LONGMEADOW – On Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. the Town of Longmeadow will have the opportunity to come together for Town Meeting at the Longmeadow High School gymnasium to vote on 24 warrant articles. Among the warrant articles are hotly debated issues including the town’s Department of Public Works (DPW) facility and the capping of the Birnie Road/Tina Lane landfill.

Articles one, two, three, four, five

Article one involves the Community Preservation Act (CPA) which requires Town Meeting to appropriate funds or reserve funds for future appropriation of at least 10 percent of the estimated annual CPA revenue for open space, community housing and historic preservation. By approving this article, the town would raise and appropriate $139,560 from the FY2020 Community Preservation Fund revenues, thereby satisfying the FY2020 requirement. The current FY20 state matching share is estimated at 11.57 percent. The finance committee recommends article one.

Article two is in place to see if the town would raise and appropriate $15,000 to go toward an independent, pavement distress survey to assist decision makers of roadway improvements in the prioritization and financial planning of capital investments on the streets of Longmeadow. The survey would provide the listing of condition on all roadway segments in town and the recommended improvement action and associated costs. The recommendation for this article will be made on the floor at town meeting.

Article three is in place due to the Fire Department being notified of two retirements that will occur in early FY2021. When this occurs, there will be a staffing shortfall until the positions can be filled and new employees trained. Article three asks if the town will vote to raise and appropriate $45,000 to supplement the FY2020 Operating Budget, Fire Department line item for Firefighter Salaries. By transferring this sum, it would allow the department to hire two replacement employees on or about Dec. 1, 2019, to fill the anticipated vacancies and have fully operational employees at the time of retirement. Article three is be recommended by the finance committee.

Article four involves an appropriation of $390,000 for maturing principal on long term debt and $227,506 of interest on long term debt to cover the FY2020 debt service on the Oct. 2019 bonding of the new Council on Aging Facility. This was not part of the original FY2020 budget passed at the Annual Town Meeting in May of this year. There will be a recommendation made for this article on the floor.

Article five, a significantly smaller sum of money than previous articles, involves the raising and appropriating of $100.76 for the purpose of paying bills of the prior year. The finance committee recommends this article.

Article Six

Article six is an administrative action that is required under the amended MGL Chapter 44 Section 20 for bond authorizations made after November 2016. It involves the appropriation of a sum of $1,265,000 from the premium paid to the Town upon the sale of the bonds issued on Oct. 30 to pay the costs of the following projects: LED streetlights project, landfill capping project, the Council on Aging Facility project, the repair of the Morningside Drive Culvert project. In the description of the article, it notes that by doing this, it allows the Town to structure its bids on bonds being sold in a way that would attract investor competition through the use of premiums, thus lowering the true interest costs the town pays on the financing. A recommendation for this article will be made on the floor.

Articles seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13

Articles seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, and 13 all involve transferring available funds in the treasury in different values for different projects. Articles seven, 11, 12 and 13 are all recommended by the finance committee, whereas articles eight, nine, and 10 will all have recommendations made on the floor.

Article seven involves a transfer of $175,000 for the purpose of cleanup costs associated with the July 6 microburst. Article eight is a transfer of $125,700 to supplement the Phase I costs associated with the permanent capping of the Birnie Road/Tina Lane Landfill. Article nine is the transfer of $125,000 to the FY2020 Operating Budget for legal expenses for “protecting the Town’s interest dealing with the distribution of natural gas in Town and other legal matters associated with the site for the new DPW facility.”

Article 10 is the transfer of $45,000 for the purpose of providing the Town’s share, which is 25 percent, of a Municipal Vulnerability Program grant. The town applied for this grant for the purpose of mitigating future erosion and tree damage within the town. As the article’s description explains, the grant is two-fold. The first part involves a study of the 14,000-plus public trees in town, which would provide a report, and a software based management plan. The second part would be used to conduct an engineering analysis of the Dwight Road drainage system and to provide alternative analysis and preliminary design services.

