Opening remarks: A resident (this reporter) addressed the Board regarding the proposed gas-powered leaf-blower ban. Town Manager John Mangiaratti noted a High School Volunteer Internship Program, and invited responses to a survey regarding the Fire Department two-location staffing experiment that will be ending soon.
Ambulance fee increase: Acton maintains “enterprise funds” to support services that are funded by user fees rather than taxes. In January 2024, Fire Chief Anita Arnum, Budget manager Ellie Anderson, and Director of Finance Marianne Fleckner described the Ambulance Enterprise Fund’s activities and financing; the fund is supported by user fees and by subsidies from the Town’s general fund. At that time, they outlined plans to return after a year to review the fund’s financial history and to reduce its reliance on subsidies.
At the present meeting, Ms. Anderson reviewed the past year’s services and revenue history, describing the variety of payers that the Fund bills, and the low reimbursement rates and delays in payment that make financial planning challenging. The Fire Department provides the ambulance services and has faced the same budget challenges as other town departments – personnel costs and recruitment challenges, equipment maintenance and repairs, and upcoming capital needs. After a brief discussion, the Board voiced its appreciation of the strategic rate-setting plan and approved a 10% increase in the current rates.
Fossil Fuel Waivers: Building Commissioner Ed Mullen joined the Board for a discussion of waivers from the ‘Regulating Fossil Fuel Infrastructure In Buildings‘ bylaw that was adopted at the May 2023 Town Meeting. That bylaw forbids the issuance of a building permit for new buildings or major renovations where that building permit includes “Fossil Fuel infrastructure” as defined; however, the bylaw contains a variety of exceptions and allows waivers including “without limitation…factors [that] would make the project economically unviable; or … technological or other factors [that] would make the project unsuitable for its intended purpose.” The bylaw provides that the Select Board shall issue, and may amend, guidance regarding waivers.
Commissioner Mullen described a waiver request from a resident seeking to replace an induction stove with a gas cooktop, due to a preference for traditional cooking methods and cookware. He said that “a few” restaurants had decided against an Acton location because of the expense due to the Fossil Fuel infrastructure regulation. Given the lack of explicit criteria, Commissioner Mullen said that, as the initial authority in the waiver decision hierarchy, he would be inclined to pass each waiver application up to the Select Board. A call-in participant spoke in strong terms regarding the discussion, describing it as micromanaging personal choices and remarked more generally on the essentially zero (“13th decimal place”) benefit of the regulation. The Board was in general agreement on the necessity of more explicit criteria and agreed to return to the issue.
Town Hall Renovations: Assistant Town Manager Tom Begin summarized results from a voluminous cost analysis of renovations to the Town Hall, which was built in 1864. Mr. Charter recounted some history of the building’s utilities, from heating with small coal stoves, to an oil burner, to the present natural gas; and he described the challenges of renovations to a working office building. The issue before the Board was to choose between alternative heat pump proposals – air source or geothermal source. Mr. Begin emphasized that despite the length of the document, each proposal is an early cost estimate.
Board members and residents participated in the discussion. The air-source heat pump option, at about $3.74 million, was preferred over the ground-source geothermal option at about $4.43 million. Questions about natural gas either as an adjunct or as a primary heat source were raised and remain unanswered in public documents, although personal communications on that topic were mentioned. The Board voted unanimously to proceed with the air-source heat-pump option.
Department of Public Works (DPW) Building: A proposed replacement for the DPW building on Forest Road has been a Select Board goal and frequent Select Board (and Acton Exchange) topic. After reviewing a DPW Facility construction cost estimate, the Board unanimously approved Article 7, for $35,200,690 borrowing costs, to be brought to Town Meeting; that project is on the ballot for the April 29 election.
The current borrowing cost estimate was reduced by about $10 million by various design revisions, including elimination of a “wash bay” that was intended to reduce the environmental impact of runoff from equipment cleaning; other environmental design features including stormwater runoff control and an energy efficient design remain. Forest Road sidewalks, a repeated request at earlier Select Board meetings, was ranked lower-priority by the Transportation Advisory committee and is not currently planned. Board members noted that efforts to address Forest Road and neighborhood concerns included traffic studies and meetings with residents. The Board voted unanimously to “include the sum of $35,200,690 for [Town Meeting Warrant] Article 7, for the borrowing costs for the DPW building.”
Acton Leadership Group discussion: Two Select Board members represent the Board at the Acton Leadership Group (ALG), which historically has reached consensus representation of an overview and projected future of the Town’s finances in the Town Meeting Warrant; the source of that page in the Warrant is a spreadsheet called the “ALG Plan”. That plan is a forecasting and modeling tool, not a statement of fact. After the March 17 Board meeting the Acton Exchange reported that the Board would further discuss unresolved issues with the ALG at the present meeting.
Proposition 2½ limits annual property tax increases to 2.5%, plus taxes on new property, typically allowing tax rate hikes around 3% within the limit. Last year’s override discussions used the term, “level services budget,” referring to the revenue needed to maintain town and school services at the prior fiscal year’s levels, often exceeding the previous budget. Mr. Mangiaratti’s updated ALG plan projects a 5.2% increase for the town and 5.6% for schools, driven largely by rising costs for health insurance, pensions, and contracts. The roughly 2% gap between the acceptable 3% tax increase and the projected greater than 5% growth of both budgets suggests the possibility of hard choices ahead (Mr. Martin said, “…This year is [a] relatively easy budget year – next year is a relatively hard budget year”).
Col. Francis Faulkner Sr. Exemplary Volunteers: The Acton Exchange reported on the 2024 awardees here. This year’s nominees are:
- Ms. Nicol nominated Pat Clifford, citing her work on the Citizens Library Governance Advisory Committee and the Planning Board;
- Mr. Charter nominated Peter Darlow, chair of the Design Review Board;
- Ms. Arsenault nominated Sahana Purohit, member of the Acton Housing Authority and for other activities;
- Mr. Martin nominated Michaela Moran, president of Iron Work Farm and active in multiple Town Committees;
- and Mr. Snyder-Grant nominated John Watlington of the Land Stewardship Committee
Briefly noted:
- A street light proposal for Adams Street was discussed at some length, eventually resulting in a plurality approval for two new Adams street lights.
- The Board continued to review Town Meeting Warrant articles, voting on Select Board recommendations for each article.
Hearings: After very brief remarks, a Common Victualler License was granted to Seafood from Heaven, LLC (doing business as Atlantic Sea Grill) at 77 Great Road, Acton, MA; and a Livery Service License was granted to Habibi Service, 420 Great Road, C10, Acton, MA.
Tom Beals is the Select Board beat reporter for the Acton Exchange.