Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Works topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Selectboard hears plea to address years-long paving backlog, weighs multi-year DPW funds
Summary
Brookline officials heard Public Works warnings that the town is "years behind" on paving and discussed hiring two highway employees and establishing multi-year funds (Gravel Road Upgrade and equipment reserve) to catch up; questions remain on whether to permit multi‑year warrant appropriations.
Brookline’s Selectboard on Jan. 12 heard town public-works staff warn that the town is financially behind on road maintenance and discussed warrant articles to add staff and restart multi-year funds to address paving and equipment needs.
Scott Leard, who presented the highways, streets and bridges budget, said salaries changed little since October but overtime is up because of a hard winter and that roadside cutting decreased after the town acquired equipment. He asked the board to add $20,000 to a new “parking lots” line to pave the lot at H-43 on Main Street and said the department is “years behind” on paving needs; the Public Works total was listed as $1,284,061 after the addition.
Leard proposed two warrant-article elements to rebuild the town’s ability to undertake larger projects: hiring two new Highway Department employees (raising headcount from five toward a more typical 7–8 for towns of this size) and restarting multi-year reserve funds—a Gravel Road Upgrade Fund at $50,000 per year for five years aimed at projects such as Hood Road, and a separate $50,000-per-year equipment reserve to plan for expensive DPW replacements. He said three of the town’s four dump trucks are already over 20 years old.
Selectboard Chair Eddie Arnold said he prefers consolidating DPW funding into one account and voiced skepticism about multi-year appropriations, calling the practice a multi-year commitment a ‘‘Sanbornized appropriation’’ in discussion. Leard countered that the town is about $4 million behind in paving and that a single fund likely will not cover all needs.
The board asked staff to prepare language for warrant articles and to notify Leard of votes on Wednesday; no final decision on the multi-year structure was reached at this session. The article to hire two employees and the proposed five-year funds will appear as warrant articles for voter consideration, with details and legal structure to be finalized ahead of Town Meeting.
