Mayor’s Update
February 27, 2017
FY18 Budget Process: We are completing Department Head budget meetings this week and the Leadership Team for the School District is also working of their budget. We had hoped to allocate a 3.1% increase + $500,000 to the school district to begin a 3 year plan to address the structural deficit of $1M to $1.5M in the annual school budget. However, with the escalating health insurance and a decrease of 6.2%, or $264,113, in local aid, the schools are using 3.1% + $300,000 as a starting point. Although the Department Heads have presented level services budget requests, we are still faced with an additional several hundred thousand in reductions needed to balance the City budget.
MMA Advisory Board Meeting: At the Massachusetts Municipal Association Local Government Advisory Board Meeting with the Lt. Governor and other officials, I was asked to address c.70 funding allocations in the House 1 budget. The c.70 allocation is the lowest since the passage of Education Reform in 1993. This particularly hurts minimum funding districts and those that host a charter school, and Newburyport falls into both these categories. This, coupled with rising costs of special education, contracts, unfunded mandates, and the loss of kindergarten grants, creates budget challenges for most school districts.
Bresnahan: On Wednesday, February 15th, the MA School Building Authority met and closed out the Bresnahan Elementary school project. We anticipate a close out of the Nock/Molin in the next several months.
STEM Lab: We are very fortunate to have very generous donors in our city. On February 15th, the Bresnahan dedicated the new STEM lab created by a gift from Mike Strem of Strem Chemicals. Mr. Strem has also supported other science initiatives including a robotics lab at the Middle School.
DPS Highway: A copy of the completed city-wide sidewalk assessment by Beta Engineering is presented to each City Councilor this evening. We are awaiting copies of the maps for each ward that provide a colored –coded key of the conditions of the sidewalks. The document will be posted on line once the maps are received.
Sewer- Tonight you will be voting on the bonding for the Graf Rd. lift station. My thanks to the City Councilors who attended the Water and Sewer Commission meeting last week to review the status of the existing station- it has reached its expectancy and is a very dangerous design with a poorly accessed wet well. Review of the decision-making process on options and costs was also discussed and was very informative. As a Council you approved funding to purchase the land for the new station and approved funding for 100% design. We also have a $2M Mass Works grant awarded towards this project. Subcontractor bids were delayed from opening on Friday due to a sub-contractor’s request for information that required an addendum and added 48 hours to the submission period. Bids will be opened tomorrow (February 28th) for subcontractors and general contractor bids will be opened on Friday, March 3rd.
Water and Sewer Capacity: As mentioned at the Water and Sewer Commission, there has been a strong interest on the City Council to have better data on our current and future water and sewer capacity. Discussions have occurred with Beta Engineering on the sewer side and AECOM on the water side. To complete a full modelling, it would cost the City between $300,000 – $400,000 dollars so alternate option is being compiled- sewer assessment will identify all major pipes 10” and larger to measure flow. Water will begin with a bathymetric assessment of the reservoir which will direct further evaluation. Information regarding these assessments is being compiled for your next city council meeting.
Intermodal Facility/Garage: We had a very productive meeting with the MVRTA on Friday and believe we have addressed the items required to satisfy the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA); this leads to the assignment of the 100% design contract with Desmond to the city. We also made substantial movement on the Memorandum Of Agreement that secures the MVRTA space for the intermodal component through a 99 year lease but the operations, pricing and management would be through the city. These were important components to resolve before we could finalize the purchase and sale agreement. We are still waiting on approval of the 30% design by the FTA.
Prevention Month: A reminder that March is prevention month and I encourage all to check on the many events being coordinated by Youth Services and the Beacon Coalition. On Wednesday night, March 1st at 7 PM at City Hall there is a panel discussion on marijuana.