[0:05] Hello everyone and welcome to FYI Oxbridge, a program about the people,

[0:09] places, and events that occur here in our town of Oxbridge. My name is Barry

[0:14] Giles. I'm the station manager here at Oxbridge Community Television. Today,

[0:18] uh, I have my once again returning guest. It's that time of the year in

[0:22] spring town meeting is coming up and my guest today is town manager Steven Si.

[0:27] Steve, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Barry. thanks for having me again. So,

[0:30] we're doing our annual uh review of the town warrant, going over um the articles

[0:35] and giving the community an idea of what's going on. So, um let's dive right

[0:40] into it. You know, once again, spring annual town meeting will be Tuesday, May

[0:43] 13th and Thursday, May 15th at 7 p.m. at the Valley Chapel, which is on 14 Hunter

[0:49] Road here in Oxbridge. So, let's start with um why two dates? Okay, there's a

[0:56] combination of things in this this warrant. The majority of things that'll

[1:00] be taken up on day one on the Tuesday are all the financial articles, budget,

[1:04] you know, capital spending, all those kind of things, any borrowing

[1:08] authorizations that we normally would do. Uh the second part though has

[1:12] there's a number of zoning issues, a number of other things that need to be

[1:15] addressed. Some that might take more time than others. So we decided rather

[1:19] than uh get to a point at the end of the meeting where you know people want to go

[1:24] home and those are just going to be rushed through we decided to just

[1:27] separate it on two days so that so that all those articles can get the time that

[1:31] uh they deserve as well. Okay. So that's the reason for the two days. Do you

[1:35] think there's a possibility we could get it done in one or I don't think so. I

[1:38] think the moderator is probably going to call a break. Okay. Anyway, um now that

[1:43] doesn't mean that somebody can't make a motion or move something up in the in

[1:47] the meeting and as long as enough people say yes they want to do that that gets

[1:50] done. Uh which will kind of adjust some things for that next night. But um but I

[1:55] do think if everybody kind of sticks to the way everything's broken out, you'll

[1:58] see that there's a um a definite break point. Okay. That makes a lot of sense.

[2:03] Okay, great. All right, let's um let's get into it. It looks like we have uh 27

[2:08] articles. Yes. And starting with article one. Okay. The the first few articles

[2:12] are are the normal articles that we always have. Any bills of prior year

[2:17] that we need to pay. Those are bills that come in after the close of the

[2:21] prior fiscal year that we have to wait until you this the the next town meeting

[2:26] to be able to pay because of because of the fact they came in late. And any

[2:30] supplemental budget things. So anything monies that we need to uh put into this

[2:34] year's budget because either we didn't put enough money in a budget line or

[2:38] overexpended because of a particular instance or whatever. Uh that's why we

[2:42] have you know article two to supplement the fiscal 25 budget. Uh starting at

[2:47] article three that's when we really get into the the spends for for this

[2:51] upcoming year. Uh, article 3 has both the Blackstone Valley Regional School

[2:56] District and off also Northark County um, uh, school district as well. We're

[3:01] voting both of those separately. Uh, gives the gives the uh, voters an

[3:06] opportunity to uh, you know, to approve those budgets or or decline them for

[3:10] some reason. Uh, but also gives us a little bit opportunity to explain what

[3:14] goes into those budgets as well. So people know the, you know, combined

[3:18] you're talking about three million or three to four million dollars that we're

[3:21] spending, you know, on those type of that type of um education. And uh it's

[3:27] probably a good idea for people have an understanding. The other thing with

[3:30] article 3, it's we we called it out a little bit um uh separately as well, is

[3:36] because this is going to be the last year that Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick Yes. is

[3:40] going to be the superintendent of the uh uh Blackstone Valley uh Tech. And I

[3:45] think it's a nice opportunities for us to recognize Dr. Fitzpatrick and all

[3:50] that he's done for BBT over the over the years. So, it'll be a nice uh a nice way

[3:54] to uh have some recognition for him. Article 4 is the is the the main town

[4:01] budget. So, that's that includes both the um Oxbridge Municipal Society and

[4:06] school Axbridge public schools as well. Uh I'll probably do a presentation

[4:10] before the budget just to give people some highlevel um uh understanding of

[4:15] what went into the budget, what we did, what we didn't include, those kind of

[4:19] things. And I believe um uh Dr. Dwire is going to do the same for the uh Oxford

[4:23] schools as well. Okay. So people have an idea of um basically how fiscal 25 went

[4:28] and what the ask for fiscal 26 are. Um and I think that's also, you know, makes

[4:33] a lot of sense that that we do that. And again, one of the other reasons why we

[4:38] separated the meeting out over two nights, so it gives an opportunity to

[4:41] have some good discussion, good understanding of what people are voting

[4:46] on. Article five and six are uh both wastewater and water enterprise funds.

