Southborough Trails Committee approves budget split to cover Beals engineering overage, OKs bench and signage purchases

The Town of Southborough Trails Committee voted June 5 to allocate its remaining fiscal-year funds and seek Community Preservation Committee (CPC)/Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds to cover an engineering change order for Phase 2 of the Peninsula Trail project.

The committee's chair, Kat McKee, told members that Beals (the project's engineering consultant) has asked for additional work because structural engineers raised concerns about the bridge height and asked for more testing, including water-velocity analysis. McKee said the firm is expected to request about $5,000 more under a change of scope and that the town procurement officer was consulting general counsel about allowing the overage beyond the usual 25% change-order limit. "I have asked Dave, from Beals to to to send me a scope so I can get that change order processed quickly, because we're gonna need him to send us an invoice that we're gonna have to pay out of our budget this year," McKee said.

The committee recorded a remaining trails budget of roughly $3,600 for the fiscal year. McKee proposed — and the committee endorsed — splitting the $5,000 increment between the trails budget and CPC/CPA funds, with roughly $2,500 from the trails budget and the remainder from CPC/CPA. McKee described two CPC funding “buckets,” including a $47,000 allocation that she said could be used for the bridge and boardwalk work.

Members also approved buying one additional regular bench to add along the Peninsula Trail and to proceed on other small purchases from the remaining fiscal funds, including an interpretive sign (McKee estimated signage printing and installation costs at about $150) and a planned community "yoga on the trails" session (about $75). McKee said the committee would defer purchase of a second ADA-compliant bench because of its higher cost. "So I think we're in the clear now just to be able to submit an invoice," McKee said about CPC/CPA invoicing, and the group agreed to leave a small remaining balance as a contingency for end-of-year needs.

The committee approved a motion "that we spend our remaining budget on the engineering services, the bench, interpretive sign, yoga on the trails if and batteries if we need to or cement and posts as needed," with Tom MacCollier seconding. The roll-call vote recorded Satyendra Sharma, Will Warren, Tom MacCollier and Kat McKee voting yes; the motion passed.

Members emphasized they did not want to raise the bridge elevation, which could require re-review by the conservation commissions. McKee said the structural engineers' concern stemmed from 100-year flood elevations on the flood plain maps and that the engineers wanted to "run this to ground" to be comfortable with their approach. She noted the project had received prior approvals from the Southborough and Framingham conservation commissions based on the originally proposed elevation and location.

McKee said the committee will present a written update to the CPC for its June application window and, if necessary, attend a July CPC meeting. She said the committee is trying to move the Phase 2 work quickly to meet fiscal-year timing and that Beals must provide a formal scope and invoice in June for the town to pay from this fiscal year.

The committee also discussed procurement limits and the procurement officer's discretionary authority to approve a change larger than the typical 25% cap for non-public-buildings; McKee said the officer had taken the request to general counsel. The committee did not adopt a formal amended contract during the meeting; it approved the budget authorization described above and directed McKee to obtain the Beals scope and invoice.

The committee did not take minutes at the June 5 meeting; members said minutes drafted by Satyendra Sharma will be considered at the next meeting.