Town of Ashburnham, MA - BOARD OF SELECTMEN 2006 ANNUAL REPORT

Like the year that preceded it, 2006 was a very busy year in the Town of Ashburnham! The spring of 2006 saw the departure of our long serving Selectman, Ron Reed from the Board of Selectmen, and his seat on the Board filled by the election of Chris Gagnon. Chris hit the ground running and quickly became very active in several town projects, including becoming Chairman of the Public Safety Building Committee. We welcome Chris to the Board!

Once again, our Town Administrator Kevin Paicos has been a key component of the government of Ashburnham, helping the Board with many ongoing and proposed projects. We thank Kevin for his undying energy and enthusiasm for his job, and for his many years of municipal government experience that he has brought to bear in any number of different situations that the Town has faced over the past year. With the help of Kevin's hard work we have made significant progress on many projects that we have been working on this past year.

In the spring, Kevin helped the Board of Selectmen and the Advisory Board to present a balanced FY 2007 budget to the Town at our Annual Town Meeting, adding several more long needed positions to the budget and updating our long overlooked Non Union Personnel Pay Plan. We now believe that the Town of Ashburnham pays wages to our employees that are competitive with surrounding communities and that are respectful of the quality of service that our employees provide to the public. We were also able to begin what we hope will be an annual capital improvement plan for the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District. Also as part of our Annual Town Meeting Warrant, we were able to enact a new Wetlands Protection Bylaw and update and revise several key areas of our Zoning Bylaws.

Our Finance Team was also successful in converting our real property tax collection system from semi-annual to quarterly collection. This complex task was completed in a very short time and now allows the Town to save tens of thousands of dollars each year in short term borrowing costs because of the increased efficiency of our cash flow. We appreciate the efforts of Kevin Paicos and his Finance Team for accomplishing this major task: Town Accountant Jim Shanahan, Assistant Assessor Donna Burton, Assessor Dick Coswell and the Board of Assessors, Tax Collector Carla Clifford, Town Treasurer Anne Cervantes, and Administrative Assistant Sylvia Turcotte.

As a part of our Fiscal Year 2007 budget, we were able to create a new Department of Public Works and hire a Director of the DPW to lead this department. The Departments of Highway, Water & Sewer, and Municipal Grounds were consolidated into the new DPW department. After a thorough search, the Town hired Donald Ouellette to serve as Ashburnham's first DPW Director. We now have a licensed engineer to head the DPW and we look forward to working with Don to make Ashburnham's roads and infrastructure better and more efficiently run. Our Board would like to recognize the members of the DPW Director Search Committee who should be credited with assisting Kevin Paicos in recognizing that Don would be such a good fit with our community. The First Screening Committee included: Eric Smith, Lori Capone, John MacMillan, Gil Carreiro, Dave Perry and Jim Zarozinski. The Second Screening Committee included: Ron Reed, Joe Kalagher, Larry Barrett, Paul Zbikowski, Steve Nims, Leo Collette and Bill Johnson.

In the spring of 2006, we created an Affordable Housing Committee and tasked this committee with creating new ways to create and protect affordable housing within our community. The Committee responded with creating an Affordable Housing Plan which was approved by Town Meeting on January 24, 2007. The Committee is currently hard at work implementing the proposals included in the Affordable Housing Plan. We would like to recognize the members of the Affordable Housing Committee: Donna Brooks (co-chairwoman), Nancy Fiske (co-chairwoman), Reverend Dale Proulx, Carole Corstange, Pat Dennehy, and John MacMillan. Also special thanks to Eric R. Smith, Town Planner for his assistance to the Committee.

The past year also saw the successful conclusion of two major water line projects. The Page's Beach Water Line project was a long time in coming, but through our town's partnership with the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission and various state agencies, we were able to finally accomplish the task of replacing the antiquated and inadequate waterline in this North Ashburnham neighborhood and provide its residents with a reliable source of potable water. Our thanks go out to Shelly Hatch of the MRPC in particular for helping us complete this much needed project.

In addition, we were also able to largely complete the task of extending our existing water line down Fitchburg Road toward Fitchburg to provide potable water to some 40 residents whose wells had been contaminated with MBTEs and other dangerous chemicals. With the assistance of Senator Steven Brewer, we were able to gain funding for this $1.5 million project from the Commonwealth's Underground Storage Tank Board Fund set up pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 21J.

