Thursday, December 20, 2012
Country road…take me home…
Without creating the need for a front end alignment …please
On December 18th, the MMA (Massachusetts Municipal Association) released a report on the need to increase Chapter 90 funding. Citing a $362 million funding gap, MMA is calling for an increase of $100 million to fund the state’s Chapter 90 program.
Chapter 90 was created in 1973 and funded with a portion of the gas tax. Chapter 90 funding has not kept pace with the increased costs for road construction. The gas tax revenue has been adversely affected by increase in hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles.
Cities and towns are notified in the spring of their Chapter 90 allotment for the coming year. It is a requirement that all cities and towns be notified by April. So far, so good. Too good to be true? Yup. Notification is not the same thing as release of the Chapter 90 money. There have been years when Chapter 90 money has not been released until July or August…halfway through the construction season.
STIP Projects – aka “TIP List”
TIP projects are projects like the Baldwinville Rd. reconstruction project. Chapter 90 money was used to fund the engineering and design costs for Baldwinville Rd. The STIP program is a combination of state and federal monies to fund the road improvements.
STIP projects are programmed through the regional planning commissions; in Templeton’s case -the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission . More information can be found at the Mass DOT website .
So what does this mean for Templeton?
We have limited Chapter 90 funds, which are controlled by the BOS and administered by the Highway superintendent. The BOS must vote to expend any and all Chapter 90 money. Chapter 90 money can be expended to fund the engineering and the design costs for projects like the Baldwinville Rd. project, which is then funded by the STIP program for construction. Chapter 90 money can be expended by a vote by the BOS to fix local roads …like the roads in East Templeton….over the vociferous objections of the water department.
The BOS can vote to do a neighborhood project like Back Bay in Baldwinville, which is funded by CDBG Block grants. The town uses Chapter 90 money to leverage a larger grant. Pros – fix water, drainage problems in an older neighborhood that qualifies by income. Cons- concentrate limited Chapter 90 money in one area of town…neglecting the road improvement needs of other areas in town.
Bad Roads
Raise your hand, if you feel you live on the worst road in Templeton. Wow. Ok. It looks as if ALL of you feel you live on the worst road in town. How can that be? I guess all of the roads in town are in pretty bad shape. You can put your hands down now.
One caveat – Chapter 90 money can NOT, as in NOT, be spent on unaccepted roads, easements, right of ways, and/or driveways. No way, no how!
My litmus test for lousy roads is: did traversing that road just shake a filling loose? Our family vehicles are vintage. I am not familiar with vehicles that have suspension or are aligned. Using the loose filling test, the worst roads in Templeton are (in no particular order): Otter River Rd, Orchard Lane, Royalston Rd., Barre Rd has lost its crown (no pun intended), and South Rd.
Royalston Rd. is problematic for a number of reasons. Royalston Rd traverses the back of the Templeton Development Center(TDC). It is a county road and the state, in its infinite wisdom gave control of that road to the town of Templeton with the dissolution of county government. County government by any other name – regionalization; but I digress. The uncertain future of the TDC makes it difficult to figure out how to proceed to fix Royalston Rd. If rumors are true, and a prison is sited at TDC, wouldn’t it be better to have the state fix that road? It would take about 6 years of Chapter 90 money, at the current allocation to fix Royalston Rd. The other option is to place Royalston Rd. on the TIP list – a 10-year process.
Orchard Lane, Schoolhouse Rd in ET are doable projects with Chapter 90 money. Otter River Rd. would need to be done in phases with Chapter 90 money.
All of the above scenarios assume the town is solvent and not in receivership.
My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie Farrell
I did not re-post this blog from 2 1/2 years ago. It seems more things "change" the more they stay the same.
ReplyDelete2 1/2 years ago, the equipment at the Highway barn was in bad condition. Time has not improved the condition of the fleet. It remains to be seen what the current BOS will vote as far as the excavator goes.
While Otter River Rd was repaved, the drainage is still an issue. Last time I checked, the price for the culvert to fix the drainage was $250,000.
So the $250,000 question, purchase an excavator with Chapter 90 money or fix the drainage on Otter River Road . Fixing Otter River Road runs into the re-occurring problem of the aging water mains throughout town.
How about those water main breaks?
No easy answers here.
