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Town manager: updated lead-service inventory shows about 427 unknowns; loan-forgiveness application requires voter approval
Summary
Town Manager Jessica Cyr said consultant Hazen reduced unknown residential service-line statuses to about 427 and that the town must secure voter authority at town meeting to pursue a loan-forgiveness bonding application this round, which DES said will lapse if not submitted now.
Town Manager Jessica Cyr reported that the consultant Hazen provided an updated baseline for lead-service-line mapping that reduced the number of unknown service-line statuses to about 427. Cyr said staff will consult the Department of Transportation for as-built records on several streets to help identify where the town's responsibility begins and ends.
Cyr told the Select Board that the Department of Environmental Services (DES) had warned the town it must apply in the current round for loan forgiveness tied to lead-service replacement or risk losing that forgiveness opportunity. She said voter authority at the upcoming town meeting will be required to submit the bond/loan-forgiveness application and that, per information she had received, the costs for a sizable project would be borne by water users rather than through general property taxation.
Board members discussed whether and when to pursue potholing and other field work to identify the town side of service lines; Cyr said staff would prioritize lining up vendors and would begin work once funding is confirmed. The board also noted that two properties on Brickyard Road have galvanized lines that will need replacing and discussed whether future development costs should be borne by developers.
What happens next: staff will include the loan-forgiveness application decision and any bond language on the town-meeting warrant and present additional cost and scope information to voters.
