Click to read text of Article 5 and post comments. [Capital Projects]
See complete warrant at https://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/10460/2023-Fall-Town-Meeting-Motion-Book.
ARTICLE 5. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate or transfer sums of money for the following capital projects:
- Town Hall & Library Roof Engineering and Library Roof Immediate Repairs
- Ambrose School Roof Engineering
- McCall School Roof Engineering
- DPW Storage Garage Units Engineering
- Library Window Replacement Engineering & Town Hall Window Engineering
- Lincoln School Chiller Engineering
- Town Hall Bell Tower Structural Review
- Washington Street Bridge Repairs (supplemental funding)
- Phase 1 Risk Assessment Implementation
- DPW – Dump Truck/Salter
- Playground Equipment & Surfaces at the Lincoln School and VO School
- Shore Road Bridge Engineering
- Everett Ave Culvert Engineering
- DPW Manager Vehicle
- Ginn Field Lights
- Packer Ellis Tennis Courts Engineering
- Town Clerk - Central Tabulation Equipment
- McCall School HVAC Retro-Commissioning
- Water & Sewer Dump Truck
- Nelson Street/Winchester High School Drainage Improvements (supplemental funding)
And to determine whether said appropriations or transfers are to be made from Free Cash, the Building Stabilization Fund or the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002, Water & Sewer Retained Earnings or any other available fund; or take any other action in relation thereto.
(Capital Planning Committee)
MOTIONS:
MOTION 1: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $865,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Town Hall & Library Roof Engineering and Library Roof Immediate Repairs including construction and engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 2: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $80,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Ambrose School Roof Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 3: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $240,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for McCall School Roof Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 4: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $100,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for DPW Storage Garage Units Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 5: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $150,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Library Window Replacement Engineering & Town Hall Window Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 6: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $150,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Lincoln School Chiller Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 7: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $50,000 from the Building Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Town Hall Bell Tower Structural Review and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 8: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $116,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Washington Street Bridge Repairs (supplemental funding) including construction, engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 9: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $150,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Phase 1 Risk Assessment Implementation, including construction, equipment and engineering and all other costs incidental, and related thereto.
MOTION 10: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $270,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for a DPW – Dump Truck/Salter and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 11: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $400,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Playground Equipment & Surfaces at the Lincoln School and VO School including construction, equipment and engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 12: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $100,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Shore Road Bridge engineering, and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 13: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $100,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for Everett Ave Culvert engineering, and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 14: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $45,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for a DPW Manager Vehicle and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 15: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $210,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for the replacement of Ginn Field Lights including construction, equipment, engineering, and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 16: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $75,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for the Packer Ellis Tennis Courts Engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 17: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $25,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for the Town Clerk - Central Tabulation Equipment and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 18: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $75,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund established under Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2002 for the McCall School HVAC Retro- Commissioning and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 19: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $90,000 from Water & Sewer Retained Earnings for a Dump Truck (Water & Sewer Department) and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
MOTION 20: MOVED AND SECONDED that the Town vote to appropriate $225,000 from Water & Sewer Retained Earnings for Nelson Street/Winchester High School Drainage Improvements (supplemental funding) including construction, engineering and all other costs incidental and related thereto.
Capital Planning Report under separate cover
Motions 1-18 are 2/3 Vote Required Motions 19 & 20 are Majority Vote Requiredto.
(Capital Planning Committee)
Comments
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A very informative presentation on capital planning processes was made to the Finance Committee on October 24 by an expert in the field, Christopher Gordon. During the presentation, I learned the town is undergoing a study of the current condition of our buildings and and major building systems by Vanderweil Facility Advisors (VFA), owned by Gordian. As I understand it, the VFA database will serve as a template to facilitate planning for maintenance and repair/replacement costs. Sounds like a very useful planning tool.
The Youtube recording link was included in their meeting minutes - here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbt72Gy88lc
Extract from the Finance Committee minutes of this meeting:
"Christopher M. Gordon, P.E. was the guest of the Committee. Beginning at 6:35pm, Mr. Gordon and the Chair engaged in an interactive discussion around the basics of capital programming, with the aid of a ten-page presentation. Members asked questions during the interactive discussion, which concluded at approximately 7:15pm.
For the remaining portion of the Meeting, Finance Committee members asked questions of Mr. Gordon, and discussed capital programming topics with Mr. Gordon and among the committee."
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It was great to hear from Mr. Gordon. It was also reassuring to hear that Winchester is already following the general practices used by most municipalities. In particular, he mentioned that capital plans longer than 5-10 years are not very useful--we tend to look out 5 years. VFA can help for sure as long as we keep it simple, a mantra he said several times. He added that most municipalities set their departmental budgets first and then allocate money to capital. We can always do better and spend more on capital and maintenance in particular, but we don't need to change our internal processes.