How about those water main breaks under the new roads. If with no real plan from the water department to deal with the main problem it will prevent the road repairs above them. With all the money the water dept management has spent on reports and water main repairs why don't they have a plan. There is no plan for any main replacement. There is no money for any plan. This is what was said to the people that asked about it. With one of the highest water rates in Mass. WHY. The rate study was just done and they were told to raise the rates again and again . They didn't do it either. WHY. What good was a rate study if they cost if the info was not used? When the water dept spends 14,000.00 to thaw a frozen pipe that feeds 1 house one needs to wonder WHY. Lack of knowledge is the key here. We'll know the next time. To look at a new road like Baldwinville rd and watch the water push through the tar makes me wonder what the real issue is. Money,Management,lack of any plan. Lack of any cooperation. Choice of the use of private contractors have cost the water dept. or us a great deal more in the last 2 years and the facts prove it. When town employees are passed over for overtime and a private contractor comes to do the work the rate payer gets less bang for the buck. The managemnet has made a decision to use private contractors and could care less about the cost. They'll just raise the rates.Again and Again .One thing we all know for sure is "we" told you so. If we have an equipment open house it should start out back of the sand pile with a tour of the we told you so retired fleet. Maybe Jeff could be the tour guide for it.
ReplyDeleteActually that past post came about after a google search on chapter 90 funding and projects and it shows the issue is funding rather than equipment. So is the sound decision the one to spend three hundred thousand on an excavator or is it better to spend the $250,000.00 on drainage to fix a long term problem? Sorry Dave, I am busy making improvements to make it easier and more efficient to do maintenance on snow trucks. And why would I want to show people a bunch of broken rusted stuff that does not run? Is the highway dept. running a salvage yard? Why not put it out to bid as surplus and get rid of it?
ReplyDeleteso nobody has yet explained the need for an excavator ?? is it just that we had one in my opinion waste of money !!
ReplyDelete1-- you are not a construction company
2--you are a road maintenance entity
all an excavator is is a fancy backhoe that turns in circles that if you are digging trenches all day long that's what you need !
if you are doing road maintenance you get a back hoe it will do everything that an excavator will do and more!
the city of Gardner gets it !!they have single axle dump trucks and no excavator (oh my how come ) because they get it there not a construction company . oh my they even play snow with there single axle dump trucks !! and oh my god they even sand the roads with single axle sanders !! wow how do they get this all done !! Templeton wake up bigger trucks and bigger backhoes (aka excavator ) is not being responsible towards the tax payers
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
ReplyDeleteI believe the City of Gardner has a fund for capital expenses. They don't use equipment that is 30 years old. When you have the money to replace equipment on a regular basis, and you know the equipment will be replaced you can use single axle equipment.
In Templeton, the highway department can not rely on a program to replace old equipment. This also holds true for the cemetery dept and the police dept. and Fire/EMS. Until a funding mechanism ...the money... is in place to fund the replacement of equipment on a regular basis, the requests will be for equipment that can last a really long time.
City of Gardner also contracts out its water and sewer operations. When there is a water break, a gas leak or a sewer problem in Gardner, the road where those repairs are made is returned to an acceptable condition. Unlike Templeton.
Someone left a big mess on Athol Road, 2A just before Candle Light. Looks like there was a water main break, that was left undone. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to fix the mess, and if it is done the right way. Mr. Robinson felt it was acceptable to remove the Light and Water departments from a article that was to be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting requiring anyone that was going to open the road to place a deposit with the Town before the work was started. This would have been a way to guarantee the work was done right, and if not the people in this town would not be on the hook to fix someone else's mess. It will all come out in the wash. Bev.
DeleteSomeone left a big mess on Athol Road, 2A just before Candle Light. Looks like there was a water main break, that was left undone. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to fix the mess, and if it is done the right way. Mr. Robinson felt it was acceptable to remove the Light and Water departments from a article that was to be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting requiring anyone that was going to open the road to place a deposit with the Town before the work was started. This would have been a way to guarantee the work was done right, and if not the people in this town would not be on the hook to fix someone else's mess. It will all come out in the wash. Bev.
DeletePerhaps we should do some homework, who does route 2a / patriots road belong to? Who plows that road? Next, check on when was the last time Gardner bought new dump trucks? I believe the city has a few older trucks that are only used for sanding, perhaps one or two that were hand me downs from an oil company, you can call Gardner Dow and ask, they are pretty good about that. Not sure if a ten wheeler will out last a six wheeler just because of its size.
ReplyDelete