Another question will be added to the November ballot, after the Board of Aldermen Thursday approved requesting $4 million in bonding to pave city roads.
But what roads will get the makeover isn’t clear — and that’s how board president John Anglace wants it.
“I don’t think we are supposed to be asking for a list of streets,” Anglace said after Aldermen John “Jack” Finn questioned which roads would be included in the project.
If the roads were named, then those not living on them may be inclined to vote against the bonding, he said.
“We would be shooting ourselves in the foot,” Anglace said.
Rather, it would be wiser to make known the criteria with which the roads would be chosen, Anglace said.
“It has long been our practice to go by the current condition of the road and the currant usage,” he said.
Who Decides?
In the past many have questioned the process to decide which roads get paved, Finn said. He said he wants to know how many in his district will be addressed.
“It would be helpful to get the approval if we can say that a small portion of the funding will go toward roads in our district,” he said.
Ultimately, if voters approve the spending, it will be up to the Town Engineer and the aldermen’s Street Committee to decide which roads will get repaved, Alderman John Papa said.
“They are the ones that are responsible to say which roads are the worst,” Papa said. “This is why we have a committee to address the streets.”
Anglace said it would take several years to get the $4 million of work done.
“But it’s not going to solve all of the problems we have with the streets,” Finn said. “The amount should probably be up to $8 million.”
“Well, it’s a start,” Anglace responded.
It’s disturbing, Finn said, to see some of the city’s newest roads already in need of attention. For example, Megan Court is a fairly new road, he said, and it is already “shot.”
Open Space
In addition to approving the bonding question, the aldermen also approved transferring $250,000 from the General Fund to the Open Space Trust Account.
By charter the city is required to make that contribution yearly, but for the past several years it has gone towards a planned purchase, Conservation Commission chairman Tom Harbinson said.
The city has spent millions of dollars over the past several years purchasing large parcels of open space, most of which were former farms.
“This is the first time in several years that we will have the money sitting in the bank,” Harbinson said, “and we can start growing it again.”
