Nov. 21 last date for non-voters to register
SOMERSET — The Board of Selectmen, meeting with Town Moderator Lucia Casey, approved the 19 articles listed in detail and signed the warrant for the Dec. 3 special Town Meeting.
The action set the stage for posting it on Friday, Nov. 16, with the Advisory & Finance Committee ready to meet and vote its recommendations Monday night, Chairman Christopher Godet said.
The updated articles include a personnel expenditure of $46,000 for the remainder of fiscal 2019 to match the town’s 25 percent share of the fire department SAFER grant to add four firefighters, Chief Scott Jepson said.
They would be hired about Jan. 1, said Jepson, stating, “That’s my target date.”
It will raise the department complement to 35.
Jepson said of 18 applicants for the four spots, 12 were eligible for hiring and interviewed based upon training and background and the other six can complete the provisional training needed for eligibility.
The total Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant provides $731,032 over three years. The federal government pays 75 percent of the costs the first two years and 35 percent the third year.
It allows the town to phase in the local funding to meet its staff needs over three years. The town assumes the full share afterwards.
The first warrant article on the budget proposes using $3,750,000 from surplus funds known as free cash to reduce the fiscal 2019 appropriation voted at the May annual Town Meeting.
The lion’s share comes from the government Regional Greenhouse Initiative funds the town has received the past several years derived from the slow down and closure of the Brayton Point power plant.
The amount to be raised from taxation was $23,697,302, meaning the total taxpayers will contribute drops just below $20 million.
The Board of Assessors tentatively plans to hold with the Board of Selectmen the annual tax classification hearing on Dec. 4, the day after the special Town Meeting.
Voting the tax classification shares between residential, commercial and industrial sectors enables the town to propose its tax rate to be set by the state Department of Revenue shortly afterwards in December.
Funding for monetary articles will come from free cash except for water-sewer articles drawn from that enterprise fund.
The $330,556 sought to improve water and wastewater facilities, Art. 14, is the largest expenditure on the warrant.
That amount would be matched by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Economic Development Administration for various equipment improvements at the two facilities.
Art. 6 had listed $300,000 for town building renovations and repairs, including the Village School roof, Pottersville School exterior renovations and upgrades and library building repairs. Godet said his A&F Committee members had questions about that amount.
Two six-figure articles are from the school department and committee. Art. 17 seeks $200,000 to install 45 new HVAC equipment units at Chace and South elementary schools and Somerset Middle School. The cost includes $40,000 for needed electrical upgrades and $36,500 for electrician labor.
Art. 18 would provide $101,495 for “additional unanticipated expenditures” on the security upgrades done last fiscal year for the four Somerset school buildings. The $290,000 approved and transferred last year was not sufficient and needs to be supplemented.
Several articles are for equipment: $45,000 to pay leases on police cruisers on a department that uses 21 SUV vehicles and replaces some annually; $125,000 for a highway department backhoe to replace a 1998 model; and $2,385 for the town nurse to replace the vaccine refrigerator.
Among other articles, the final Art. 19 is a citizens petition article to grant developer Timothy Cabral of Swansea an easement at “the Chase Preserve” for an area totaling 2,720 square feet.
Art. 7 relates to the town amending its “non-criminal disposition bylaw” to allow enforcement of fines for violators under the new sanitary regulations governing farm animals. It does not pertain to passage of those regulations that boards of selectmen and health have discussed for the past two months.
There are also articles to improve town property (Art. 3, $20,000 for Marchand Park improvements), to allow selling town properties (Art. 4, 13,600 square feet on Brayton Avenue; Art. 5, 15,000 square feet on Purington Street) and to accept property as a public way (Skylar Drive located in Buffinton Estates).
The special Town Meeting on Dec. 3 will be held at 6 p.m. at Somerset Berkley Regional High School. The last time to register to vote at this town meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. at the town clerk’s office.
Email Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com or call him at 508-676-2573.