MONTAGUE — Department of Public Works Superintendent Sam Urkiel gave the Selectboard a rundown of the department’s various summer projects Monday night, including repaving Randall Wood Drive, replacing aging traffic signals on Avenue A and hiring a new collections system light equipment operator.
Urkiel told Selectboard members that the DPW will be busy this summer working to repave a fair portion of the approximately 100 miles of road the town manages, including a few roads that have not been repaved since they were first built in the early 1990s.
“We are looking at paving a few different streets, one of them being Randall Wood Drive, which has not been done since the cul-de-sac was put in,” Urkiel said. “Other roads we’re going to pave include Old Stage Road, Kells, Ripley, and we are going to do some work on the alleys.”
Urkiel added that sections of Millers Falls Road will be repaved as well.
“It’ll be pretty nice to get a good amount of stuff paved this summer,” he said.
Avenue A
Urkiel shared that the town was awarded a $110,000 grant from the Massachusetts Federal Funds & Infrastructure Office. The money will be used to complete preliminary design work to reconstruct the existing signalized intersections at Avenue A and Third Street and Avenue A and Seventh Street, allowing the town to replace the aging traffic lights.
“There’s quite a bit involved; it’s not just put up new lights,” Urkiel said. “They’ve got to do a new control box and some pedestrian-crossing buttons and panels. It’ll be nice to replace those before we can’t find parts anymore. We’ve recently come into some issues where we’ve had to borrow parts just to keep them running.”
Town Administrator Walter Ramsey said the lights have been part of Montague’s capital plan for some time because they are past their lifespan.
“I’m pleased that we’re able to get grant funding to advance the design phase,” Ramsey said. “We’ll continue to look for grants to continue to the implementation/construction phase as well.”
While the department works to repave roads and plan traffic light replacements, Urkiel said street signs will also be replaced over time with blue-and-white signs that will give the streets across town a unified look. Montague currently features a variety of signs from different time periods, including signs with black text on white, white text on green and white text on black.
Urkiel presented the Selectboard with various design and color options, and members agreed that blue-and-white signs would be the best fit for Montague. Marina Goldman said the white text “pops” on the blue background, and Richard Kuklewicz agreed that the color blue is traditionally associated with Turners Falls and Montague.
Urkiel said that over time, as stop signs and street signs need to be replaced, the blue-and-white street signs would be installed, and the areas in town that do not currently have stop signs at intersections would be prioritized first. He added that he is looking into adding “no outlet” symbols to the signs for dead-end streets.
In addition to the projects the Montague DPW is tackling, Urkiel said the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is planning work in town as well. Plans to improve the Swamp Road Bridge are still being finalized and are expected to be complete sometime this fall, allowing construction to begin as early as next summer. Urkiel said the bridge is not being completely rebuilt and the work is expected to cost about $900,000.
“The abutments are going to remain in place,” Urkiel said. “They’re not going to be working in the stream at all, and they’re going to replace the deck and the rails, and it’s going to look like a new bridge.”
Urkiel said Swamp Road will be closed during construction, and the town will work with MassDOT, as well as the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), which has routes that cross that road, to manage detours.
Possible staffing and fee costs
Urkiel said that, in addition to infrastructure improvements, the DPW is looking at changes to trash pickup prices and adding a new position to its roster.
Use of the trash pickup service the town offers through Casella Waste Systems has increased by up to 25% over the past two years, according to Urkiel. Revenues from trash sticker fees and curbside pickup have increased but have not covered the full cost of the curbside trash pickup service.
Ramsey said that for fiscal year 2026, the Finance Committee needed to approve a $19,000 reserve fund transfer to cover a deficit in the trash budget, and as the FY27 budget was built using the anticipated usage numbers for 2026, it is likely that a reserve fund transfer or supplemental Town Meeting appropriation will be needed this fiscal year as well.
“We are anticipating another budget deficit in solid waste disposal,” Ramsey said. “This is something we will look to fix for the FY28 budget moving forward.”
Ramsey said the fees paid by users cover approximately 47% of the trash removal cost, with the remaining 53% covered by taxpayers through the town budget.
Currently, trash stickers are $3, or residents can purchase a 12-month barrel pass for $156.
Kuklewicz said he believes it could be detrimental to increase the user fee too much, but the fee does need to cover the costs associated with the service. He encouraged Ramsey to do further research and return to the board for future discussion.
“I wouldn’t mind doing some increase, but I hope it would be minimal,” Kuklewicz said.
Selectboard members also gave Urkiel their blessing to work with Ramsey to develop a job description for a new collections system light equipment operator.
Urkiel explained that the department has been collecting data and has begun to map its wastewater collections system, and adding another staff member would allow the department to dedicate a team to use a vactor — which is a specialized combination vacuum and high-pressure water jetting truck, fitted with a camera — to study the wastewater system so the town better knows what work will be needed to repair the system, as well potentially separate wastewater and stormwater collections in the future.
“I’m seeing our structure leaning more toward needing a person for some additional help with the vactor so we can get a lot more done in the collection system, as well as the stormwater system,” Urkiel said. “That is a big driver to ultimately try to separate the combined system. But we need to know what we have before we know what to separate.”
The position will be funded from the current town budget and will not require any additional money, as Urkiel said he plans to leave a building maintenance position vacant and instead use members of the grounds crew to support building maintenance as needed.
Ramsey said that, with funding already appropriated, the new role could be added this fiscal year and the town could hire someone as soon as the job description is approved by the Selectboard and a memorandum of understanding is signed with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), as the role would likely be part of the union.
