MONTAGUE — Town officials have a slate of 11 capital and two non-capital requests to address as they plan the fiscal year 2025 budget and finish out the rest of this fiscal year.

The projects, nearly all of which are included in the capital plan, would cost roughly $1.1 million, Assistant Town Administrator Walter Ramsey told the Selectboard during a review of the proposals at Monday’s meeting. A non-capital project is one that costs less than $25,000.

Most of the projects will be brought before voters for approval at the May 4 Annual Town Meeting, though two will come up at the Special Town Meeting set for March 14.

Tom Bergeron, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, explained it is critical to order a new Ferry Road culvert as soon as possible because it will take several months to have it built and delivered to Montague. He said he hopes to have the new culvert installed by August.

Ramsey said in an interview that the existing 24-inch culvert is at least 40 years old and undersized for its purpose. He said it will be replaced by one more than twice as large that meets modern environmental regulations for a cost of $222,800.

The Department of Public Works is also in need of a new skid steer, a piece of construction equipment primarily used for digging. This $90,000 cost is one of the projects not on the capital plan, a list of necessities predicted last year.

“The plan can’t anticipate everything. This is a new piece of equipment that is kind of novel,” Ramsey said. “The [Capital Improvements Committee] agrees that it will be a good addition to the fleet of equipment at the DPW.”

This purchase was initially proposed for a Special Town Meeting in the fall but it was tabled for consideration. The projects to be proposed at the Special Town Meeting in March, if approved, would cost a combined $312,800.

The biggest project to be presented to taxpayers at Annual Town Meeting is expected to be the $283,800 for rehabilitation of the Montague Center Pump Station.

“We know we’ve got a lot of catch-up work to do to get our pump stations back up to where they need to be in Montague,” Ramsey explained, adding that the one located in Montague Center is the largest in volume. “The proposal is robust, and we’ll get the station to the point where it needs to be.”

He added that Warner Bros., a contractor in Sunderland, has quoted the town $230,000 to resurface the Town Hall parking lot “and we’re carrying some funds in there to remove the ‘Butler building’ as well as put in some curbing to better define the entrance off of First Street. Obviously, if this becomes a block grant-eligible project, then it comes off the capital project slate that goes to Town Meeting.” The cost will total about $275,000.

The “Butler building” is an old blue metal structure behind Town Hall once used by the DPW for storage.

Ramsey explained the town has a lot of sewer lines that are in need of work and a lot of manholes need to be relined, but the town will focus on five manholes identified as high-priority by the Department of Public Works because they are producing a lot of inflow.

“There’s a small section of pipe on Millers Falls Road that is actively flaky and at high risk of failure, based on the investigations that were done by DPW,” Ramsey said.

The $40,000 for the Hillcrest Elementary School cafeteria reconfiguration, Ramsey mentioned, would add a needed meeting space on an elevated platform that is underused.

A list of the capital and non-capital requests can be found on Page 47 of the Jan. 8 meeting materials at tinyurl.com/MontagueProjects.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.