LONGMEADOW – After last week’s meeting was cancelled because of the snowstorm, the Longmeadow Select Board met on Dec. 9 to accept the FY 19 audit statements, sign a new library agreement and host a lengthy discussion with Longmeadow’s Green Community Energy and Sustainability Committee.

During the board comments section of the meeting, board member Mark Gold shared some good news with regard to the new cobrahead streetlights for the town. “We estimated it would be $90,000 to purchase the cobraheads and the bids are coming in substantially below that,” he said, “We’re in really good shape.”

After Gold’s announcement Board Chair Marie Angelides gave a statement about the continued fight to prevent Columbia Gas from building a new metering station and a gas pipeline on the country club. “This afternoon we were granted full party status so we can now ask Columbia Gas questions under oath. Becoming a full party does not give us a path to stop building a facility, hopefully it gives us a voice and provides us with a platform that guarantees we receive more information from Columbia Gas and their long term plans,” she said.

Once Angelides finished, the board moved to old business to sign the new agreement with the library when Longmeadow Police Chief John Stankiewicz and another officer came forward to sign the agreement as witnesses.

On the signing, Angelides stated, “I want to thank the hard work that was done with the library and board of trustees because I know this had been hanging out there for many years but you were persistent. It’s a beloved institution and thank you for working so hard.”

The board then jumped ahead to new business to bring Tania Campbell in front of the board to talk about and vote on the annual fiscal year audit statements for 2019. She explained that the audit does not look at “absolutely everything” and sometimes issues can slip through the cracks before giving her presentation.

One of the sticking points from the discussion was the $88.5 million in pension and OPEB liabilities the town owes to Hampden County. Campbell explained that these liabilities depend on the funding for the programs, the town’s health insurance costs and the individual actuaries valuing the liabilities, but there isn’t much that can be done about it.

Vice Chair Richard Foster asked how they would be able to pay off the liabilities, to which Town Treasurer Paul Pasterczyck said it would not be easy. He said, “If we had a 20–year funding schedule we’d probably have to put in another million dollars per year to get on a proper schedule for the OPEB alone.”

There was a unanimous vote to accept this year’s audit statements.

The meeting jumped back into old business when Stankiewicz came forward to discuss the new sidewalk near Wolf Swamp School and Knollwood Drive. During this section he talked about how dangerous the sidewalks can be for the children and what they can do until the new sidewalk is finished. He said, “We evaluated that area quite extensively and we’ve been dealing with this issue for over a decade. The best answer is to have kids walk to school and limit the amount of vehicles going through there but it’s not a realistic possibility.”

The board then moved the meeting back down in the agenda to new business again for a lengthy discussion with Longmeadow’s Green Communities Energy and Sustainability Committee. Andrea Chason, the chair of the committee and two other members stepped forward to talk about their plans for the upcoming year. She added that the town was in a position to get some extra funding from the Green Communities this year. “We are actually in a good place to start looking at what we can put together as an application to go forward to get funding for some of the projects we have in mind,” Chason said.

David Miller, a member of the committee quickly ran through a litany of gas and electricity utilities audits from buildings throughout the town. Through the audits, Miller explained the committee discovered the town had generated some savings from various utility conservation projects.

Foster then asked if there was any way to use the funds from the savings. “Right now there’s money on the table and if it is a true savings, why don’t we slip it into a fund and do this energy program, we have plenty of projects for the Green grants,” he said. Gold added on to Foster’s point by suggesting that the town should prioritize different projects to help with conservation efforts.

Foster then brought forward a proposal about a Senior Housing Task Force he discussed forming with board member Marc Strange, who was not present, during a November meeting. He explained the nine–person task force would look into seniors downsizing their homes and senior transportation among other things that could affect the town’s seniors over the next 20 years.

One of the problems Foster discussed is the town’s rapidly aging population and they “need to address it quickly.” He said, “Already 30 percent of our population is above 60 and it’s growing quickly. I thought we were gonna be there by 2025 but this is happening now. The needs are gonna be expanding rather than contracting for that population.” The board ultimately tabled the discussion for the next meeting.

The last order of business was to quickly run through and approve a huge list of liquor licenses for the next year. The board unanimously approved every license.

The Longmeadow Select board will host their next meeting on Dec. 16.