The Selectboard is going to bat for constituents over consumer banking options and electricity costs.
In the first instance, the board hasn’t accepted as final a decision announced last week by TD Bank to close its Orange branch at 30 East Main St. The national bank intends to fold its Orange services, and workers, into its Athol bank six miles away. That would leave Orange with a single banking institution, the Workers’ Credit Union.
The closing not only threatens local commerce by limiting banking options within the town, but also hurts the town’s pride and could send the wrong signal to would-be developers and others about the town’s financial health — even in the face of private-public investment worth $44 million for a new 62-apartment housing development.
Lisa Sawicki, a spokeswoman for TD Bank, in vague language that typically accompanies such unpopular announcements, said the decision was “based on various factors, including customer traffic patterns and store transaction volumes … in line with our commitment to grow locations and services in the way that will create the best experience for the approximately 8 million TD Bank customers from Maine to Florida.”
But not necessarily for Orange.
Knowing it’s usually difficult to get private businesses, especially non-local ones, to change decisions made in their corporate self interest, the Selectboard is asking TD to at the least consider retaining an ATM in Orange so customers who keep their TD accounts can have access to funds in town without paying expensive fees at the credit union or convenience store ATMs.
Meanwhile, the Selectboard is having better success trying to save townspeople money by forging ahead with plans to get better electricity prices by arranging for homes and businesses to buy power collectively.
The town is hiring consultants to arrange for pooling the buying power of about 3,500 consumers through a Community Choice Power Supply Program, which seeks competitive bids from power generators. Greenfield has developed a similar plan, providing “green” energy to its residents for at or below market prices.
While the Orange consultants expect about 97 percent of the town’s power users would join the aggregation, consumers would be able to opt out.
This is just another example of how the Selectboard is looking out for its constituents, although in this case, with a greater likelihood of success than in their protest to TD Bank.