LONGMEADOW – At the Oct. 21 Longmeadow Select Board meeting, the board decided to hire a Clerk of the Works for the DPW’s ongoing facility project, and also discussed myriad topics, including the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget in a joint meeting with the school committee and the town’s finance board.

One of the larger concerns for the budget brought up by Longmeadow Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk was the town’s debt. He explained that he and the select board agreed that committing 12 percent of the town’s budget was the limit that they could go to. He added that at the current rate, the town could soon be pushing 10 or 11 percent per year.

“Our level of debt is something to be concerned with. We have floated a lot of debt over the last six or seven years – we’re getting up there. In the very near future a large debt package would be something that could get us into trouble,” Pasterczyk said.

Select Board member Mark Gold attributed the lack of new growth in Longmeadow to its property values.

“It really is property values of the overall community and you can trace it all back to 2006 to 2011 when there was a huge run up in property values where everybody else went up a lot and the town of Longmeadow went up slightly,” Gold said.

One issue Pasterczyk also brought up was the the current 2.5 percent tax levy ceiling that the town could hit. He recommended to cut the levy back to 2.25 percent in 2019, then to 2 percent in 2020 and eventually 1.75 percent in 2021, or the town could run into financial problems such as cutting operational costs.

Select Board Chair Marie Angelides asked Pasterczyk what the damage would be if the town continued to hit the 2.5 percent tax levy, and Pasterczyk said it could be problematic.

“Hitting that number would be devastating to Longmeadow and the complexion of this town overnight,” he said.

Along with the tri-committee meeting, the regularly scheduled select board meeting also included discussion of various other town projects.

One of the old business items was an update to the Storrs Library’s current contract with the town, which was originally put in place 30 years ago and was meant to be a 100 year contract. The Select Board unanimously voted to approve the update to the library’s contract.

Jean Maziarz, the library’s director said, “We’re pleased with the result and happy the library can remain a resource in our town and we’re working together in a great way to make it happen.”

As the meeting continued, the board discussed the easement and giving of land on Dwight Road, where the intersection was recently renovated. Jim Martin, the attorney representing the Longmeadow Medical Arts Center came forward to discuss the plan with the select board. He explained that there was no formal giving over of the land by his client to the town before the project began, and now they were finalizing the project by giving the land over. The board approved the motion.

The board also briefly discussed the transition from Interim Town Manager Jay Moynihan to new Town Manager Lyn Simmons. She confirmed that she will be starting on Nov. 12, but she and the select board did not discuss much about the transition process at the meeting.

Another order of business was the discussion of adding a Clerk of the Works for the DPW’s ongoing facility project. Moynihan explained the clerk would be there to supervise the end of the construction and observe and work closely with the engineers and contractors. He added that he thought the town would be well served to have a clerk of the works on duty for the project. After some discussion, the select board unanimously approved to add a Clerk of the Works to the project.

During the residents’ comments portion of the meeting, Arlene Miller, a member of the DPW’s cart implementation committee, announced that starting the week of Oct. 28 Longmeadow residents will all be receiving new trash bins. She said the DPW will also be offering a recycling event for everyone’s old bins but the date will be announced at a later time. She added the new carts were funded by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental protection.

The select board closed the meeting by running through the warrant articles for the upcoming Town Meeting. With the exception of articles seven, 23 and 24 most of the articles passed. Angelides petitioned to remove articles 23 and 24 because both were taking too long to get underway before the town meeting and the board agreed for both.

Article seven dealt with pushing the tax levy to the 2.5 percent, but was met with backlash from everyone on the board except Vice Chair Richard Foster.

“We shouldn’t even take the chance if the community did approve it because it would just take us closer to the cliff,” Select Board member Thomas Lachiusa  said of article seven.

While most of the voting went smoothly, both Gold and Foster were against articles 18 and 19 in regard to appropriating CPC funds to renovating Wolf Swamp Field and Glenbrook Middle Schools’ fields.

“This is not even our money, this is community preservation money, it’s not the way to do business. It’s never been done this way,” Foster said of appropriating the funds.

Gold added, “I just feel very reluctant when I have this gut feeling we shouldn’t and can’t be doing this.”

The next select board meeting will be on Nov. 4.