Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Capital Project topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustees and DPW disagree on who should lead planned parking-lot project
Summary
Trustees and DPW representative Bill Kundiff debated whether the library or DPW should initiate and manage a planned parking-lot repaving; trustees said they do not want the director managing technical engineering work while Kundiff said paving should be a DPW capital request and offered to help prepare scope and town-meeting materials.
Trustees and a Town of Southborough DPW representative disagreed over who should take technical and budgetary responsibility for a proposed repaving of the library parking area.
Bill Kundiff, present as a panelist, told trustees there are "budgetary concerns with some of the items that had been requested" and said the parking work "should be a capital request that comes from the trustees" to town meeting, or else DPW should manage it as a town capital project. He offered to help Ryan and trustees by working with an engineer to develop a scope and budget for a town-meeting request.
Trustees pushed back that the project is town property and historically handled by DPW, arguing the library director should remain focused on library programming and operations rather than acting as lead project manager for engineering work. Trustees said they lacked a budget line or institutional capacity for capital projects and wanted clarity on whether DPW would take on management or whether trustees would submit a capital request through town-meeting procedures.
Both sides agreed to a next step: a small working session (Jane, Ryan and a trustee) to review Kundiff's letter in detail and clarify whether trustees will request DPW assistance or prepare a capital request for town meeting. Trustees said better communication earlier in the process might have avoided misaligned expectations about the letter and edits.
Trustees and Kundiff also discussed that DPW engineering staff are currently assigned to major road projects, limiting their bandwidth; Kundiff confirmed he is willing to help the trustees identify engineers and advise on scope and fees.
