library

Are Westwood residents ready to pay the equivalent of one lunch per month to see the Library renovated? My informal, scientifically baseless quick poll shows strong support for the Library, and I'm inclined to agree that the time is right to make an investment in our community infrastructure. But in an economy filled with doubt, are people going to be so quick to cast those "yes" votes?

A resident pointed out to me that my poll is inaccurate--the average cost per household will be be $106. But the schedule of payments--to finance $9.3 million over 20 years, assuming 5% interest and an average home value of $532,000, begins with a cost of $140 in the first year and declines to $73 by year 20.

Residents will likely be asked to approve a debt exclusion override at the Special Town Meeting to be held on March 8, 2010, for the purposes of funding the construction of a new/replacement Main Library. The latest news and updates can be found on the Library web site and project blog.

The Westwood-Walpole League of Woman Voters will host a town-wide presentation on the new library project at the First Parish Meeting Hall on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 2:00pm.

Public input and discussion begins this week and continues through February...

There are no shortage of potential topics to discuss in this town. Ideally, each one would start as its own post, but I just wanted to list out some of the things I'm wondering about that are not being covered by the press extensively and/or are not in a finalized state where the town would have published anything.

Last night, the Economic Development Advisory Board met after being completely re-organized. Regardless of what is going on or not going on with Westwood Station, what is the purpose of that? What is the town doing to promote business development--both small and large? A few years ago, an economic development director was hired; then she left and went to Needham. Is there any kind of association of Westwood small business owners I could join? Or start?

The Pedestran and Bicycle Safety Committee is meeting tonight. I posted it officially at town hall as required by law and on the town website, but haven't even posted it here on my blog. We have a lot going on and I'm happy to respond to questions.

The Dunkin Donuts on Route 1 was robbed at gunpoint last Tuesday. Yes, there was a story in the Westwood Press but it would be good to learn more.

FinComm met on Tuesday night. Was that about the Library...or the budget in general...or prep for discussing the warrants for the town meetings coming up? There is a lot of specualtion but I would suspect the majority of residents are not paying attention yet--until the override campaigns start. There is a blog about the Library project and plenty of information and meetings going on, but it would be great to hear what people are thinking and start the discussion earlier before it turns into a campaign.

The challenge of municipal finance in general is a complex topic that could stand some reasonable discussion that is not framed in crisis. It sounds like the dire circumstances predicted at the last Board of Selectmen meeting I attended are less dire now, but I don't know.

The meeting warrants are open for two Town meetings. Last year I was criticized for observing that the warrant had closed in January and so no one could get anything on the agenda for the May meeting.  So if you have anything for next year...you have a few weeks now to either convince the Selectmen to include it or gather petition signatures. I'm not looking to re-open a debate on the process of Town Meeting, but now is the time to prepare so if you have something, it can be proposed, discussed, etc.

There is an active Government and Charter Study Task force meeting twice a month to consider improvements to town governance. So, for those who felt their efforts last year went down in flames...it's worth a look to see the work that is actually being done now.

In December, the Town will hold an "ascertainment hearing" to hear from residents what their needs are vis-a-vs the Comcast and Verizon television contracts. The hearing will concern, among other things, the amount of operational budget available for community access tv programming. The nonprofit WestCAT was formed almost two years ago (I'm on the board) and we have now hired a person to build out a station here in Westwood...

I would have spoken up at town meeting last night but I didn't think my comments would have an outcome on the vote for the library funding. However, I have some very real concerns about the timing of this project as I'm sure the library trustees do as well.

For those who weren't at town meeting last night, the town voted to appropriate $60,000 to the library to continue their development of architectural renderings in pursuit of $3.9 million in state aid to the town for building a new library.  According to the library's own presentation last night, this brings the library's out-of-pocket spending to about $380,000 for this project since 2005.

Later this year, I understand that the trustees intend to request a special town meeting at which they are going to ask us to approve a funding authorization for an amount between 3 and 4 million dollars. This money is estimated construction costs for a new library above and beyond the state aid and expected private donations. Their argument will be that if we don't vote through the funding, we are going to lose our $3.9 million in state contribution that they have been working on for 4 years.

Everyone who was at town meeting last night heard Pam Dukeman tell us to gird our loins for FY 2011. She is expecting significant cuts in services resulting from declining revenue. She also said that the town's bond rating had fallen in part because we did not have sufficient capital reserves.

So here's the problem I see looming. If the town decides to fund $3-4 million for new library construction in the fall, what are the chances that we're going to also pass a multi-million dollar operational override 6 months later? Not very good I think. This could be a real problem for the schools and other town services including the library. It would be fair irony if the library had it's operating budget cut by 20% at the same time it was putting up a new 32,000 sq ft building.

I also wonder about the cost of maintaining and operating a new library building. I assume the old library building will be retained for other purposes. If we are already behind in our capital reserves and can't keep up with maintenance on our existing structures, how can we justify building yet another one? Wouldn't we be better served keeping our exisiting infrastructure in good repair? Couldn't the $380,000, that's been spent pursuing the pot of gold from the state, have been better used to address some of the shortcomings of the existing building?

I commend the library trustees for their hardwork and dedication to making the library a true resource for our town. I realize this is a difficult conversation but it's one that needs to take place. This project made sense in 2005. Does it still make sense in 2009? What do others think?