ROYALSTON – Royalston residents will be faced with at least two questions when they head to the ballot box next month.
At a special town meeting held last Tuesday, voters approved a proposal to move ahead with a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion to cover the cost of clearing the former Raymond School of hazardous materials, mainly asbestos, and replacing the roof. Although early estimates had placed the cost of the work at around $200,000, the Selectboard asked for the ability to borrow $145,000.
“It’s a town-owned building, a former school,” said Selectboard Chairwoman Chris Long, “and we desperately need office space. The offices at Whitney Hall are not in very good shape; the restrooms are shabby. In order to work on Whitney, we need to get those offices out of there. There are four rooms in use at Whitney — there are four rooms at Raymond.”
“However,” she continued, “there’s asbestos in the roof, in the tile floors, and elsewhere in the (Raymond School). The roof has already been repaired once. It’s unlikely that it can be repaired again, because it’s tricky when you’re trying to repair asbestos.”
In response to a question from the floor, Long said, “Jim Barclay, who is also our emergency management director, spent months, hours — he spent enormous amounts of time trying to get a grant for this. Long story short, there are no grants for this.”
Resident Allen Young said, “I see that this article has been recommended by the Selectboard. I’m assuming that the three members of the Selectboard are doing their job. It was also recommended by the Finance Committee. Therefore, I would recommend that we vote in favor of this.”
“This is a simple vote,” said Phil Leger. “Do you want to save the building or not? We have very few facilities in town. I can remember when people worked out of their homes; we had to go to someone’s home to get a birth certificate, or we had to go to someone’s home to pay our taxes. We kind of got away from that, but we do need space. So, vote in favor of this article, please.”
Long acknowledged that the length of the loan was unknown at the time of town meeting, but estimated it would likely be for seven years.
The article was approved overwhelmingly, with only 23 of the 182 registered voters in attendance voting “no.”
At the annual town meeting in May, residents approved a $200,000 Prop. 2½ override to pay for road work in town. Both the override and the debt exclusion will be decided at a special election scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Before last week’s meeting commenced, Town Moderator George Northrop read a proclamation from the Selectboard honoring one-time resident Vyto Andreliunas.
The proclamation praised Andreliunas for being a “founding member of the Royalston Planning Board, serving on that board from 1986 through 2018; a remarkable 22 years, during which he gave generously of his expertise, insight, and wisdom.” He was also credited for being “instrumental in shepherding through the town’s first zoning bylaws in 1997, as well as two major revisions of those laws in later years.”
Andreliunas was also lauded for his work as the town’s representative on the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, and for his service as a member of the Selectboard from 1992 to 1999. He also served as the town’s veterans agent and was a longtime member of the Finance Advisory Committee.
The proclamation concluded by naming Tuesday, July 30, the date of the special town meeting, as “Vito Andreliunas Day” in Royalston.