[4:51] Um the only reason we separate that out from the town budget uh is because of

[4:56] the uh the fact that we run those as enterprise. Those are uh feebased. Those

[5:01] are only the uses users of the system is you know what goes into paying for that.

[5:05] So that's separate from the town budget you know which is all all-encompassing.

[5:09] I'm familiar with enterprise budget which no longer right will be taking

[5:14] care of my department right and we'll we'll talk about that in fiscal 26 that

[5:18] now um you know cable enterprise is no longer an enterprise fund. it's now a

[5:22] department in the town. Makes great sense to do that. And um you know and I

[5:27] think going forward it it basically solidifies and and ensures that uh the

[5:32] same kind of coverage that people are getting now with cable TV they'll

[5:36] continue to get right which is a really good thing. Um article seven uh this

[5:41] again separate article. This is a stabilization fund request from

[5:45] Blackstone Valley uh tech. Uh what this does, it creates a fund for them to use

[5:51] for things that may be o over and above what they budgeted for. Um you know,

[5:56] people have pro and con on that as to whether or not that's a good thing or

[6:00] not, but this allows the uh the people of the town to vote for it after they

[6:04] get some more information on what type of things that might be used for. Um

[6:09] article 8 and nine have to do with capital. Uh, article 8 is, you know, uh,

[6:14] Kurt Gintwwayne, who's our, uh, finance director in the town of Oxbridge, uh,

[6:19] has done a really good job over the last few years of going back through all the

[6:22] prior capital improvement articles and anything that has monies that have not

[6:27] been expended yet once the projects have closed out. He's beginning to sweep

[6:31] those back into the U capital uh, capital stabilization account. Okay. He

[6:36] did it again this year and I'm pleased to say that

[6:41] $235,000 that had just been sitting out there unused is now going to go back

[6:45] into capital stabilization which can be reused for other capital projects,

[6:50] right? Uh so and we do have a number of capital projects that we're going to be

[6:54] um looking for um some approvals on. you know, they they go from, you know, DPW

[7:03] uh projects to projects that are uh uh a little bit different than we we may have

[7:08] approved in the past. You know, we have um you people are going to see there's a

[7:13] $420,000 request for for an ambulance from the fire department. And I know the

[7:18] first question is going to be, well, didn't we set up a fund for that? Well,

[7:21] we did. and the department of revenue for the state basically told us we we

[7:26] can no longer have the funds set up that way you know for that purpose all those

[7:30] funds should be general fund general fund monies or monies that go into

[7:34] capital stabilization and need to be voted out so we did so we made sure that

[7:38] everybody's going to be aware of the fact that how much money was in that

[7:42] account previously now part of capital and on a regular basis or when we need

[7:46] an ambulance we'll we will uh vote the money out to be able to do that Um, so

[7:52] that's what that 420,000 is. There's some other um school department items in

[7:57] here ranging from um creating a quiet corner at the um uh Whiten school

[8:04] playground uh area for for some students who just might need some, you know, time

[8:09] to to kind of, you know, be away from, you know, the nor the the things that

[8:13] are are going on in the playground and so forth. Um there's some safety

[8:17] lighting type things and uh uh some uh architectural plans that need to be

[8:23] drawn out for the secondary egress from the high school. There's some funds

[8:26] being allocated towards that. And then we began a transition or the school

[8:30] department began a a systemwide transition to touchscreens that uh we're

[8:36] funding through capital as well. continuation of that. Uh I've made a

[8:40] request for $200,000 for the McCcluskey school and that's going to replace the

[8:44] bleachers in the gym and also redo the floor. The floor hadn't been done in

[8:48] over 25 years. So it's going to be back brought back to natural and then you

[8:53] know lines repainted and so forth so that it'll really stand out and that's a

[8:58] facility that's being utilized right to today. Right. Quite a bit for a lot of

[9:02] different senior center so many many more. Exactly. And then and the

[9:06] bleachers too. I think the bleachers are a little bit dated and the fact that you

[9:10] know many of the folks that come and watch uh uh the games are more like me

[9:16] in the fact that uh we need to make sure that um you know people are going to be

[9:20] able to get in and out of those bleachers safely and so we're going to

[9:24] redo the bleachers and then I believe the other side of the gym floor that'll

[9:29] be to the left as you walk in. Those bleachers I believe might be removed as

