BUCKLAND — Funding for an emergency roof replacement at the Wastewater Treatment Facility and selling the former Police Station are among the topics to be decided by Special Town Meeting voters on Monday, Nov. 27.
The five-article warrant will be considered at Town Hall, 17 State St., at 7 p.m.
Voters will consider a request to increase the fiscal year 2024 Wastewater Treatment Facility budget by $40,000 to complete an emergency roof replacement at the 16 Gardner Falls Road treatment plant.
The roof has been replaced once since the facility was built in 1974. The current roof, with a neoprene membrane, was installed about 25 years ago.
“The seams are coming apart, the glue is failing,” Dan Fleuriel, who retired as chief operator but still works at the plant part-time, wrote in an email. “We have made many attempts to get a company to fix the roof and no one has shown any interest in fixing the roof. We have made attempts to fix it ourselves and have had limited success that did not last long. We are well beyond the warranty period of the replaced roof and so we are on our own.”
There are several leaks in the roof, including one where water is coming into the motor control room, which is where the building’s electrical systems are located.
“[We] hoped to get by one more year, but the heavy rains this summer and early fall were too much for the deteriorated surface,” Town Administrator Heather Butler wrote in an email.
The town hopes to get the repairs done as soon as possible, should the spending request by approved at Town Meeting. The cost for replacement is split in half between Shelburne and Buckland.
Voters will also decide if they would like to sell the Buckland Police Station at Monday’s meeting. The Conway Street building, which was constructed in the 1950s and used to house the offices of the hydroelectric company that proceeded Great River Hydro, has been empty since the Buckland and Shelburne police departments merged over the summer.
The Selectboard hopes to sell the building. The land and building is currently assessed at about $421,400. Two potential buyers have already expressed interest: Great River Hydro, which owns the dam directly next to the building, and the Community Health Center of Franklin County.
Selectboard member Joan Livingston said both parties have toured the property.
“If they vote to sell the building, the Selectboard is committed to having listening sessions about what would be the best option for the use of the building in the future,” Livingston explained, noting that Town Meeting approval represents the first step.
Voters will also be asked to transfer $62,484 from free cash to pay the town’s fiscal year 2023 snow and ice deficit.
Snow and ice is the only line in a town’s budget that the state allows to run into a deficit, with the expectation that deficit will be made up in the next fiscal year. According to Buckland Finance Committee Chair Larry Langford, many of the invoices for snow and ice removal were received after the fiscal year ended, so “we decided that rather than generate all that money from taxation … we should use some of our FY24 free cash to pay the FY23 invoices.”
Voters will also decide whether to amend two bylaws outlining floodplain rules and mobile home residency.
Amendments to the floodplain bylaws, which have not been updated since the 1980s, would better align the regulations with the National Flood Insurance Program.
“The world has changed a lot since 1980,” Planning Board Co-Chair Michael Hoberman said previously.
An updated bylaw would add a floodplain administrator, a role that would be held by Town Administrator Heather Butler. The floodplain administrator’s responsibilities would include overseeing proper permit applications, coordinating with departments and other communities, and maintaining records relating to the floodplain.
The updated floodplain bylaw also states no new structures would be allowed to be built in the floodplain.
“We didn’t have any input in adding this,” Planning Board Co-Chair John Gould said previously. “It is all recommended and vetted text.”
The Planning Board also hopes voters will approve adding wording to the bylaws outlining that people cannot live in a trailer or mobile home for more than 60 days in a 12-month period. A bylaw addition would also create a process for having a forum for comment, and review by the Zoning Board of Appeals, where extended stay may be requested.
To view the full warrant, visit bit.ly/3sSoi6z.
Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.