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On Monday evening (10/30), the Winchester Historical Commission voted unanimously to endorse Motion 16 for the Packer Ellis Tennis Courts Engineering. The courts are genuinely historic, dating from the 1917 town's purchase of the land and the construction of the first tennis courts there.
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It seems likely we can expect some discussion on this Capital Projects article this year. Town leaders (Select Board, Town Manager, Capital Planning, and Fin Com) have been wrestling with how best to develop a long-range capital plan, which I assume will come up during the debate of this article. The issue involves the concern over the backlog of capital projects in the town’s pipeline and identifying a timeline and revenue source for them.
The Select Board discussed this topic for over an hour at the October 30th Select Board meeting. Town Manager Beth Rudolph presented the list of High/Medium/Low priority projects in the pipeline for both the Building and Capital Stabilization funds. She also included 5-year projections, which far exceeded the projected balance in those funds. The SB discussed the possibility of considering an override sometime in 2024 which would help fund this bundle of critical projects in combination with other funding sources (Free cash, ARPA, CPA). Select Board members also supported funding the article's engineering studies this fall, with a plan to evaluate the studies’ findings as they become available to better identify the revenue need & some kind of proposed strategy, aiming to bring some kind of report to the spring town meeting. They agreed to discuss the issue at least monthly, starting with an update at one of their mid-December meetings. I think I got this right, but here is the link to the Select Board meeting which you can view yourself - the discussion starts at 53:20 and ends at 2:22:52: https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/7qWlRaZ6VN1bGk9m5qlLrPdu4-4i7cSa/media/833427?autostart=true&showtabssearch=true&fullscreen=false
Here is also a link to a Daily Times Chronicle Summary of the meeting: https://tinyurl.com/SBCapitalDiscussion
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Thx Carol, looks like you captured the spirit of the effort. A big issue with capital needs is - we don't know, what we don't know. So while we'll wrestle with a list of "stuff", it's things like a bad bridge inspection or spalling concrete underneath the high school, that catch us off guard. I agree with Beth Rudolph's philosophy that we need to strengthen the Building Stabilization & Capital Stabilization funds as part of the longer view.
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Yes, William, I agree, a longer view makes sense -- identifying revenue sources will always be a necessary struggle, but these capital buildings/structures do have maintenance needs and useful lives we cannot ignore. Speaking of that, I received this email sent to Town Meeting Members from the WInchester Tennis Association on Nov 1 re Article 5, Motion 16 (it had gone to my spam). I'm reposting in case folks missed it:
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Save Our Packer-Ellis Tennis Courts
Vote in favor of Capital Planning Article 5, Motion 16
To: Town Meeting Members
From: Winchester Tennis Association
The Winchester Tennis Association endorses the Capital Planning Committee’s recommendation of a study for the rehabilitation of the long-ignored, century plus-old, Packer-Ellis tennis courts. Sources of funds to pay for repairs and construction, as determined by the study, include state grants for community preservation, sponsorships, grants from community philanthropic organizations, United States Tennis Association grants, private donations, and possible recreation department funding.
The Town of Winchester owns and operates the courts, and they are open to the public. Due to a lack of capital investment over the decades, the infrastructure around the courts is nearing the point of complete breakdown including retaining walls, fencing, and handrails. The steep and irregular stairs are not code compliant. There is a lack of shelter for staff. There is no electrical service to support the use of rechargeable battery-powered maintenance equipment.
Packer-Ellis is the largest clay court tennis court facility in New England, boasting 15 total courts. It is the home of the Recreation Department’s tennis lesson programs. Each Spring and Summer, these programs draw over 500 paid members, and 1100 lesson registrations, for both adults and children.
The courts are also home to the Winchester High School boys’ and girls’ tennis teams. They practice every day at the courts beginning in May through June and play their home matches at the facility.
Additionally, the courts are the host location for the Winchester adult travel teams that play in the Middlesex Tennis League.
The Packer-Ellis Courts have long been an important part of our community - known as “a slice of Tennis Heaven in the Heart of Winchester”. The non-profit Winchester Tennis Association, comprised of over two hundred players, organizes three Winchester Town Tennis Tournaments each year, hosts weekly social-play gatherings on weekends, a singles ladder and mens and womens weekly doubles. These events draw hundreds of participants and foster the close community connections that Winchester is known for.
Please vote in favor of Capital Planning Article 5, Motion 16 so current and future generations are able to enjoy our Slice of Tennis Heaven in Winchester.
Thank you for your support.
Chrissy Bordonaro
President
Winchester Tennis Association