[9:33] well. The plan is by I know Oxbridge Spartan basketball is to have instead of

[9:38] having benches and along the sides, they're going to actually have like the

[9:42] kind of what you see in a college gym or folding folding chairs and so forth with

[9:47] with a logo on and so forth. So, when it's all all said and done, I think it's

[9:51] going to look really nice and anybody that goes over there will really really

[9:54] um appreciate that. We also have $140,000 at McCcluskey for uh some heat

[10:00] exchanger and so forth. And people say, "Why are we spending money on on the

[10:04] McCluskey building? What are we going to do with it?" Well, that's I I'm pleased

[10:08] to say that that's in the process now. I have an architect and an engineer uh

[10:13] that'll be doing a walk through. Uh they took the plans that were done a number

[10:17] of years ago, you know, on basically a $70 million project and I've asked them

[10:21] to kind of pair that down a little bit as best they can. So, they're going to

[10:25] begin that process. So hopefully, you know, potentially as early as the

[10:30] October meeting or shortly thereafter, we'll have something to report back to

[10:34] say this is what if we're going to do anything with that building on a on a

[10:39] major renovation, we'll have have some plans in place. And any other things are

[10:43] more DPW related with respect to uh equipment type purchases.

[10:48] Um the next the next three or four big articles that we'll have some discussion

[10:54] on I know are going to be from article 11 through article 14. They're borrowing

[10:59] authorizations for the most part well at least three of them. U one is for school

[11:04] safety. Uh Chief Monty is going to have a presentation uh with respect to what

[11:10] will go into what that expenditure is. It's uh a significant amount of money

[11:14] about $600,000 that we're looking to expend on

[11:17] on that. Uh there'll be a borrowing authorization for a fire engine. Um you

[11:23] know, this is just to replace a an engine that's over 25 years old. So the

[11:28] upside is when we do buy these this type of equipment, it lasts quite a bit of

[11:32] time. So that's why we're going to borrow for it rather than excuse me try

[11:36] to through to the capital process. uh it will will outlast whatever kind of loan

[11:42] that we we take out on it. Uh and Chief Dion will will speak to that. Uh article

[11:47] 13 is a borrowing authorization for the uh water treatment plant. Now we did

[11:53] authorize some funds at a previous town meeting for this project. Uh and that

[11:58] was so that we would have um a submission to go to the uh state

[12:03] revolving fund. uh so we'd be able to apply to get funding for this project at

[12:08] basically 0% interest. Um we were successful in doing that. Uh I just got

[12:14] word uh within the last week that we uh we were selected our project was

[12:18] selected. So that's a good thing. The only negative though is the uh when the

[12:23] things went out to bid, things came back, they came in higher than what we

[12:26] had originally anticipated. So, we need to to look to um uh fund some more money

[12:33] for this. Uh you'll see it's going to be three different uh options that people

[12:38] will have. One will be the base bid option which is to build just the

[12:42] treatment plant. Um the second option will be to to do a uh base plus, you

[12:48] know, one section which is an add-on section for office space and so forth

[12:53] there, you know, versus, you know, continuing to use the other building

[12:56] that we currently have. And then uh uh adult two uh which will be the third

[13:02] third vote if people uh so choose will be the vote to to do the base the office

[13:07] space and also uh garaging and so forth for the equipment that we have. So any

[13:12] one of those three you know options will be you know what people could vote for.

[13:17] Um we we definitely need though the um the base bid which is to do the

[13:23] treatment plant right. Uh the other thing we will be doing and we'll talk

[13:27] about this a little bit is we got involved with some of the PAS

[13:31] um lawsuits that have been going on around the country. We got in early as a

[13:35] matter of fact and it all had to do with well testing and whether or not our

[13:38] wells had any contamination. We did find one of them, you know, or a couple of

[13:42] them did. So, you know, we were part of this class action suit. uh uh 3M, one of

[13:49] the companies that was involved in producing these type chemicals, um did

[13:53] just settle their suit and payments had begun being made to the communities. Uh

[13:59] we will be we're receiving a check probably before town meeting for

[14:04] $256,000. That's the first payment of five that we're going to receive on uh

[14:09] receive on this program. Uh we'll probably receive another 45% of what

[14:14] we're owed in the summer. Mhm. So we'll have about

[14:17] 750,000 of of what the of what our payment will be uh that will go towards

[14:22] this project as well. So that will reduce the amount of money that we need

[14:26] to borrow and then over time there's three other suits that'll be deter to be

[14:30] decided and what we get out of those will also go to this. So you know

[14:34] there'll be other things that go in to to reduce the u impact to the rateayers.

