WILLIAMSBURG – A special Town Meeting will be held at the end of the month to tackle four financial matters, including transferring nearly $300,000 to pay for a new culvert on Depot Road and HVAC units at the Anne T. Dunphy School.
“We’re just hoping that the town will agree to move forward on these articles,” Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo said.
The meeting will take place Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. at the Anne T. Dunphy School gymnasium. The warrant contains four articles and was finalized by the Select Board at its Aug. 12 meeting. Attendees will be asked to wear face coverings at the meeting.
Two articles involve transferring money from the town’s stabilization account: $217, 872 for culvert construction on Depot Road and $81,292 to replace HVAC units at the Anne T. Dunphy School.
Select Board member William Sayre said the town was awarded a $350,000 grant for the culvert project, and the transfer would cover the remaining costs.
“The current culvert is failing,” Sayre said. “It has to be replaced.”
He also said that if the culvert is not replaced the road might need to close until a new one is built.
A second $81,292 from the stabilization account would cover costs associated with the HVAC system at the Anne T. Dunphy School.
Sayre said that there’s been an ongoing problem with the HVAC system at the school and that units need to be replaced. He said that the replacement is being funded by $86,000 in federal CARES Act money, $15,000 in ESSER II funding from the School Department, and the article would provide the remaining funds needed.
Caccamo said that the calling of the Town Meeting was primarily driven by the culvert and HVAC projects.
Two other articles deal with spending $1,927 from the water enterprise fund to pay a bill from the previous fiscal year and $34,779 from the sewer enterprise fund to pay the balance of the fiscal 2021 sewer service cost assessment to Northampton.
“Those are basic housekeeping articles,” Sayre said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.