BRATTLEBORO — The town's infrastructure needs a lot of help - and a lot of money.
That's what Town Manager Peter B. Elwell told the Selectboard at the Nov. 20 board meeting.
As Elwell, his staff, and the board have worked on the fiscal year 2020 budget over the past few weeks, both good news and bad news have emerged.
Some revenues are up, like the money the town receives from the Meals and Rooms Tax. And Elwell has a plan to begin saving money for large capital needs, like fire engines, without paying interest to borrow funds [story, this issue].
But, “on the project side, I can't be specific about how we intend to do better,” said Elwell.
The proposed capital projects for FY20 will cost $800,000.
It only gets worse.
The projected needs for FY21 are $1.245 million. FY22's are $1.93 million. In FY23, the list tops out at $3.275 million.
FY24 provides some relief - capital projects should cost only $2.61 million.
“That's just not a realistic plan,” said Elwell. “I can't stand behind this as being [the way] we're going to address the town's infrastructure needs in the next five years.”
These items, said Elwell, are in order of priority “and are going to be critical if we don't get at them,” or develop a clear plan to do so.
Among the projects are bridge, road, and sidewalk repairs and replacements, new boilers and generators, and improvements to make town structures compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
A plethora of projects
Elwell summarized the proposed FY20 capital projects.
To bring the Amtrak train station into compliance with the ADA, the town must spend $250,000 to make the waiting room accessible. This upgrade is required by the U.S. Department of Justice, Elwell said, and noted, “We will comply or face consequences.”
The Brooks Memorial Library's concrete fascia, below the roofline, is failing, and the trim needs replacing. “Pieces are actually falling off. It's hazardous to folks below,” Elwell said.
This fix will cost $55,000.
The library's children's room has “worn-out windows,” which create a “hazardous condition,” said Elwell. Fixing them will cost $25,000.
Other library windows also need similar work, but those in the children's room are the highest priority, Elwell said, “for reasons I hope are obvious to everybody.”
Streets and sidewalks need repaving, while others need repairs or replacement, to the tune of $370,000.
That's the bare minimum, though.
“The long-term needs for both far exceed” this figure, said Elwell, and $370,000 is a “prudent figure,” he noted.
In future years, the goal is to increase the budget for these line items because “the volume of work that needs to be done is so great,” said Elwell.
Living Memorial Park will need $100,000 in FY20 to replace the town pool's deck and the boiler in the winter sports warming shelter. This is phase two of a multi-year project at the facility, said Elwell, “to get the pool back in shape.”
Plan will require outside expertise
Elwell asked the Selectboard to pan the camera back to see the “broader context of how we like to improve planning for projects.”
“[Town Manager] staff alone can't create the kind of sustainable planning for projects that [...] we propose to you,” said Elwell, who added, “we know we can do better.”
An improved plan, said Elwell, involves an inventory and needs assessment for the town's building systems and infrastructure, the same process that has taken place for the town's equipment and vehicles.
Once town staff makes this list, Elwell proposes they hire two consultants.
The first one, someone with experience with building systems and infrastructure, will “look over our shoulder and check our work” on the inventory and assessment, said Elwell. This person will ensure nothing is missed or forgotten, and give good, objective advice, he added.
Then, the Town Manager's office can present a thorough inventory, with long-term project needs, “with great confidence,” said Elwell.
He noted that this document will require a much more complex assessment than the list and plan of the town's equipment.
There's less certainty with the “projects” aspect of capital needs, said Elwell, because of the complexity and ever-changing nature of buildings and infrastructure, but the Town Manager staff can provide the Selectboard with an annual update during future budget seasons.
They can also do periodic updates to the assessments. For example, Elwell asked, will the 30-year windows in a town building really need to be replaced during the 30th year?
The revenue source for these projects is also less certain, said Elwell, who noted some funding will come from bonds or grants.
What is certain, Elwell said, is that his staff will organize the list into categories according to their severity: the “things failing now” or in danger of doing so, then short-, medium-, and long-term lists.
One long-term need, Elwell said, is all systems in the police and fire facilities, especially because of the great “investment by the community,” he noted.
After the initial list is complete, next comes the planning phase, and Elwell wants to have the inventory, the consultant's review, and the many-phased lists ready for the FY21 budget season.
At that point, the Selectboard can prepare to hire an additional consultant - this one more expensive and involved - to assess the conditions of municipal facilities “to create a more complete and reliable projection, in order of magnitude,” of the necessary projects, said Elwell.
Municipal Center in good shape
Selectboard Chair Kate O'Connor, in reviewing Elwell's proposed capital projects budget, noted the Municipal Center was included in neither FY20's data nor the five-year projection.
That building is the one place where taxpayers get a break, she said.
“The only thing we really need to do here is some life-safety improvements,” said Elwell, “and those have already been funded.”