COLRAIN — Voters will be presented with seven Special Town Meeting warrant articles seeking to allocate funding for projects around town, including the demolition of an old, partially collapsed schoolhouse, replacing a fire alarm panel at Colrain Central School, and transferring the town from a physical server to a cloud-based server.
Residents will decide on these requests on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m. at Colrain Central School.
Article 1 concerns the demolition of the old schoolhouse at 101 Heath Road, which is owned by the town. The article asks to transfer $18,000 from the General Stabilization Fund to complete the demolition.
Town Administrator Diana Parsons said the two quotes the town received for this project were for $11,000 and $16,000, and that further study revealed there isn’t any asbestos in the building. Parsons clarified that now, with confirmation that there’s no asbestos, she doesn’t envision the demolition costing more than $16,000.
“I don’t want to be short after we’ve gone through all these steps,” Parsons mentioned about the $18,000 transfer.
Article 2 asks residents to fund a capital expense request from the Mohawk Trail Regional School District for the replacement of a fire alarm panel at Colrain Central School. This is another transfer from the General Stabilization Fund for the sum of $11,693.
Only one article, Article 4, asks if the town will raise and appropriate money. This article relates to a $20,000 grant that the town received from the Massachusetts Councils on Aging that was rejected by Colrain’s Council on Aging in August. Council members, at the time, cited the necessary grant match as a reason to reject the award.
In September, however, the Selectboard learned that town counsel, the Massachusetts Councils on Aging and the Executive Office of Aging & Independence are all in support of Colrain continuing to receive the $20,000 grant. The change required an updated contract naming the town as the recipient rather than the Council on Aging, and Parsons was appointed as the delegated authority to spend the money.
Now, Parsons explained she has asked for $6,000 to be raised and appropriated, which would represent the town’s contribution toward implementing the program that would provide two meals per month for up to 165 Colrain residents. Parsons noted the town is still looking for a place to hold the meals, adding that there’s “no no-cost option.”
These meals would take place during the winter when such meals are not put on by the Council on Aging. Parsons added that the town would like to hold these meals on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
“We didn’t want to have these meals on a weekend,” Parsons said. “Every day I’m trying to get more information.”
One article, Article 7, is related to an article that was passed at Annual Town Meeting in May. That article had asked the town to transfer $5,000 from the Technology Stabilization Fund for the purpose of transitioning from a physical server to a cloud-based one. However, the town is now seeking the transfer of an additional $5,000 from the Technology Stabilization Fund, bringing the total to $10,000.
All articles on the warrant are recommended by the Finance Committee.
The full Special Town Meeting warrant can be viewed at tinyurl.com/52h6seh5.
