York Town News
Capital plan, sale of land top agenda at special selectmen's meeting
By Larry Favinger
YORK - The recommendation of the town's Tax Task Force to establish a committee to work on the scheduling of capital projects has won approval of the Board of Selectmen, but there will be more discussion on the fate of the rest of the proposal.Selectmen Vice Chairman Dwight Bardwell made the motion during the board's meeting on Monday, Nov. 6, to establish the committee to include representatives from the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Budget Committee and Tax Task Force, and three members of the general public. Town Manager Rob Yandow will work on a charge for the group to be presented at a future meeting. Volunteers to serve on the committee are now being sought.
As far as detailed discussion of the rest of the proposal, Bardwell suggested postponement until the results of Tuesday's election and the fate of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) is known, because the majority of town officials agree the passage of Question 1 would kill any future plans for capital projects due to severe budget constraints.
The proposal before the board is for the committee to prioritize all capital projects with an eye to a limit of $7 million a year for the next five years, with some flexibility. For example, if $8 million is proposed one year, then only $6 million worth of work could be on the ballot the following year.
Selectman Torbert Macdonald, Jr., said he was concerned about a division in town between school and the municipal needs, pointing out the two should be working together, "making one people out of a town."
Selectman Len Dorrian replied that the Tax Task Force's plan was presented to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione and to Yandow, and that both supported it and the committee concept it included.
"This is at least a step in the right direction," Dorrian said. "This is an attempt to try to do something."
Macdonald said the committee is a fine mechanism and expressed his hope that its meetings will be open to the public with no decisions made behind closed doors.
Dorrian said the proposal by the task force is a "consensus, cooperative type of thing" that will not require an ordinance to be put into effect, similar to the current spending target for operational budgets.
"It's not locked in concrete," he said, but it is "a rational, reasonable way to proceed."
For Sale: Town-owned land
Details for the disposal of land owned by the town were also discussed at Monday's meeting, but no final decisions were made.
Yandow presented a list of 10 properties in the first group, some to be offered to abutters with the understanding they cannot be developed, and others to be sold outright.
Macdonald suggested that at least one of the latter be donated to Habitat for Humanity to help with the affordable housing stock in the town, a suggestion that met with general approval.
Yandow will look into that request as well as how to price those lots to be sold.
The voters approved the selling of 20 parcels of land acquired by the town over the years at the polls back in May. The money raised from such sales will be earmarked to help with municipal building projects.
One outstanding question is whether to sell the land at its assessed value or market value.
In other business…
Fred Muehl and Sue Little were appointed to the town's Municipal Building Committee.
"I feel pretty good about both of them," Bardwell said in making the motion to appoint them.
Dorrian said there were "many" good candidates for the committee and thanked all who applied for their interest.
The committee will look at options for many municipal projects, including the possibility of building a new town hall.
Yandow told the board that the York Ambulance Corps might be coming to the town for some kind of financial aid in the near future. There have been suggestions that a contract be signed between the town and corps to help defray the group's growing costs.
Robert Lascelles, an alternate member of the Appeals Board, was elevated to regular member status to replace Peter O'Connor, who recently resigned from that board.
The selectmen's next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13, at the York Public Library.
