SHELBURNE FALLS — The Ashfield, Buckland and Shelburne selectboards worked out the details of a proposed legislative act for a shared West County Senior Services District Tuesday night, which will be sent back to the Senior Center Expansion Committee for revisions.
Ultimately, the proposed agreement will return to the three selectboards for inclusion on their respective Town Meeting warrants, bringing the matter before voters.
While the selectboards walked out of the meeting, which was held in Buckland’s Town Hall, with only a few minor changes to the proposed agreement, a long discussion was held on Section 7, which pertains to how each member town will take on debt burdens for future capital projects.
While Ashfield, Buckland and Shelburne currently provide senior services and programming as a consortium, with the Senior Center operating out of the Masonic building on Main Street, Shelburne is the sole fiscal agent. Establishing a district is designed to give the three towns equal say, particularly as the Senior Center looks to expand.
Ashfield Selectboard Chair Steve Gougeon said the agreement as a whole was solid, but the proposed formula of using town’s equalized values and assessment percentages may be a struggle to get past Town Meeting voters.
“Not to throw a wet towel on this whole thing,” Gougeon said. “I want to see the general idea of this agreement go through, but I’m worried about getting to that last yard and not making it.”
Under the terms in the agreement, the debt cost share would be calculated using the following formula: 50% of each town’s operations assessment percentage, 25% by equalized property values calculated by the Department of Revenue and the final 25% by towns’ income values. Any capital project, and the involved debt costs, would need to be approved by Town Meeting voters.
A proposal was put forward to allow the West County Senior Services District’s six-member board of managers to set debt-sharing costs for each individual project, but Ashfield Selectboard member Tom Carter said not having concrete numbers for presentation at Town Meeting would doom the vote.
“People will have a problem with this formula,” Carter said, noting that a small group will be against the proposal no matter what, “but if we don’t have a formula, I envision a larger group (being against it). Which one is easier and clearer to support?”
As discussion went back and forth, Ashfield Selectboard member Todd Olanyk said keeping the formula as is would be the best move because the worst-case scenario is the three towns would come back to Town Meeting voters again the next year.
“If it fails, it’s only going to extend the process by 10%,” Olanyk said, referencing that once the legislative act is approved, the towns have 10 years to form the district. “I think it will all come down to the discussion on the floor at Town Meeting.”
Carter agreed and said having an explicit formula will give the agreement an “excellent chance of passing” compared to a number set by a yet-to-be determined board of managers.
“I feel much more comfortable having the formula in,” he said.
Other proposed changes to the agreement included making it easier for other neighboring towns to join in the future, as well as laying out how the board of managers would work. Each town would appoint two members to the board and a majority decision would be needed to affirm any vote — therefore, a 3-3 tie would be a defeat. In budget discussions, at least one member from each town also has to vote “yes,” meaning two towns could not overpower another.
The selectboards also agreed that board of managers members should be given some sort of compensation and asked the Senior Center Expansion Committee to strike a line from the document saying board members should not be paid as it might discourage people from applying.
“At some level, I feel the managers are going to need to be compensated,” Carter said. “We don’t have people in Ashfield lining up to do these jobs.”
With changes in hand, the two Senior Center Expansion Committee members present for the discussion will bring the feedback back to their committee, make revisions and bring the proposal back to each Selectboard to be placed on Town Meeting warrants.
The Expansion Committee will meet via Zoom on March 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.