During 2005, the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District formed the John R. Briggs School Study Committee, which was tasked with studying the current condition of our elementary school, the needs of the school heading into the future, and the thoughts and ideas of the citizenry of Ashburnham as they relate to whether we should renovate or replace Briggs school. This committee, led by School Committee Chairman David Christianson, Jr. and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Zapantis met many times to meet its goals. The committee has concluded that though state of the art when built in the late 1960s, John R. Briggs school no longer meets the needs of the school district. The building is overcrowded and inefficient. Now that the work of the Study Committee is complete, it is going to be the task of the Briggs Building Committee to decide whether to renovate or replace this building so that the Town's elementary school needs are met now and into the future. Our thanks to the members of this committee: Candy Wright, Paul Engman, Chris Gagnon, Michelle Gianino, Dorene Francis, Mary Lee Muessel, David Christianson, Bob Salo, Ed Tree, Dale Proulx and Keith Glenny.

We are also faced with the ongoing project of building a Public Safety Building. Although the project suffered many setbacks in its now three year history, we now have competitive bids for the construction of this building and we hope that construction may begin this spring so that by the time of our 2008 Annual Town Meeting we will have completed our new Public Safety Building. Fitting the needs of the community within the budget allocated has been a challenge, but the Board and the Public Safety Building Committee have been determined to move forward to build a building that will serve our community. Our thanks go out to the members of the new PSB committee: Selectman Chris Gagnon (chair), Chief Larry Barrett, Al Rickheit, R. Lincoln Stiles, Sr., Jason Bergeron, Jeff Brooks, Gail Dumont, Philip Esposito and Mary Neal.

Our Town Hall Renovation Committee has also put their project out to bid and we hope to begin work renovating the Fairbanks Memorial Town Hall in the upcoming weeks. The renovation will increase the work space in the building, add modern access and convenience to the town hall, and update the building's physical plant, all while still preserving the historical features of the building that we all know and love. The Committee members are: David Sargent, Chair, James Whidden, Leo Collette, Mary Coswell, Tim Dumont, Michael Gallant, Ronald Reed, Christina Sargent and Wesley Landry.

We also face a challenge going forward in relocating our Highway Department. The members of the Focus Group will be tasked with studying the relocation of the Highway Department, and their members include: Robert Fichtel, Chair, Gil Carreiro, Patricia Frederick, Christina Sargent and Sallie Thoma. The Focus Group will also be studying the future use of the present Town Barn site so that the Town will gain the highest and best use of the property. It is hoped that the needs of elderly and affordable housing will be met along with the desire of bringing more viable commercial space to our downtown Village Center District.

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to several key members of our local government. Susan Dembek, who passed away this past winter, served our Town as the Land Use Coordinator for the past 11 years. Sue's friendly attitude, excellent customer service and broad knowledge of all things related to land use will be sorely missed. With Sue's passing we welcomed Lori Capone to Ashburnham. Lori came to town as our part time Conservation Agent and quickly impressed all of us with her energy and knowledge of land use issues. We thank Lori for assuming many of Sue's duties as Land Use Coordinator and hope that she will work with us for many years to come!

We were also saddened to note the passing of two other citizens who dedicated many years of service to our town: Maryann Powers, who among other things served as an Election Warden for our Town; and Anne Munroe, who served for many years on the Board of Assessors. We will certainly miss both Anne and Maryann.

Moving forward into 2007, our Town faces many challenges and several important projects, such as beginning and completing the construction of our Public Safety Building; beginning and completing the task of renovating the Town Hall; finding a new site for our Town Barn, relocating the DPW and redeveloping the current Town Barn site; studying and making decisions relative to the future of the J.R. Briggs Elementary School; development of the Ashburnham Rail Trail; working with City of Gardner to improve and perhaps expand our current arrangement with Gardner to provide municipal sewer to parts of our town; and to work with the other town boards and committees to plan for and regulate development growth in Ashburnham.

Although we have made an effort in our report to recognize the many volunteers that have contributed their time, effort, money and ideas to the effort of making our town a better place, we have merely scratched the surface of the number of volunteers that serve our town. We are immensely grateful to all the volunteers that have come forward to serve the Town of Ashburnham, and encourage any and all residents to join us in the fulfilling job of being part of the volunteer community that makes the Town of Ashburnham a truly unique and special place to live.

And last but not least, our Board could not function without the hard work and keen eye for detail that Sylvia Turcotte brings to her job as Administrative Assistant to the Board of Selectmen. Sylvia has become the indispensable key to our success, and we thank her for everything that she does for us and the Town of Ashburnham. And, you need not merely take our word on this topic, as Sylvia was recently recognized by the Ashburnham-Westminster Rotary Club as Ashburnham's Employee of the Year. Congratulations to Sylvia for this well deserved award!