AMHERST — With some members arguing that the town continues to depend too much on outside help, Town Meeting Monday rejected a request to hire a consultant to update the town’s sign regulations.
The defeat of the $20,000 request to bring on a consultant, part of $526,000 in spending on buildings and facilities recommended by the Joint Capital Planning Committee, capped the third session of annual Town Meeting, an evening in which members repeatedly expressed concern about the process by which capital needs are requested, and sought answers as to how future building projects will be scheduled.
By a 94-73 vote, Town Meeting eliminated the consultant spending from the proposed spending for buildings and facilities after Denise Barberet of Precinct 9 said the Planning Department request illustrated a pattern of “overreliance on consultants.”
“The five pages of sign bylaw can be written in house,” Barberet said.
But Christine Brestrup, interim planning director, said the sign bylaw is outdated and “is confusing, to say the least,” and that the need to hire a consultant was a response to a Supreme Court decision that is affecting communities across the country.
Louis Greenbaum of Precinct 1 said he was troubled that the capital plan included spending $50,000 for improvements to the Munson Memorial Library in South Amherst, but that Jones Library trustees are not seeking any money for a much needed public bathroom for the North Amherst Library.
Precinct 1 member Vincent O’Connor agreed with Greenbaum, arguing that trustees should make the North Amherst branch library whole before bringing forward an expansion and renovation project for the main branch of the Jones.
The Jones and other building projects triggered other worries, with some Town Meeting members asking why the Joint Capital Planning Committee put $26 million for the Wildwood project on the capital schedule and whether this means it has priority over the Jones, a new Department of Public Works headquarters and a fire station for South Amherst.
Janet Chevan of Precinct 7 said she will not vote for any building projects until a long-awaited fire station for South Amherst is put on this capital planning schedule.
“There really needs to be some priority put on the fire station,” Chevan said.
Maurianne Adams of Precinct 10 said many urgent capital needs have no constituency and that many decisions are being made without input from the public.
And Janet McGowan of Precinct 8 said Town Meeting needs to know how the building projects will be scheduled.
Finance Committee Chairwoman Kay Moran said those discussions will begin soon. “We’re at the beginning of just trying to figure it out,” Moran said.
Meanwhile, Town Meeting easily passed a $15.2 million assessment that will cover the town’s share of the $30.8 million Amherst-Pelham Regional School District budget.
School Committee Chairwoman Katharine Appy said some cuts were made to the budget because of continued declining enrollment, but these were kept as far away from the classrooms and students as possible.
The regional schools will have just 1,382 students in Grades 7-12 next year, down 26 percent from the 1,877 students the schools had a decade ago.
Superintendent Maria Geryk called the competition for students with charter schools a continuing struggle.
The schools are losing a projected 137 students between school choice and charter schools, said Finance Committee member Marylou Theilman.
“It isn’t just peculiar to Amherst; it is a regional issue,” Theilman said.
Appy said the budget is designed to educate the whole child and support the wide range of strengths students and teachers bring to the classroom every day.
Town Meeting also approved several enterprise funds, including:
a $3.83 million water fund, up $102,693, or 2.8 percent;
a $3.82 million sewer fund, down $41,451, or 1.1 percent;
a $463,418 solid waste fund, down $10,880, or 2.3 percent; and
a $711,502 transportation fund, down $5,249, or 0.7 percent.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
