SOUTHWICK – Town DPW Director Randy Brown met with the Select Board to discuss his proposed FY19 budget which he broke up into different sections including highway, road machinery, engineering, water, and sewer.
Under highway, Brown noted the culvert and drainage project on Granville Road was a big-ticket item and he is proposing $465,000 be put towards it.
Southwick DPW Director Randy Brown. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick)
According to Brown, the existing culvert on Granville Road is aging and failing. Over the last few years, the DPW has received several reports of residents in that area seeing sinkholes forming on that culvert. The design work for this project was completed in 2013 but the entirety of the project has never been accepted into a fiscal year budget and Brown would like to see that change.
“I’d like to get our value back from the efforts spent on designing that work,” said Brown.
Another item that the DPW has deemed important and requested funds under the highway section is installing new sidewalks. There are a number of deteriorating sidewalks that need improvement within the nearly 12 miles of town-owned sidewalks the highway department is responsible for maintaining.
“We have several locations that we’d like to replace with new sidewalks,” said Brown.
Brown has requested $50,000 go towards new sidewalks. At an approximate cost of $65 per linear foot that amount will cover about 800 feet.
If the items are approved by the town, Granville Road has the potential to be quite busy next year as the DPW has also requested $480,000 for road paving and draining improvements on that roadway. This part of the project would be considered as Phase I and would consist of a section of Granville Road being paved from the area of College Hwy to Maple Street. Drainage and sidewalks would also be replaced.
In the budget, it noted that the remainder of Granville Road is in good shape and would be re-paved during a different phase in the future.
For road machinery, the largest line item was a new dump truck in which Brown has requested $245,000 for that purchase. The current truck, which is a 2000 Sterling, has had major issues with its fuel tank, transmission, and much more. On January 17, a DPW worker was operating the current Sterling truck when it had a serious mechanical failure. The truck is vital to the DPW as it is used for plowing, hauling gravel, stone, and other materials.
Under the engineering category, Brown would like to see $120,000 used towards the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Permit. The permit was written and administered by Mass DEP and Mass EPA.
It is a more comprehensive permit that regulates any discharges to public bodies of water. With permit pending to be in place by July 1, Brown would like to use $120,000 in order to fund the first year of the permit, which would include the notice of intent, the stormwater management plan, mapping, public education outreach, and more.
The last item in the proposed budget was $155,000 for a new grinder pump repair shop. Located at 661 College Hwy, the repair shop is used for maintenance of grinder pumps. In the budget, the DPW listed what the expanded version of the repair shop would include.
- Expanded 24’ x 30’ area with wood frame and metal roof, garage door, plumbing, electrical, and heating upgrades.
- Hoisting system to transfer pump between the various stations
- Washing station to clean off the pump and components. This wash bay will drain and be pumped into the existing septic system.
- Working station to repair the pump, including the necessary work bench, tools, equipment, spare parts, etc.
- Testing station, which will include a complete grinder pump set-up with 300 gallon tank and piping to test the repaired pump
Addressing the entire proposed FY19 budget, Brown expressed the importance of every line item.
“All of these (items) are critical items in order to maintain and improve our infrastructure and our roadways,” said Brown.
Brown’s next steps are a joint meeting with the Finance Committee and the Select Board in February to review the requested items in detail. Then, a meeting with the capital expenditures committee to talk about the large items before Brown brings the budget to the annual town meeting in May.
