{"id":47514,"date":"2024-03-28T14:24:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T14:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=47514"},"modified":"2024-03-28T14:24:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T14:24:35","slug":"holden-water-sewer-rates-stable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/03\/28\/holden-water-sewer-rates-stable\/","title":{"rendered":"Holden water, sewer rates stable"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em><\/div>\n
Landmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 Residents will not see any increase in their water and sewer rates this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the second year in a row, we\u2019re not proposing to raise rates or fees for the enterprise fund,\u201d DPW Director John Woodsmall told selectmen March 18.<\/p>\n

He said expenditure increases are 13%, and revenue is expected to increase 27.5%.<\/p>\n

Among plans are about $672,000 for capital items, including two new vehicles, the next phase of the Spring Street Water Treatment Plant study, plus a long-term capital plan for pump stations \u2014 which Woodsmall said were all built in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so would start having issues at the same time \u2014 plus inflow and infiltration efforts.<\/p>\n

A usually routine item on the Select Board’s agenda got discussion going on the appointment process.<\/p>\n

After unanimously appointing James Lyons to the Conservation Commission, board members thanked him for stepping up to volunteer.<\/p>\n

Turning to a proposed appointment presented by the town clerk, the board debated before failing to appoint.<\/p>\n

Republican Nadia Kaminski was recommended as an election officer by Town Clerk Jeanne Hudson to a position to expire Aug. 31, 2024.<\/p>\n

Selectman Geri Herlihy asked if the nomination came from the Republican Town Committee. Town Manager Peter Lukes said it had been vetted by the town clerk.<\/p>\n

Selectman Anthony Renzoni said the usual process is that the Democratic and Republican committees send their choices to the town clerk, who sends them to the Select Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t interact with the two committees,\u201d Renzoni said.<\/p>\n

Renzoni moved to appoint Kaminski, with Selectman Richard Bates seconding.<\/p>\n

Selectman Thomas Curran said the board had been getting requests from the town clerk in \u201cdribs and drabs,\u201d and asked for information from the clerk on how many positions she was looking to fill and balancing between Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n

Nominations depend on the activity of the town committees, who \u201ctill the field to get the volunteers out,\u201d Lukes said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult; they come and go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree we need more information on the process,\u201d Renzoni said. \u201cHowever, that is separate from this issue, which is a citizen volunteering to fill a role in town government.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the the board has an appointment on the table and \u201cwe should be supporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really long day and can be exhausting,\u201d Bates said, noting he had served as an election officer. He said the town is constantly asking citizens to volunteer. We should be encouraging people to come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the nominee here to ask questions, I\u2019m a \u2018no\u2019 vote,\u201d Curran said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree,\u201d Herlihy said.<\/p>\n

In previous town clerk appointment requests, the individuals did not normally appear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get slates from the parties each year, and we don\u2019t ask them to come in,\u201d Renzoni said. \u201cThis would certainly be out of practice for the Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we can fail this vote,\u201d he said, and could reconsider at a later date.<\/p>\n

Town Counsel Stephen Madaus clarified that the state law requires election workers be balanced between the two parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to find a way to find people to not volunteer, we should continue to shoot them down when they volunteer,\u201d Renzoni said.<\/p>\n

The motion failed, with Renzoni and Bates in favor, Curran and Herlihy opposed, and member Stephanie Mulroy absent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark Correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 Residents will not see any increase in their water and sewer rates this year. \u201cFor the second year in a row, we\u2019re not proposing to raise rates or fees for the enterprise fund,\u201d DPW Director John Woodsmall told selectmen March 18. He said expenditure increases are 13%, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}