It will rebuild and repair large parts of the 16-year-old municipal service center at 870 Hammond St. Personnel, contracts and finances: Ray Masak, a building project administrator, asked for approval of a $2.61 million contract with Contractors Network of East Providence, RI. The board approved the proposed fee changes after only brief discussion. Although the Board of Selectmen often accepts comments on public affairs topics at ordinary meetings, not just hearings, Neil Wishinsky, the board’s chair and a former Advisory Committee member, pointedly snubbed Mr. Members of the public led by Ernest Frey, a Precinct 7 town meeting member, and David Lescohier, a Precinct 11 town meeting member, came with information showing that Brookline was practicing unfair billing. Russell said his division’s failure to bill on a fair and equitable basis was lessened by a scheme of base rates and block rates, but data he displayed showed substantial inequity. It has been available from computer databases for over 20 years. Fewer than 20 percent of households are found in single-family houses.īrookline has had information about numbers of dwelling units for decades. Brookline has mostly multifamily housing. It stems from failure to adjust for the number of dwelling units served by a water line and meter. Russell could not explain clearly.Ī severe problem with Brookline’s water and sewer fees has long been known. Russell’s displays, indicated an average quarterly bill of about $2,200. The claim for average increase in dollars, divided by the claim for average increase in percent, shown on Mr. Board member Nancy Daly said that a back calculation indicated an average residential bill of over $9,000. Compared with other eastern Massachusetts communities, Brookline’s water and sewer fees are already high. According to him, the average bill will increase 4.6 percent, starting in July–far in excess of general inflation. Russell’s proposal was presented with a computer display that, as of noon the following day, had not been made available to the public on the municipal Web site.
Cirillo noted that it is the twentieth PILOT agreement he has negotiated, starting in 2006. It is with Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist organization at 303 Boylston St. Public affairs: Stephen Cirillo, the finance director, announced another agreement with a nonprofit organization for payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT). Unlike practices of years ago, the board did not announce or conduct a hearing. The board had invited Frederick Russell, the director of the Public Works water and sewer division, to present a proposal for revising fees.
A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, June 23, started at 6:50 pm in the sixth-floor meeting room at Town Hall.