Select Board accepts capital plan; water‑meter replacement emerges as top priority

The Select Board on April 6 accepted recommendations from the Capital Planning Committee and placed related capital articles on the May town meeting warrant, including three highest‑priority capital items totaling roughly $1.4 million and a larger water‑meter replacement program cited as the largest single capital request.

Capital Planning Committee presenters told the board they reviewed 12 project requests and ranked three as highest priorities: state‑mandated fire equipment (SCBA and EMS pumps) and the water‑meter replacement program for the Department of Public Works. The committee reported roughly $1.3 million for the meter project and an additional $600,000 in medium‑priority items, bringing the total capital request list to just under $2 million.

The committee and DPW director described operational impacts: hundreds of meters are not reading and are billed by estimate; replacing meters and remote readers will reduce estimated billing and improve leak detection. "We're saving almost three thou—1,500 on those readers," a presenter said of equipment costs, and staff said homeowners will not pay installation costs directly; the enterprise will finance the project and it would be repaid through water/sewer enterprise funds if the borrowing is approved by town meeting.

The board separately authorized a construction manager at‑risk agreement with Fontaine Brothers, Inc. for preconstruction services not to exceed $216,000 for the middle‑high school project. The motion to authorize the town administrator to execute the agreement carried unanimously.

Budget context: In a later presentation the finance director summarized a proposed FY27 operating budget of about $48 million for town and school, a requested 3.5% increase over FY26. Staff recommended using enterprise retained earnings for the water‑meter capital project and recommended several targeted free‑cash appropriations (including PAS settlement funds for remediation projects) while preserving operating stability for Tri County assessments for multiple years.

Ending: The Select Board placed the capital and borrowing articles on the warrant and directed staff to finalize borrowing language; voters at town meeting will consider the water‑meter borrowing (two‑thirds vote required) and other capital items.