Athol Finance Committee recommends passing 30 of 34 Town Meeting articles

ATHOL – A recent meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee saw a recommendation to pass 30 of the 34 Town Meeting articles, with two recommended against and the two more held until the next meeting.

In light of the uncertainty over the details of Article 29 and concerns regarding Article 34, a citizen’s petition, the committee voted unanimously not to recommend passage. The two articles each have to do with the town’s responsibility relative to maintenance of private roadways, including temporary repairs and plowing.

Article 29 would amend Chapter V, Section 33 of the town’s bylaws by removing the wording of Section 33 in its entirety and replacing it with new language. This section of the bylaw deals with the maintenance of private ways.

The new wording describes temporary repairs as including “grading and/or the filling of holes or depressions, as the superintendent of public works may deem suitable…[I]n no event shall such temporary repairs include extensive construction, reconstruction or installation of drainage.” The work would be done at the discretion of the highway superintendent.

The article also states that a petition from three-fourths of the abutters on a private way asking for temporary repairs can be presented to the Selectboard and forwarded to the Department of Public Works director. It will be up to the director to determine whether the requested repairs constitute a “public necessity.” The Selectboard will then vote to either approve or deny the petition following a public hearing.

Committee Chair Ken Duffy pointed out the existing bylaw requires petitions to be signed by all of the abutters. DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. added that, while the property of abutters on most private ways extends to the middle of the road, King Road is different.

“That one whole road is owned by one person on the end,” Raskevitz said at the committee’s meeting on May 12.

Article 29 also states that, if a petition is approved, the town manager must then determine if funds are available to do the work, “whether the financing…requires an appropriation, or borrowing.” If approved, the Selectboard must also determine if abutters will be assessed betterment charges and whether they will be required to put down a cash deposit for the work.

Article 34, submitted as a citizen’s petition from residents of King Road and other private ways, would maintain the wording of Chapter V, Section 33, relative to private roads. It also calls for the town to “minimally maintain all asphalt private roads” in the town. Such maintenance would include annual filling of potholes “with use of only asphalt or asphalt-based materials” and “minimal repairs of road drainage issues,” such as repairs to culverts.

“I was out on King Road Sunday,” said committee Chair Ken Duffy. “That first quarter mile is a bomb field. I know nothing about roads, but to me, we don’t have enough patch in this town for that section. That first two-tenths of a mile has got to be right down to the ground, to the dirt.”

“The problem is the lowest part,” said DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. “After it rains, it’s covered in standing water everywhere.”

Regarding the articles, said Duffy, “I think we have to think long and hard about what we’re getting into. After Article 29, the petition article says all the town roads are to be maintained, including that potholes be filled.”

Raskevitz said there are currently 33 private roads in Athol totaling about three miles in length. Of that number, only seven are plowed by the town in winter, through a memorandum of understanding approved by the Selectboard.

“Plowing it is one thing,” said Duffy. “Maintaining is a whole different ballgame.”

Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said the current wording for Article 29 is “just a placeholder,” adding that the Selectboard will look at a shorter version at its meeting on Tuesday, May 19.

“It’s a little too close to Town Meeting to change it,” Suhoski said. “I think we’re going to need a fall meeting this year.”

The articles on which the committee decided to delay action were Articles 7 and 21, both of which will be taken up by the Selectboard at its meeting on Tuesday. Article 7 deals with the proposed town budget for FY 27, while Article 21 asks for a transfer of $100,000 from free cash to the account set aside for “demolishing or securing unsafe structures.”

Several committee members, including Mike Butler and Vice Chair Ben Feldman said that, at this juncture, they opposed such a transfer. Both decided to wait until the committee’s meeting next Wednesday to see how the Selectboard addresses the issue at its Tuesday meeting before entertaining a motion to not recommend Article 21.

The Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, May 19, begins at 7 p.m. in Room 21 at Town Hall. The May 20 meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee starts at 5:30 p.m., also in Room 21. Town Meeting takes place on June 8.