News

Essex voters face key spending choices tonight

By Times Staff
Published: November 9, 2009

ESSEX — Two questions focus on the cost for consulting work on Conomo Point.

Another asks residents for the money to buy a new police cruiser.

Another asks for the cash to buy a new van for seniors served by the town's Council on Aging.

And yet another asks whether voters want to remain part of the North Shore Regional Technical School District as it merges and expands in the coming years — and whether, by bring part of the new district, they're willing to pay their town's share of the cost of a new vocational-technical school.

Those are among the 10 questions Essex residents will face tonight at a special Town Meeting slated for 7:30 at Essex Elementary School.

The Conomo Point questions — Nos. 1 and 2 on the warrant — seek funding to finish off a consultant's presentation of subdivision planning for properties south of Robbins Island Road, then ask for $25,000 to hire a consultant to undertake a "recreational and residential planning study" for parcels north of Robbins Island Road, leading to the town's waterfront area.

The vehicle purchases seek $35,000 for a new police cruiser, and $12,000 to help replace the town's transportation van used by the Council on Aging.

The cruiser proposal comes up as Article 3, and Police Chief Peter Silva has noted the vehicle the department is trying to replace has more than 100,000 miles on it. While Silva has said the town usually replaces one cruiser a year among its fleet of three cars and one SUV, the town held off on replacing its 2006 Ford Crown Victoria in May to get some extra miles on it, but it's now showing more sings of disrepair due to daily use.

The current Council on Aging van is a 1995 Ford donated several years ago by the North Shore Medical Center, and Council on Aging Chairman Bob Cameron said a new van would enable the agency to provide additional services for seniors in need of transportation.

Essex residents are hardly alone in facing the vocational-technical school membership question. The school district is seeking the approval of cities and towns representing 75 percent of North Shore Technical High School's current enrollment to merge North Shore Tech with Essex Aggie and bring in part of the Peabody vocational programs for a district based in a new $131-million new school that would be built on the current Essex Aggie campus in Danvers. The proposal has received approval to date from Danvers and Rockport, while Gloucester officials have expressed reservations about the plan.

While the membership article does not specifically mention dollar figures, North Shore Superintendent Amelia O'Malley has told the Times that committing to the merged district would also mean committing to funding a community's share of the proposed new school. The state has set aside some $100 million for building the new facility, but the member towns will be responsible for covering their share of the other $31 million.

The special Town Meeting warrant is posted in detail at www.essexma.org on the Board of Selectmen's page.

THE ESSEX WARRANT

The 10 articles on the warrant for tonight's special Town Meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. at Essex Elementary School:

Article 1 — Seeks $3,000 to allow the town's consultant to complete the implementation of a subdivision planning process at Conomo Point, south of Robbins Island Road.

Article 2 — Seeks $25,000 to hire a consultant to conduct a recreational and residential planning study regarding future land use for the portion of Conomo Point north of Robbins Island Road.

Article 3 — Seeks $35,000 to purchase a new police cruiser.

Article 4 — Seeks $12,000 to help replace an existing Council on Aging van, with additional funding coming from private grants.

Article 5 — Seeks $25,000 for aerial photography, global positioning work, and survey research to update town assessors' maps.

Article 6 — Asks the town to join a merged and expanded North Shore Regional Vocational Technical School District; membership include covering the town's share of the cost for a new school.

Article 7 — Seeks for additional dollars for the town's Stabilization Fund, but the amount has not yet been decided.

Article 8 — Seeks $10,000 to increase Fire Department fire training salaries for fiscal year 2010.

Article 9 — Proposes adding $20,000 to the town clerk's salary for the remainder of the fiscal year to allow a newly appointed clerk to work alongside Town Clerk Sally Soucy until she retires in May.

Article 10 — Spend $255 to make up for unpaid bills from the past fiscal year.