[14:40] So we're we're you know those are things we'll discuss as well. Uh article 14 is

[14:46] uh one that I'm sure there'll be a little bit of discussion on. You know,

[14:50] this has to do with um what the town sub uh subsidy for um insurance for our

[14:56] retire retired employees are. Right now there's an 8020 split where the town

[15:00] picks up 80% of that. The retirey picks up 20. Mhm. Uh there's a uh chapter 32B

[15:07] in Mass General Law was passed after this came in effect and basically what

[15:14] the town needs to do is either adopt either chapter 32B, section 9A or 9E.

[15:21] Now, if we decided to go to section 9A, it would be an automatic 5050 split. So

[15:27] the retirees would go from paying 20% all the way up to 50%. Right? if we if

[15:32] we um adopt 9E, which is what we we're recommending here, is that we could go

[15:39] anywhere from 50 plus. So, we could still move it up up the scale versus

[15:45] staying at 50/50, right? So, we can go to, you know, we're at 8020, we can go

[15:50] to 7030, we can go to 65, you know, 35, whatever, whatever we want to do. But

[15:55] that gives us that flexibility. The thing that people need to understand

[15:58] though is if this doesn't pass automatically it's 100% on the uh on the

[16:04] retiree. Okay. So one of these two options needs to pass. Right. Right. And

[16:09] the option in the and the best option in our opinion is the one uh to adopt 98.

[16:14] Right. Because that gives us more flexibility.

[16:17] Um the other articles uh 15 161 17 are you know one has to do with fiveyear

[16:25] valuation. We have to make an appropriation for for the assessor to be

[16:28] able to do that. That's mandatory by state law. Not the most pleasant thing

[16:33] I'm sure people are going to want to hear because it has to do with valuation

[16:36] of their their properties, but needs to be done. The D lane appropriation. This

[16:40] dual lane is a road that 20 plus years ago at a town meeting was accepted as a

[16:45] town road. Mhm. But through the fault of the town at the time, folks at the town

[16:50] never uh recorded it at the uh registry of deeds and the um lack of better term

[16:57] statute of limitations has run out. So that can't be recorded with that data.

[17:02] So what we have to do is go back and do you know some survey work to make sure

[17:07] nothing's changed and so forth. and then we can uh in in October ask the town to

[17:12] uh accept this as town road again and then we'll we'll make sure it gets

[17:15] recorded. But but it meets all the other specifications. Um and so, you know,

[17:21] we're looking to do that. It's a small amount of money that we're asking for to

[17:24] uh to do the uh to do the survey and so forth. Uh article 17 allows us to

[17:31] increase from $1,000 to $10,000 the amount of personal property exemption.

[17:36] This is more more business related. Um it's something even if we do it, it does

[17:42] doesn't amount to a lot of revenue loss on the town's part, but it also helps

[17:47] some of the smaller businesses in town as well. And that's, you know, the

[17:51] reason we're doing it as we get to article 18, that's going to start day

[17:55] two. Okay. Okay. The meeting, as I mentioned, those are mostly zoning

[17:59] articles. Mhm. Uh art article 18 is a bylaw amendment for the flood plane

[18:05] overlay. Obviously the as we all know the rainstorms and stuff we've been

[18:09] having you know used to be considered hundred hundredyear storms right. Well

[18:13] it seems like those hundredyear storms are hap happening every 5 years now. Uh

[18:17] and more and more area has become flooded. Uh so FEMA has a new uh came

[18:22] out with a new flood uh map and it allow this allows us to amend the flood plane.

[18:27] So people that hadn't been getting flooded or never had to worry about in

[18:31] the past or are now will now be part of the flood plane to allow them to get

[18:35] flood insurance. Okay. So we're we're looking to do that. The second one uh

[18:40] you know was a a controversial issue during the past year and that's adopting

[18:44] battery energy storage system bylaw which will restrict these type of

[18:50] um uh this type of development to certain areas uh and and won't allow it

[18:56] in other areas primarily residential areas. But uh we think we have a a

[19:02] strong bylaw that'll pass the uh attorney general's um uh uh test as well

[19:08] which they look at. So we don't want you don't want it to be so restrictive right

[19:13] that it's uh exclusionary and we don't feel that it is. So uh we're able to do

[19:18] that. The uh last one is to amend u the accessory dwelling unit bylaw. the state

[19:24] came up with some language that um you know basically allows these type units

[19:30] to happen. We need to put a bylaw in place as well so that you know it's

[19:34] consistent with state law but also doesn't allow you know um things to

[19:39] happen so that you know people will have uh um Airbnb those type units. These

[19:46] will be strictly for you know that people will live in on a regular basis.

