M at $12,500/yr. I am curious how that number was developed. Price of propane at $1.40/gal. in the first year seems very reasonable. The chart shows the price of wood chips at $30/ton but does not show the moisture content. It looks like the water content can get reasonable high at times. The interest rate on the loan is 4.5% for the twenty year period. It looks like the life of the unit is twenty five to thirty years with O&M costs increasing 3.3% per year so that at 25 years the O&M is only $23,692, this is most likely a very well made unit. There must be someone in town who has experience working with these units as Seaman Paper Mills uses wood chips along with what mike c says about MWCC. Do these numbers seem realistic to those familiar with this type of operation?

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's good to take your time and look over the numbers. I used to live in Springfield and if you follow the link you can see the project we ended up with.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ5CbLnSjo0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It bothers me that Ms. Miller would come sailing into the meeting of the BOS needing a answer soon. First of all, I seriously think this is not the only grant out there, and the hidden costs just might eat us alive. Bart has been looking at pellet system would make more sense. You can make pellets out of most anything, even seaweed, grass or garbage, as long as your furnace can handle it. The one real requirement is you have to keep the pellets dry. These systems usually have a silo that the pellets are blown into by the delivery truck, and there is very little need to handle much of anything. I do not know how much time Ms. Miller has spent looking into these systems, but I do not think we should create another mess for us to get into by going for the first grant that comes by. I do give her credit for looking for a alternative for burning oil, but I have a uneasy feeling about this. Bev..

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. I think a little more effort could be made at conservation while this is investigated. The cost/use of electricity at Gansett is 3X per square foot the cost/use of electricity used by Baldwinville Elementary. When the usage was questioned, the response was that 'Gansett is open 16 hours a day. There is a place we could cut expenses. Tell the kids we don't want to kill all those polar bears. I'm sure the school teaches all about Global Warming. Maybe the administration should take those lessons to heart.

      Delete
    4. Lol. Then where would the town have all their meetings???? Maybe they can pay for their own heat.

      Delete