Resident urges senior-center meetings and raises alarm about century-old water mains

A resident who identified himself as Jim urged the Dalton Select Board to hold meetings at the senior center and raised concerns about aging water mains that he said appeared to be more than 100 years old.

Why it matters: Jim said pictures of a Main Street water main showed a line that looked “well over a 100 years old,” and he argued that holding meetings at the senior center could encourage participation. He also referenced a software product for infrastructure tracking—variously called "Water Works" or "WaterWorx" in the discussion—as a potential tool to manage sewer and water assets and billing.

Board and staff response focused on readiness and funding. The Chair confirmed the town has a reserve fund for infrastructure repairs and said the town is moving slowly to increase water rates to begin setting aside more money. Public works staff described recent service-break repairs and noted that the town has projects engineered and ready to start when funding is available. One staff member said the town has used grants and coordinated water-main replacement with road projects in the past to stretch funding.

On coordination with street work, staff described a prior project on South Street where new mains were installed in the roadway rather than in backyards to simplify access; that project was partly paid with a State grant. Staff said when a major thoroughfare is repaved the water department aims to be brought into the project so water and sewer work can be coordinated to reduce total excavation and restoration costs.

Next steps: The board did not make a formal decision at the meeting but indicated it would consider holding future meetings at the senior center to encourage participation, and staff said the town is looking to slow, incremental rate adjustments and to increase reserves to cover anticipated infrastructure work.