Uxbridge voters to decide on capital projects, including school and road repairs

UXBRIDGE – Voters at the fall Annual Town Meeting Oct. 24 will be asked to debate a warrant article that proposes using stabilization money to fund $335,000 in capital purchases and projects, including $130,000 to replace a boiler at the Taft Elementary School.

Another article in the 15-article warrant will ask voters to approve using $500,000 in excess levy capacity funds for road reconstruction.

The annual town meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Valley Chapel Auditorium, 14 Hunter Road.

The articles are being sponsored by Town Manager David Genereux and the Capital Planning Committee. Each year, the town manager is required to submit a capital improvement program to the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee by the end of January. The spending requests then go before annual town meeting voters.

The Capital Planning Committee conducted a comprehensive review of capital requests and is recommending funding for six projects for fiscal year 2018, including $130,000 to replace a boiler at the Taft Elementary School; $20,000 for skylight repairs at the Uxbridge Free Public Library; $65,000 for a new truck for the Department of Public Works; $20,000 for school flooring; $20,000 for a library walkway; and an undetermined amount of money for police communications.

First on the priority list for capital improvement projects is the $130,000 to replace the Taft Elementary School boiler, which is close to not functioning. Generoux says a system failure would require the shutdown of the school during the heating season and the need to relocate 487 students and 73 faculty and staff.

The plan is to replace the boiler with a Weil McLain 17888 Series 2 commercial steam boiler. The project would also include repairs and upgrades of the boiler feeder tank, accompanying steam traps and classroom unit ventilators.

The skylight at the library, which sits over the adult fiction and non-fiction collections, has been leaking for years causing structural damage. The town appropriated $40,000 in the spring to replace the skylight and has paid out approximately $10,000 for engineering and design. The cost estimates for the project is $41,000 and the town is requesting an additional $20,000 in the case of bids coming in above estimate, or additional work on the slate roof of the library is required.

The school flooring project would replace approximately 20 worn classroom carpets with VCT tiling in the two elementary schools.

The library walkway would be installed between the Cove parking lot and the library to ease accessibility. The library is leasing the parking lot because the Lutheran Church property and its parking lot are now privately owned.

The new truck for the DPW would replace a 2000 Ford F350 dump body pickup truck with over 150,000 miles. The vehicle, which has severe body rot, is five years beyond its useful life.

The $500,000 that would pay for road reconstruction would come from in excess levy capacity from last year due to new growth from personal property upgrades by National Grid. That capacity was not used when creating the fiscal year 2018 budget.