Selectmen and capital outlay members spar over timing, sharing of bridge reports in Blackstone capital plan

A disagreement over when engineering documents are shared with committees and the public surfaced at the Blackstone Selectmen meeting on Sept. 10.

Jeff Silverstein, a town resident and member of the capital outlay group, told the board he was surprised the July PAR bridge report "was not forwarded to me" after it became a public document and said the capital outlay committee is the charter-designated body to develop and maintain the town’s capital plan. "The capital outlay committee is the sole town agency designated by the charter to both develop the capital plan and to maintain it," Silverstein said during citizens forum.

Selectmen and the town administrator pushed back on the idea that the report was being hidden. The town administrator said the board vets and adopts a plan and that the capital plan is a "living document" that changes as grants, completed projects and new priorities arise. He also pointed out that much of the material had been circulated by email and that the PAR report was new to the public packet during this meeting.

Capital outlay and selectmen discussed processes to keep members updated: the town recently purchased ClearGov budgeting software to centralize capital requests and attachments; department heads can upload forms and supporting materials, and the town administrator said he will post the PAR report to the town website after the board has had a chance to review it. Several members asked for clearer notice when large estimated expenditures appear so advisory boards can adjust long-range forecasts.

The board did not vote to adopt specific capital changes but agreed to coordinate better with the capital outlay committee and share updated documents as they are vetted.