Select Board identifies goals to focus on this coming year

Above: I’m sharing the Select Board’s newly identified goals, along with some (hopefully) helpful context for the initiatives they will focus on accomplishing between now and the end of June 2026. (image from document)

This month, the Select Board held discussions to set goals to focus on accomplishing during the fiscal year that starts on July 1st. 

The goals were consistent with the continued long term goals they reaffirmed to Stabilize the Town’s tax base through planned growth on Route 9, and to Increase the Town Government’s efficiency. But they also covered additional ground.

For their FY26 efforts, they identified twenty goals to focus on. (Some of them I found surprising.)

The list came out of the board’s annual dedicated goal-setting session held on June 11th and were finalized at last week’s meeting.

As usual, the board designated 1-2 members to be the “point” people leading the effort for each goal. That allows the members to represent the board in discussions with outside parties. And capping designees to two members allows them to collaborate with each other outside of public meetings. The members can then bring updates and important decisions back to the full board for discussion and/or approval.

Chair Andrew Dennington provided me with the goal list to share with readers. (Click here for the document which also identifies which members were designated responsible for each goal.) The board also posted a link on their website.

Most of the goals were grouped by five broader categories. For many of these, I have previously posted related stories. So, I’m adding some relevant context and links about those in sub-bullets below. (I’m also adding some context I’m aware of that I hadn’t previously covered.)

• Administration /Government
  • Start to work up potential by-law for streamlining Town government structure; investigate Community Compact grant for same
  • Work up draft bylaw to expedite Town Meeting (i.e. automatically move question after certain time period); coordinate with Town Moderator
  • Research potential by-law that would permit Town Meeting to make “global” budget motions
• Municipal Finance/ Human Resources
  • Determine appropriate staffing structure for Building Dep’t and currently vacant Building Commissioner position (is regionalization an option?)
    • Context: Scroll down to below the goals list for more info on this topic.
  • Formulate and implement strategy for health insurance premium cost savings
    • Context: The Town Finance team was taken by surprise this past winter by a surge in health insurance costs that had a significant impact on Town taxes.
  • Update/finalize Southborough Access Media contract
  • Consider/reassess current level of CPA surcharge
    • Context:
      • Select Board member Al Hamilton has publicly suggested voters should be given the option to get rid of the 1% surcharge on taxes. (Based on draft minutes from June 11th, exploring that option appears to be the focus of this goal.)
      • It’s worth noting that as recently as spring 2024, the Advisory Committee made the opposite recommendation for the town to pursue a ballot initiative to increase the surcharge (to 3%).
• Land Use/Community Development
  • Identify affordable housing locations; support re-formed Affordable Housing Trust Fund
    • Context: The new AHT received funds transferred from the CPA to allow more flexibility in funding affordable housing projects.
  • Support Route 9 zoning articles that help stabilize tax base
    • Context: The Planning Board is working on potential Articles for the Special Town Meeting this November with updated uses for the Industrial Park Zoning District.
  • Advance decision-making about future of 21 Highland (South Union School)
    • Context: At the June 17th meeting, the board decided to have the committee working on this effort expire this month. (I assume the plan is to revisit the topic after the board has a better idea of the path it will take for dealing with school buildings, and whether or not that opens any space up for the Recreation Department to relocate from South Union.)
• Public Works/Infrastructure
  • Form Cemetery Committee (investigate potential expansion)
    • Context:
      • The board successfully sought to dissolve the Public Works Planning Board which formerly served as the advisory committee for the DPW. Original discussions were for creating an improved committee to replace it, but the Select Board chose not to.
      • The DPW chief has requested a committee to help him with cemetery functions. Part of that relates to upkeep of the rural cemetery, but also the need to identify parcel options for when they run out of space for new graves.
  • Finalize Hopkinton Water IWA
    • Context:
      • The Town has been working on an Inter Municipal Agreement to allow Hopkinton to connect to the MWRA water supply through Southborough’s water system. In exchange for inconvenience to our Southborough residents during the construction project, our Town is asking Hopkinton to pay for infrastructure improvements to our water system.
      • Hopkinton’s dedicated project page showed that it needed approval from Town Meeting in May to pay for completing the water system design. (That was approved.) Next steps include negotiating the final agreement with our town. (Construction isn’t projected to begin until 2028.)
  • Investigate/support CPA article for Old Burial Ground improvements
    • Context: There weren’t details provided, but the Historical Commission has had a history of requests related to maintenance of the grounds to avoid further deterioration of the historic headstones.
  • Implement pavement management & sidewalk plan; identify improved funding mechanisms
  • Work up analysis of potential stormwater enterprise fund to inform decision about whether to adopt same
    • Context:
      • Last summer, Advisory Committee Chair Andrew Pfaff suggested the board consider pursuing assessing stormwater fees to users based on the amount of impervious surface area on properties. According to minutes, the concept was that since the largest areas would be commercial users, it would help offset residential tax burden for the stormwater management costs.
      • This May, DPW Superintendent Bill Cundiff described to the board the coming impacts of anticipated changes to stormwater regulation standards in our state. He anticipated that about 20% of the over 3,000 stormwater catch basins in town will need to be replaced within 5 years at a cost of $7K-$10K per structure. (I’m calculating a ballpark total of $4.2M-$6M.)
  • Formulate and implement maintenance plan for Cordaville “Triangle” Park
    • Context: A few weeks ago, I shared images from the park on the south side of town and complaints from a nearby resident about its deteriorated condition.
• Technology
  • Work with MTC and IT Director to identify potential AI and automated solutions for government processes and functions
• Uncategorized
  • Renewal discussions for Golf Management contract

Two goals that really jumped out at me as unexpected were the second and third in the list, related to expediting Town Meetings. I’m curious about what readers who have been long term active participants in Town Meetings think of those goals.

I was also quite surprised by possibility that the board may seek to restructure and regionalize the Building Department rather than simply replacing the Building Commissioner.

On April 11th, the Select Board met in a closed session to discuss “To discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual”. A week later, the board voted to approve Gene Novak as the interim Building Commissioner. At the time, then-Chair Kathy Cook stated that position had been “vacated” as of the 11th. I haven’t seen any advertisements for filling the position.

The former Building Commissioner, Chris Lund was hired last June after the prior commissioner, Casey Burlingame, resigned in late March 2024. (Novak also served as the interim commissioner during that gap.) The April prior, Burlingame replaced Laurie Lavoli who retired in early March of 2023. 

Unapproved draft minutes from the June 11th meeting included (likely)¹ additional details on their discussion of the goal for reconsidering how to move forward with the department: 

1. Talk to Chief Puntini to investigate potential synergies with the Building Dept.
2. Engage with regional partners to explore collaboration within the next month

The Board seeks to have a clear path forward to resolve the issue within six months.

Chief Puntini refers to Southborough Fire Chief Andrew Puntini. One of his department’s responsibilities is fire safety inspections. They are also the authority for many permits, including some related to buildings. (You can find the list here.)

What are your thoughts on the board’s goals?

Do you have opinions to share about those that were listed? (Or that weren’t and you wish were?)

1. The draft minutes haven’t yet been approved by the board as accurate.