New Braintree Selectmen notebook

By Nate Cheever

Turley Publications Reporter

New Braintree may be eligible for highway grant

NEW BRAINTREE - Select board chairman Robert Hunt informed attendees that New Braintree may be eligible for a highway grant of around $200,000 that would allow the town to build a highway garage. However, selectman Martin Goulet warned that there are also good reasons to consider turning down the grant; for example, the town would be required to follow NFPA regulations, which would cost the town a further half million to keep the building up to the state’s requirements.

Hunt and Goulet proposed two diverging scenarios in revamping the highway, police, and fire department buildings. “I think highway and fire should be joined,” Hunt said, stressing the importance of having a building exclusively for highway maintenance and noting the importance of taking the grant when it is offered. “We have a real need to do something about the police department; we need a safe place to house vehicles and equipment.” Goulet offered an alternative, noting that the police and fire stations could be combined, which would empty the fire station and open it for highway department use. He stressed taking care of the buildings the town already has and warned against the state getting too involved. “We want complete local control,” he said. A public works safety complex building for all three departments was also discussed.

Department heads report on highway maintenance funds and fire truck loan

Richard Ayer of the town highway department announced that the road striping is done, but there are still stop lines and tree work that need to be completed. An engineering firm may need to be hired for the Ravine Road Project, Ayer said. The department is still waiting for funds from the Worcester Road Project, but it will do preliminary work on West Road. The department has scheduled a highway commissions meeting for Sept. 14.

The Finance Committee plans to finalize a budget in the October town meeting. One of the items on the agenda will be the $30,000 loan on the fire truck, which was not included in the ATM budget sheet. Committee member Bill Howland also noted that the Zoning Enforcement Officer needs to be paid the sum of $500 for this year’s services and most of last year’s.

The town hall is still looking for a custodian to replace Julie Russo, who resigned. Anyone interested in the position of town custodian should contact town secretary Katie Tyler.

Town considers new office supplies provider

Discussion continued on switching contracts for town hall supplies, including paper, ink cartridges, and other office supplies. The town signed a new Procurement contract and will switch to the Brookfield consortium for their supplies. The investment will be $500, but there will be no charge for delivery. “I don’t look at is as a big risk,” said selectman Glenn Merkel, adding that the town should recoup the $500 reasonably quickly. The committee estimated that the cost of a ream of paper would drop from $2.99 a ream to $2.58 a ream, which is one example of the potential benefit to this investment.

Town considers opening Aflac benefits to town employees

Discussion continued on the benefits and drawbacks of opening Aflac voluntary benefits to town employees. The selectmen noted, however, that Massachusetts general law requires either a town meeting vote or a selectmen’s vote to allow the program to go into effect. The selectmen said that other towns speak very favorably of Aflac as a provider, also noting that the premiums seem reasonable and that there are other benefits such as hospitalization coverage and reimbursing the holders their deductibles.