NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra’s five-year, $91 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) calls for new purchases of hybrid and electric vehicles along with millions of dollars worth of upgrades to school buildings.
The City Council is expected to vote on a resolution in favor of the plan at its next meeting, scheduled for Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m. The public will have a chance to comment; authorization for specific spending will come later in the form of individual financial orders.
“Change is happening,” Sciarra said Tuesday, summarizing the plan and particularly its carbon neutrality measures. “It’s nice to see it.”
The CIP includes physical projects and items that cost more than $10,000 and can be funded by available cash or through borrowing. A portion of the $21.7 million that the city received through federal pandemic relief legislation called ARPA is proposed for projects like stormwater infrastructure and the $1.09 million replacement cost for a Northampton Fire Rescue ladder truck.
Sciarra’s first capital improvements program as mayor features some “really large, big money improvement projects” under the Department of Public Works, such as $7.5 million for street resurfacing over five years and $24.7 million for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant and pump station.
The DPW also wants to buy $2.46 million worth of new vehicles, a common request from city departments that submitted their top budget priorities to the mayor’s office for consideration.
Departments are required to purchase hybrid or electric vehicles if possible, Sciarra said. The city is working toward carbon neutrality in government operations by 2030; the CIP also allocates funding to finish an ongoing net-zero planning study of every government building and school.
Sciarra set aside money for the Department of Community Care, an alternative to law enforcement that will manage certain non-violent emergency calls, to buy a vehicle. She said that it was “a bit of a ‘to be decided’ vehicle”; other departments use electric Nissan Leafs, but “we’ll figure out what kind of vehicle will be best for getting those operations up and running.”
The Northampton Public Schools would receive $200,000 to acquire an electric or hybrid eight-passenger van next year and $125,000 to replace a 30-passenger wheelchair bus in the district’s fleet in two years. The city is committed to transitioning away from gas-powered vehicles even if replacements are more expensive, Sciarra added, and an electric bus could be available soon.
“I’m asking departments to hold on just a little longer with equipment that is maybe not in the best shape … when we could have a fully electric option in just a couple of years,” Sciarra said. Although it’s a five-year proposal, the CIP is publicly reviewed every year and could be altered as different priorities and opportunities emerge.
In the next fiscal year, the Police Department would buy four cruisers, an unmarked SUV and a car for the animal control officers to start to replace aging and defunct vehicles. The following fiscal year, the department would buy four more cruisers and another unmarked SUV.
Gas-powered vehicles would be replaced with hybrids, the best environmental option currently available to police, Sciarra said. For the past two years, the department has not received any funding for new vehicles, even though four cruisers are inoperable, decommissioned and kept in storage, and two others are near that point.
“They are desperately in need of their vehicles, and my feeling is that this is core to the functioning of the department,” Sciarra said. “We have such deferred maintenance of this fleet because they weren’t able to replace any. … Two years ago, they were in need. Now they’re in really dire need.”
Last week, Police Chief Jody Kasper told the City Council that the department has primary and secondary fleets. The primary fleet vehicles have an average of 65,000 miles on them and they travel an average of 35,000 miles per year.
“We will be, in a year from now, at almost 100,000 miles for the majority of our fleet. Many will be over because, obviously, that was an average,” Kasper said. “Our fleet is in pretty tough shape right now.”
The Central Services Department is responsible for maintenance in all city buildings and schools. Under the CIP, the department would receive $8.5 million for projects at the schools, including more than $1 million for emission and energy upgrades and $3.5 million for replacing the roof at JFK Middle School starting in fiscal 2026.
Money is appropriated for replacement kitchen and cafeteria equipment at JFK, Northampton High School and Leeds Elementary School this year and next. JFK’s tennis courts would be rebuilt in 2025.
In December, Smith College donated $500,000 to the city for use at the mayor’s discretion. Sciarra said that a third of the money would go toward the 21st Century Classroom Technology project next fiscal year to help modernize classroom equipment and offer more interactive learning opportunities.
“When we get these generous gifts from Smith, we often use them for our own educational goals,” Sciarra said. The schools may keep using the gift for technology the following year, “but we’ll have to see if there are other pressing educational priorities.”
Next fiscal year, the school district hopes to buy an electric maintenance van for $65,000. Ventilation, emissions and heating upgrades are planned for several schools including JFK, Ryan Road and Leeds.
Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School would receive $494,800 in total for window replacement and sidewalk repair and replacement, student activity vans and ventilation upgrades.
Sciarra said she submitted the Capital Improvement Program to the City Council weeks earlier than the city charter requires, anticipating supply chain problems and trying to make certain purchases as quickly as possible to avoid inflating costs. The price of hose used by Fire Rescue, for example, is increasing 5% each week, she said.
“It’s no small task to put together this program. I’m really proud of everyone’s work,” Sciarra said, praising her City Hall staff and Finance Director Charlene Nardi. “It was a true labor of love over the past couple of months.”
A detailed breakdown of the Capital Improvement Program is available on the city’s website, https://bit.ly/3HTaHNQ.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.