Ben (DPW) told the committee the DPW is closing out several long-running capital projects and preparing others for delivery while expanding asset-management capability.

Legacy soil and MassDEP consent order: Ben reported removal of legacy soil at the DPW facility is essentially complete and the department is working with a consultant to finalize the closure; approximately $34,000 remains in the appropriation and restoration (grading and seeding) is planned for next late spring/summer to meet the MassDEP consent-order deadline.

Equipment and vehicle status: Ben reviewed recent and pending deliveries: two DPW trucks arrived last year and small turnbacks (~$12,600) were processed at Fall Town Meeting; other items in contract or awaiting delivery include NPDS/NPDES-related stormwater projects (design/permitting complete; contract/bid phases), H13 replacement and H6 replacement trucks expected in December, the jet vac is in active use, and some upfitting vendors required changes, delaying delivery windows. A paving machine was found incompatible with the loader and will be returned for refund; staff are repurposing funds toward a more suitable machine.

Asset management and buildings & grounds idea: Ben described work to expand GIS-based asset management and a fleet system migration to better track useful life, maintenance history, costs and make future capital planning more data-driven. Committee members discussed a longer-term proposal to centralize building and grounds maintenance across town and schools (a buildings & grounds department) with attendant discussions about tradeoffs vs. contracting.

Next steps: Ben will provide an inventory and vehicle mileage to the committee ahead of future capital requests and will continue contracting for remaining NPDS projects; staff will return with detailed cost estimates where required. No formal votes were taken in the transcript.

Representative quotes in this article are drawn from Ben’s DPW presentation and committee discussion (Speaker 8 and others).