by Brian Keaney
The Mitigation Funds Committee heard from several more committee chairmen and department heads last night on the applications they submitted for funds. Legacy Place recently paid the Town $750,000 in mitigation payments, and a smaller amount is expected from Hebrew Senior Life in the months to come.
Marie-Louise Kehoe made a push for money to improve the sound quality of meetings that are broadcast on cable. The Committee was sympathetic to the cause, but said they felt it could be funded through other sources.
Kehoe then made a request for $25,000 over five years for the old Village Ave. cemetery, one of the oldest in the state. Besides the “tremendous historic value” in the cemetery there was also a great liability to the Town, Kehoe said, due to the unsafe conditions there.
Kehoe, who is chairman of the Cemetery Advisory Committee, said that the first priority would be to address the safety concerns. The first project to be undertaken, she said, would be to repair a gravesite that has collapsed and is currently being covered with plywood to prevent anyone from falling in.
Conservation work would also be done on headstones, some of which date back to the 17th century. The first recorded death of the town was in 1637, two years after it was first settled. The oldest tombstone is dated 1678, with thousands likely buried with no markings.
Molly Moran of the Design Review Advisory Board requested funds for a brochure helping business owners understand the process of installing a sign, and also informing them of the resources available to them. She said Dedham Square would be the biggest beneficiary of the document, along with Oakdale Square and other smaller business districts.
Several Committee members noted that Economic Development Director Karen O’Connell had requested funds for a pamphlet on how to do business in Dedham. The Committee expressed an opinion that the two could be combined, and Moran agreed. She added that John Bethoney of the Planning Board recently set up a meeting with representatives of DRAB, the Planning Board and the Building Department to improve how the groups work together.
Chief Bill Cullinane of the Fire Department made a request for new computer hardware and software. The new software will allow his department to map out all the major commercial buildings in town, and show where things like electrical shut off panels and ducts are.
He also asked for mobile data centers for fire trucks to improve communications between the units and headquarters, and GPS systems for when they are called to assist other communities.
“The quicker we can get there the quicker the incident can be mitigated,” Cullinane said.
Cullinane also pointed out that any hazardous material traveling in the area will likely pass through Dedham along Route 128. The software he requested will also have information on all those materials, and will allow them to know more quickly what should be done to contain them if there is ever a spill.
The Town’s Geographic Information System will also be integrated into the new computers, Cullinane said. This will show where things such as storm drains are, so that if there is a spill they will be able to see where the drain empties out.
Cullinane said that after a spill at Four Corners a few years ago the materials ended up in Mother Brook. With the GIS information the Department would know exactly where to damn off the Brook and begin the clean up.
Superintendent June Doe of the School requested $20,000 to develop a new program to help the 17% of students who drop out receive a diploma. Doe said there was currently an alternative program in place at the High School, but that it did not meet the needs of all the at risk students.
The new program would allow students to work during the day and attend classes in the afternoons and evenings. Also included would be online courses, which would be developed by High School teachers. The courses would be available to juniors and seniors, and could be spread out so that students could take longer to complete the courses if they needed it.
Several Committee members expressed a concern about using mitigation funds to pay salaries, but Doe explained that they would be used more like stipends than salary. She added that the monies would not be considered when a teacher’s pension was calculated.
This seemed to appease some of the Committee concerns. Committee member Margot Pyle said that she now saw the stipends along the lines of a consultant’s fee, except that it would be cheaper and better by developing the courses in house.
Finally, Chairman Rob Naser of the Building, Planning, and Construction Committee requested $25,000 to update the study of municipal facilities done in 2004. He said much had changed since then, such as the purchase of the Dolan Center.
Naser also said that the new report would include a “road map” of what should be constructed next. He said some fair criticisms have been leveled against the Town and his committee in particular for not laying out an order of what building projects had priority.
Pyle added that there was “wide concurrence” among the various subcommittees who produced the Master Plan that a schedule for the construction and renovations of Town-owned buildings was necessary.
The 2010 Annual Town Meeting will have the final say on which projects get funded, after the Committee produces their recommendations.
Ed. note: I was on one of the Master Plan subcommittees who recommended that an order of building projects be laid out. |
