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SEWER AND STORMWATER COMMITTEE
The Committee was established by the Board of Selectmen in response to problems related to the Town’s sanitary and storm sewers. The committee will assess the adequacy of sanitary and storm sewer infrastructure, make recommendations to the Selectmen for short- and long-term approaches to repair and replacement, and make recommendations on an asset management plan for funding subsurface infrastructure from the receipts of the sewer and water enterprise funds.
Publicly posted meetings were held monthly for the first half of the year. After July, the Committee suspended monthly meetings, pending the development of the sewer Geographic Information System (GIS).
In 2005, the Committee focused on two issues.
First, the Committee developed recommendations for the development of a GIS for use in management of the sanitary and storm sewers. The GIS is an important first step in the development of hydraulic models that will be necessary for planning future infrastructure investment. These models also will enable the town to estimate the impact of proposed new development on the town’s sanitary and storm sewers. The Town Meeting appropriated funds for the purchase of GIS software and hardware in its Annual Meeting in 2005. It also appropriated funds to populate the GIS database.
Second, the Committee worked with the Community Development Department, the Town Accountant, and the Board of Selectmen to develop a 5-year financial plan for the Sewer Enterprise Fund. This plan recommended accelerating and consolidating design and construction projects. With this change, the Town can achieve in 2 years what it had previously planned to do in 5 years. It also reduced the cost of the construction through economies of scale. The Committee further recommended that this consolidated design and construction be paid by borrowing, thereby aligning the cost more closely with the useful life of the infrastructure. This plan enabled the Town to budget the Sewer Enterprise Fund for FY06 with no increase in rates for consumers.
Respectfully submitted,
Ralph T. Jones, Chairman
Ralph Jones (Chair), Cerdric Marsh, Mark Haley, William Pisano, Charles Gore, Jay Perkins, Ian Kline, James Decoulas, Glenn Clancy (ex-officio), and Peter Castanino (ex-officio).
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