EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Town Council approved several requests for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding at its meeting on April 13. Jonathan Torcia, a member of the Community Preservation Commission first presented a request for $13,400 to paint and refurbish the Norcross House carriage house doors. Councilor Ralph Page opined that the project was maintenance as therefore, was not eligible for CPA funding.

 “I would say this is a one-time capital outlay,” Torcia responded. Councilor Marilyn Richards argued for the project, saying that the town has invested heavily in the property and that allowing it to deteriorate was a waste of money. She added, that there is no maintenance fund from which the Norcross House could self-fund the work.

Councilor Patrick Henry suggested the funds come from East Longmeadow’s capital improvement fund, but Richards reminded him that the property is not owned by the town.

Torcia then asked for $134,722.49 to resurface the track at East Longmeadow High School. He explained that $28,000 of the projects total $162,722.49 price tag would be funded by the high school’s revolving rental fund. The track must be resurfaced every eight to 10 years, Torcia said. He cautioned that while the commission was recommending funding this project, that it would not be recommended again in the future since CPA funding is meant for one-time projects.

Town Council President Michael Kane likened the resurfacing to performing routine maintenance on a car to ensure it doesn’t rust.

Henry questioned the amount, stating that a new track would only cost $80,000 more, but Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Bruce Feeney said a new track would require grinding down to the original pavement and would be significantly more expensive. East Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent Gordon Smith said that the job would go out to bid after the money is approved to hire Gale Associates, an engineering consultant firm. He said the amount is a “good-faith” estimate.

O’Connor mentioned that the track needs monitoring and he felt the members of the public who used the track were not following the rules that keep the facility in working order. Smith said that public accessibility was a condition of the track’s construction and Torcia commented that only publicly accessible projects were eligible for CPA funding. The money was approved to be spent from the CPA’s open space account.

Finally, the past approval of $113,101 was rescinded as it had been appropriated for an architectural study of Heritage Park that is no longer needed.

McNally described the emergency “brain surgery” that the town had needed the previous weekend. She said one of the two “brains” that make up the town’s core network system failed on April 10. She praised East Longmeadow IT Director Ryan Quimby, who she said worked 14 hours through the night to “relocate the brain from one tower into the other tower, which had failed.” She explained that if the electronics in both towers fail, the town’s systems will be cut off from the internet and it would be unable to do business.

While the $200,000 project had been designated as an FY22 capital project, McNally said that due to the failure, the replacement equipment had been ordered and would be replaced during this fiscal year. Funding for the project may require a transfer from the free cash account.

McNally told the councilors that the Town of Monson was planning a vote on whether to withdraw from the Hampden County Regional Retirement System in the wake of its most recent audit. The audit by the governing agency, Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC), uncovered instances of “questionable” financial management, which led some of the 18 towns that pay into that system to sign statements of no confidence.

McNally explained that if Monson withdrew from the system, the remaining towns would have to pay more to keep the system on track to be fully funded by 2036. With this in mind, she would have to decide whether to recommend East Longmeadow also withdraw. The town would likely join with another town or group of towns for retirement management.

The council will soon need to decide whether to continue with Republic Services for waste hauling as their contract is due to expire at the end of June. McNally said the town has received “dozens of complaints, weekly,” about missed trash pickups and refuse strewn about the street after the trucks leave. She noted, however, that if the town switches vendors, the new contract will likely cost “several hundred thousand dollars higher.”

A draft of the Master Plan has been sent to the Town Council for review. A copy of the draft warrant for the Annual Town Meeting can be found at https://www.eastlongmeadowma.gov.