Article 11 involves the transfer of $140,000 to supplement the FY2020 Operating Budget – DPW Forestry account for the remainder of FY2020. This is for the purpose of continuing to remove or prune potentially hazardous trees on town property. Article 12 is a transfer of funds in the sum of $25,000 to supplement the FY2020 Budget – DPW Planting account for the purpose of satisfying 200-plus tree planting requests.

Article 13 is a transfer of $87,800 to the Operating Stabilization Fund. This transfer is proposed due to select board policy that all free cash amounts in excess of $500,000 be transferred into the Operational Stabilization Fund. The funds are transferred only after the Town’s fiscal year’s budget is balanced and related financial matters are covered.

Article 14

Article 14 asks the town to appropriate $1,300,000 to pay additional costs of constructing and equipping a new DPW facility. In the article description, it notes that during the early phases of construction asbestos was discovered buried under the asphalt of the then parking lot of the former tennis facility. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) required it to be removed and disposed of properly. In conjunction with the DEP, the town removed the contaminated soils by using the material as cover at one of the town’s former landfills that was not properly capped. The cost of remedying this was in excess of $2,500,000. The Town Meeting warrant provides further description of this article. The recommendation for this article will be made on the floor.

Articles 15 and 16

Both articles 15 and 16 are recommended by the finance committee, with article 15 potentially authorizing the Treasurer to borrow $2,000,000 to complete Phase II of the capping of the remaining portion of the Birnie Road/Tina Lane landfill. Article 16 is the transfer of $236,000 from Water Retained Earnings for the purposes of replacing water mains on Fairview Street.

Articles 17 and 18

Articles 17 and 18 are both in regard to transferring funds from the Community Preservation Act account for school-related projects. Article 17 is the transfer of $50,000 from the Community Preservation Act account for the Wolf Swamp Fields Ring Road to a Community Preservation Act account for irrigation improvements at Glenbrook Middle School. Article 18 asks to transfer $71,500 from the Community Preservation Act account for the leveling of Wolf Swamp Fields to a Community Preservation Act account for renovations of baseball fields at Blueberry Hill School, Wolf Swamp School, Glenbrook Middle School and Bliss Park. The recommendation for both of these articles will be made on the floor.

Articles 19 and 20

Both articles 19 and 20 involve election concerns. Article 19 is in place to see if the Town would vote to authorize the select board to petition the Massachusetts State Legislature to revoke the May 14, 2019, Annual Town Meeting vote of Article 35.  At the May 14 meeting, Town Meeting accepted provisions of Mass General Law Chapter 51 Section 16A which created a four member board of election commissioners to replace the three member registrars of voters. The Board of Election commissioners are requesting that this acceptance of the statute be revoked, which it can be by Town Meeting. By passing this article, it would accelerate the revocation of the new statute.  A recommendation for these articles was not listed.

Article 21

Article 21 looks to amend a general bylaw in town regarding water and sewer, water service. “The bylaw, as currently written, only allows water related costs of the Water and Sewer Department to be covered through metered water usage,” the warrant explains. By passing this article, the change would allow the select board to add connection charges to allow the town to collect revenue that supports Water Department fixed and infrastructure costs from customers whose “zero seasonal usage limits their participation in paying fixed and capital costs.” This change brings the water billing system in line with the sewer billing fees. A recommendation for this article was not listed.

Articles 22, 23 and 24

Articles 22, 23 and 24 are all citizens’ petitions. Article 22 asks if the town would vote to ban the sale and use of single use plastic straws and polystyrene food and beverage ware and packing from stores, food establishments and public venues. The article provides a much lengthier description regarding the particulars including enforcement, effective dates, use regulations and definitions.

Article 23 involves the transfer from available funds in the treasury, $110,000 to construct a sidewalk along the east side of Knollwood Drive stopping at the intersection of Knollwood Circle.

Article 24 asks the town to consider transferring from available funds in the treasury the sum of $15,000 for the study of the design, layout and location on town-owned land for an outdoor skate park.