DPS Updates
Streets & Sidewalks
Arlington Street: originally scheduled for road work and brick sidewalks but discovered the water main needs replacement before moving forward on the $800,000 project.
Additional roads added to replace Arlington St., costs are based on total reclamation and repaving:
Street Roadway Sidewalk Curb Total
Oak St. $96,000.00 $155,000.00 $250,000.00
So. Pond St. $56,600.00 $88,250.00 $145,000.00
Guild St. $44,000.00 $83,000.00 $127,000.00
Reilly Ave. $22,000.00 N/A $22,000.00
TOTAL est. cost: $544,000.00
Columbus Ave. water main replacement completed and waiting on date from contractor to begin
sidewalk work.
High St. damage by Hi-Way Safety, now K5 Corporation came with new attorney and new engineer to review status on High St. Their last offer to repair damage was totally inadequate at $125,000. We are waiting for hopefully a new more reasonable offer to settle this situation.
Striping & Crosswalk work
Awaiting City Council approval of final striping of Merrimac St.
Crosswalk painting continuing across city
Additional ADA ramps are being installed at Central/Middle St. and on Garden St.
Flashing Beacons: We have funding for four additional beacons
Colby Farm Lane: intersection with Low St. and North Atkinson in process of installation
High St. & N. Atkinson: reviewing location
Water St. at Harrison St. and Joppa: looking at this very busy area now that rail trail is opened here
Merrimac St. at Pioneer Field: beacons become a bit more challenging to install without sidewalks to
protect base, but DPS will work with Parks and Ward 4 Councilor
Beta Plan: thank you to all the City Councilors that attended a meeting to review the Beta paving plan and provide feedback
High St. at March’s Hill: On 6/23 a meeting was held on site with residents, City Councilors and City
Engineer, Diane Gagnon to determine traffic calming measures that could be adapted from the
Complete Streets priority list. Working from this original plan, we worked with TEC and came up with a feasible plan that will be reviewed by Public Safety Committee on site with neighbors. The neighbors have also provided some feedback on the TEC proposal.
Water: There has been much discussion regarding our next critical priority of protecting/upgrading our water supply as the MVP grant addressed major protection of our Wastewater Treatment Facility. Jon-Eric White, City Engineer gave a high-level overview of the multiple challenges facing the city with our water supply at the most recent Storm Surge meeting on July 27. Water infrastructure is receiving attention at the federal and state level and we are looking at all possibilities for funding including our ARPA stimulus funds. A meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 12th with AECOM and DPS staff to further discuss the water department projects, prioritize the projects and identify those that could be shovel-ready.
Sewer: The generator at the Wastewater Treatment Facility has gone down again. This is a critical piece of equipment that provides back up to the plant and lift stations should we lose electricity. The generator is over 10 years old and it will take 90-120 days to obtain parts to rebuild the motor. A rental unit is in place at a cost of $13,500/month with an initial cost of $16,500 which includes the electrical work installation. I have requested costs on a new generator.
Finally, I would like to offer my sincerest thank you to DPS for all of the work they conducted to assist with a very successful Yankee Homecoming.
CSOs: I am continuing to work with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, Merrimack River
Watershed Council and Brown & Caldwell on the notification system for all end users of our river. CSOs have been very high this past month due to significant rainfall. I also provided written testimony to the Federal Stimulus Oversight Committee of the legislature in support of Gov. Baker’s proposal to address CSOs on the Merrimack River.
Municipal notification requirements once CSOs occur was passed and signed by Gov. Baker in January and DEP Commissioner Suuberg has reached out to our team for input on this process.
Harbormaster: We are very pleased to receive $190,859 from FEMA- Port Security Grant Program to
procure a 25 ft. center console SAFE boat; this will replace the boat totaled in July of 2020. I encourage your favorable vote.
Merrimack River Dredge: After changes in Newburyport’s role to a Non-Federal partner with DCR was completed, the match requirement was paid last week by the State (from our dredging grant), and we anticipate the bid docs being issued soon. In the interim I have reached out to Lt. Gov. Polito and Sec. Theoharides regarding the dredge timing, hurricane season approaching and the short-term coir bag protection. I am asking that DCR as a result of 7 years of no action to protect the primary dune, cover the majority of the costs for this project to protect our water/sewer infrastructure, homes and road in the Reservation Ter. area.
Bulkhead Project: Congressman Moulton’s office notified us that the $2.5M for the bulkhead project
has passed the first two votes required by House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees as part of the reinstatement of federal earmarks now called Community Project Funding. Divers were on site two weeks ago to assess the structure and prepare for permits needed.
COA: Overall the center has re-opened with positive response by seniors returning to participate in a
variety of programs. The Friends of the COA have contracted with Huntress Assoc. to design two pickle ball courts and request the acceptance of this donation. We do not have a final cost for the two courts but I encouraged them to apply to the CPA in their next round and develop a plan for fundraising. I understand many are very excited about the addition of these two courts to the city.
Finance: Two contracts are before you to review – AFSCME and Patrolmen. These were successfully
negotiated and I thank both sides of our negotiation teams for their work. Ethan Manning and I are
pleased to respond to any questions or concerns.
Appointments
Marshal Mark Murray’s re-appointment and contract were submitted for your review with
corresponding dates at the City Council’s request.
Greg Earls has received approval from the State as the Conditional Building Commissioner pending City Council approval. Mr. Earls will then have the upcoming year to complete the final testing to be the Building Commissioner for the city.
Orders
Indigenous Peoples Day: There has been a growing movement in the State where municipalities are
changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day; 16 communities in MA have adopted this change. Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Alliance, Human Rights Commission, River Valley Charter School students and other residents have requested or inquired about this change. I fully support this designation and look forward to further discussion.
Ordinances
Newburyport Affordable Housing Trust: The request is focused on the expansion of the Trust
membership from 5 to 7 members. I fully support this expansion as affordable housing is a significant issue in the city and providing additional members with knowledge and passion about this issue could be very helpful in addressing the high need in our city.
Other
Closed Gas Station at State & High St.: Following receipt of the abutters letter, I reached out to Global/Alliance Energy regarding the status of the site. They did send a crew to complete some
maintenance and I anticipate more details on their plans shortly.
ARPA Meeting: Working to schedule this first meeting with the ad hoc committee- Councilors Zeid,
Tontar and Connell, Ethan Manning, Tony Furnari, Donna Musumeci and myself.
COVID & DELTA: We are watching numbers closely as cases are again rising in the state; we had 6 new cases last week. In a meeting with two epidemiologists from Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health last week, data indicates the next surge is coming with this highly contagious variant. It is anticipated that with high levels of vaccinated people it should be far less dangerous in terms of degree of illness. However, this is still very serious especially for those who are not vaccinated and this hesitancy is causing this wave- 97% of those not vaccinated are those ending up in the hospital.
We are following CDC recommendations at this point; if you are not vaccinated you must wear a mask indoors and even if you are vaccinated, it is recommended you were a mask indoors. Changes will be forthcoming if our numbers increase and we will need to determine what the status will be as schools open this fall. PLEASE get vaccinated so we can move forward.