ERVING – Eighteen of the 19 articles on Erving’s town warrant passed unanimously at the annual town meeting at Erving Elementary.
The 19th article, which relates to remediation and redevelopment of the Millers Falls Paper Mill property has not yet passed or failed; it has merely been postponed to a later Special Town Meeting. The date has not been scheduled.
Erving is waiting on an approximately $200,000 grant from MassDevelopment for the remediation and redevelopment of the site, but the official grant amount was not finalized by MassDevelopment in time for the town meeting.
The meeting moved relatively quickly thanks to a new setup that allowed certain budget line items to be consolidated into one article, rather than each line item being voted on in separate articles. Town meeting members were welcomed to ask questions about the articles as a whole or line items individually.
An amendment was made to Article 5, which relates to elected official compensation, when Franklin County Technical School Representative Robert Bitzer recommended that the town moderator compensation be raised from $106 to an even $200.
“I think (the moderator) is very much deserving of it,” Bitzer said.
This amendment was agreed upon unanimously, which increased the approved elected official compensation budget from $120,022.48 to $120,116.48. Residents also returned to Article 4, to amend the final operating budget from $4,050,632 to $4,050,726, accounting for the $94 increase in the moderator’s pay.
Article 8, dealing with itemized parts of the tech school’s budget, was also amended from $544,254 to $544,287 to increase pay to the school committee. The overall tech school committee member salary was raised from $1,316 to $1,349.
The town unanimously approved $1,570,000 to reconstruct a wastewater forced line from the Arch Street pump station to a treatment plant.
The existing 6-inch main is nearly 50 years old and has experienced failures in recent years.
Approving Erving Elementary’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget for $3,076,426.
Approving funding for Great Falls Middle School and Turners Falls High School $1,358,701 Secondary education funding $1,358,701.
Approving the Water Department’s operating budget for $92,481.
Approving $746,817 for the Wastewater Department’s budget.
Approving $131,000 for inspection and work on a double barrel siphon that carries wastewater from the end of Pratt Street to a treatment plant, and $66,000 to monitor pH at the Ervingside Well House.
Reach Christie Wisniewski at: cwisniewski@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280