[19:50] Won't be transient housing that kind of thing. So, we're we're putting the bylaw

[19:54] changes in. I think the zoning board, planning, conservation, building,

[19:58] everybody who had to have a a say on this did a really good job of of of

[20:03] working through that. Uh, article 21 is a street acceptance for Campanelli

[20:08] Drive, Campanelli Drive extension. Um, we're ready to accept that. We're to

[20:13] town standards. There were some things that needed to be done prior to to that.

[20:17] Um, all that work got done. So there's both the select board and the finance

[20:21] committee represent um recommend favorable action on that one in on Elm

[20:26] Street. Uh same thing. Uh article 23, the developer withdrew. Article 24 and

[20:34] 25 we're just going to pass over at this point. You might see them again in uh

[20:39] October. And then article 26 and 27 are uh citizens petitions. you know, one

[20:45] having to do with um resend the borrowing authorization for the the uh

[20:51] it says Bernett well project, but it's really it's should have read Blackstone

[20:56] well project. That's the project um that we're we spoke about earlier with the uh

[21:01] treatment plant. Um again, you know, that's a a question as to whether or not

[21:06] it'll stay here at the end of the meeting or it'll or be moved up earlier.

[21:09] That's that's really up to town meeting as to how they want to do that. and also

[21:13] the the moderator if the moderator thinks that while it's what it's

[21:19] supposed to be for right and the commentary does reflect that the title

[21:24] of it is isn't exactly what it is. So could that be ruled out of order? That's

[21:28] really up to it's moderator's discretion. And then on the uh article

[21:32] 27 will be more for um you know to to have more study on this. You know

[21:37] whether or not that you know again that gets done but and how it's done. It's

[21:42] it's asking to set up a committee to uh to to look at those kind of things. And

[21:47] um you know, we already had the water and sewer commissioner, so it's really a

[21:50] town meeting decision how they how they want to move with that as well. Uh and

[21:55] that would be the the um warrant for uh this this town meeting. Uh like I said,

[22:02] some things should flow pretty easily, but other things definitely we'll have

[22:06] some discussion on. Uh we're trying to anticipate where those things would be

[22:09] to try to get as much information out as possible. If people go to the town

[22:14] website now, there's a lot of information on there, especially with

[22:17] respect to the budget. Uh made it a point this year to put everything uh

[22:22] there. So no question about trans. Exactly. We even have a line item by

[22:27] line item budget, you know, that was up there for all the departments that won't

[22:31] be part of this warrant because it'll end up being, you know, a book, right?

[22:35] Basically encyclopedia. Yeah. And I don't think people will remember those

[22:38] things, right? I don't think there'll be something people will want to be lugging

[22:41] around town meeting, but all that information is available beforehand. Uh

[22:46] all the and thanks to to you and your staff, all the all the public hearings

[22:51] on the budget uh and and actually on this entire warrant uh were all uh uh

[22:56] televised and rebroadcast and are available for people to watch. Uh, so

[23:01] there's lots of ways for people to get information and then pick up the phone,

[23:05] call my office, you know, if they want have if they have more more questions,

[23:09] but all in all, I think um everything's out there for people to see. Great. So,

[23:13] and hopefully uh we get a good turnout town meeting flows pretty well.

[23:17] Absolutely. Great. All right, Steve, thank you very much for your time and

[23:21] everything else. So once again, a reminder that spring annual town meeting

[23:26] will be on Tuesday, May 13th and Thursday, May 15th at 7 p.m. at the

[23:31] Valley Chapel here in Oxbridge, which is on 14 Hunter Road. Um once again, if you

[23:37] want more information in regards to the uh warn articles and so on, you can go

[23:42] to the Oxbridge town website at Oxbridgea.gov. And if you'd like to

[23:47] review any of the information for from the meetings that were covered in the

[23:51] hearings, you can go xbridgeetv.org and go to our archive

[23:55] page and those meetings are there for your review. So once again, thank you

[24:00] very much for watching. I appreciate it. If you have uh any questions, you can

[24:04] also contact me. You can find my email uh on the town website. And if you know

[24:09] anybody that's interested in coming on the show to promote an event or somebody

[24:13] that's got something going on, you can reach out to me again and uh we could

[24:18] schedule time here in the studio. So that's going to do it here for FY

[24:21] Experts. Thank you very much for watching.

F.Y.I. Uxbridge - "2025 Spring Annual Town Meeting"

Transcript