Spencer - Southbridge Evening News

4 SPENCER NEW LEADER • Friday, April 4, 2008
Unused fire truck could find its way to eBay
BY ELISA KROCHMALNYCKYJ
NEW LEADER CORRESPONDENT
EAST BROOKFIELD — The town is looking
to sell its 1967 fire truck — so it’s hoping
get the best price possible by posting it on
eBay.
“I’ve seen other municipalities do it in
other states,” Selectman Lawrence Gordon
said at Monday’s meeting, adding that he
will first make sure it is OK to sell town
property on the popular Internet auction
site.
The truck, which the town no longer uses,
is a Ford 800 pumper with only 18,000 miles
on it and is in good working condition,
selectmen said.
“Fortunately, fire trucks — at least in this
community — don’t get much use,” Gordon
said.
The truck has been dormant since the
town purchased a new one, and selectmen
said they don’t want it to start deteriorating.
SELECTMAN SUGGESTS SELLING 1967 VEHICLE
ON INTERNET AUCTION SITE
“Let’s just try to move it before it
becomes a heap of rust on the ground,”
Board Chairman Joseph Fish said.
ALSO AT MONDAY’S MEETING:
• The board announced that the Annual
Town Meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14 at East Brookfield
Elementary School.
• Board member Leo Fayard said that
once two minor problems with the title for
the Pelletier property are cleared up, a closing
date will be set for the town to finalize
the purchase of the 120-acre parcel. A state
grant will pay $416,000; residents voted last
year to spend up to $300,000 of the town’s
money to cover the rest of the purchase.
• Board members said they hope lots of
residents and business owners stop at the
open house of the new Memorial Town
Complex on Connie Mack Drive from 2-4
p.m. May 4. Guests will be given a tour of
the central location of the library, police
department and town offices, and refreshments
will be served.
• The board held its quarterly staff meeting,
at which, among other issues, board
members asked that at least one member
from each department be available to
answer questions during the open house.
• Concerned citizen Meg Noyes reported
about a state grant to be used for weed control
in Quaboag Pond. The grant requires
each of the three towns affected — East
Brookfield, Sturbridge and Brookfield — to
contribute $10,000 in services and supplies.
Name that open space
EAST BROOKFIELD — What
should the town call the “Pelletier
Property” after it is no longer,
well, the Pelletier property?
Town officials are asking residents
to suggest names for the 120
acres of woodland the town is in
the process of purchasing from
Patricia Pelletier.
Anyone with a suggestion on a
new name for the property, which
will be preserved and used for
passive recreation, is asked to
submit it to the Webmaster at
www.eastbrookfieldma.us.
Town, police union hammer out new contract
BY DAVID DORE
NEW LEADER STAFF WRITER
WEST BROOKFIELD — Almost a
year ago, the town’s police officers
voted to change the union representing
them from the
International Brotherhood of
Teamsters to the New England
Police Benevolent Association.
The reason, according to West
Brookfield Officer Charles Laperle,
president of NEPBA Local 83, was
because they wanted “police officer-based
union — basically cops
representing cops.”
The change came as the officers’
contract with the town was about to
expire on June 30. With a new
union in place, the negotiations
between the Board of Selectmen
and the NEPBA began.
What came out of those negotiations
was a contract that gives officers
annual 3 percent raises and
increases in some benefits, along
with a benefit they never had
before.
“In general, both sides conceded
some things because of the financial
outlook,” Laperle said.
The new contract, which has
been approved by both officers and
the Board of Selectmen, runs
through June 30, 2010.
Laperle said the 3 percent pay
hikes are “pretty standard, especially
given the financial outlook
[of the town].”
All pay increases will be retroactive
to July 1, 2007. That will not be
a problem for the town, according
to Executive Secretary Johanna
Barry, because some money was
included in this year’s police budget
for that. Also, she said, an officer’s
position that has not yet been
filled means extra money is available
if needed.
According to the contract, new
full-time academy trained police
officers will be paid $15.71 per hour.
The pay rate increases depending
on how long an officer has been a
member of the department — ranging
from $16.74 per hour for officers
with one year of service to $20.34
per hour for officers who have
worked in West Brookfield eight
years.
Part-time officers will be paid
$13.10 per hour this year, with 50-
cent-per-hour increases based on
how many years they have been
with the department.
The new contract includes
increases in the amount officers
receive in addition to their hourly
wage for working nights and weekends.
According to Laperle, the socalled
shift differential increased 35
cents to $1.25 per hour for working
3-11 p.m. weekdays, 45 cents to $1.50
per hour for working 11 p.m. to 7
a.m. during the week, and 10 cents
to $1 per hour for working 7 a.m. to
3 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
The amount officers receive for
construction details will be increasing
as well, Laperle said. Under the
previous contract, he explained,
officers were paid $32 per hour or
the “prevailing State Police rate”
(currently $40 per hour). The new
contract calls for an hourly detail
rate of $41 through June 30, $42
starting July 1 and $43 starting July
1, 2009.
Other items that increased in the
contract include allowances for
full-time officers of $800 for uniforms
and $450 for cleaning (parttime
officers would receive $325 per
year for uniforms and cleaning);
yearly incentives for receiving an
advanced degree of $1,000 for an
associate’s degree, $1,500 for a bachelor’s
degree and $2,000 for a master’s
degree; and annual stipends
for working at the department for
least five years: for full-timers, $500
for five years, $525 for six to nine
years and $550 for 10 years or more,
and for part-timers, $300 for five
years, $325 for six to nine years and
$350 for 10 or more years.
A new feature in the police contract,
Laperle said, is the option for
officers to save up to five days of
unused vacation time each year
toward their retirement.
“We were very happy with that,”
Laperle said.
Officers already had the option to
carry over up to five days of unused
vacation time each year, to be used
during the first quarter of the new
fiscal year.
Laperle said negotiations for the
new three-year pact were “slow
because both sides wanted to present
their sides. There was no great
rush because we wanted to get it
right.”
Negotiations “kind of took a back
seat” late last year, Laperle
explained, after questions swirled
about the educational credentials of
police Sgt. Brice Leslie. Up for the
police chief ’s position in Warren,
Leslie withdrew from consideration
there and later resigned from
the West Brookfield force.
Once that was resolved, the negotiations
resumed.
“We’re very happy with the contract,”
Laperle said, “and we’re
very thankful with the Board of
Selectmen as well.”
He also said officers were pleased
with how the NEPBA handled the
contract process.
“I cannot express the gratitude
that we have with this union,”
Laperle said. “Their professionalism
was unbelievable.”
David Dore may be reached at
(508) 909-4140, or by e-mail at
ddore@stonebridgepress.com.
Contests shaping up for Planning, school boards
BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY
NEW LEADER STAFF WRITER
EAST BROOKFIELD — The deadline for
the return of nomination papers in the
town of East Brookfield has come and
gone, and the ballot is all but complete for
the May 13 election.
The most vehemently contested race in
the 2008 election is for two of the three
available seats on the town’s Planning
Board.
One position, which carries a short oneyear
term, is up for grabs, with Heather
Gablaski as the only candidate for that
seat.
Two Planning Board positions with
terms of three years apiece will also be
voted on in May. Current members Michael
Jaquith and Andre Cormier are both seeking
reelection to their positions. Opposing
the incumbents are George Miller and
Richard Magwood.
BALLOT ALMOST SET FOR EAST BROOKFIELD
ANNUAL TOWN ELECTION
Miller and Magwood are certainly no
strangers to the strategic planning of East
Brookfield. Both of them served on the
town’s first Master Plan Committee, Miller
as chairman and Magwood as a committee
member.
Jaquith and Cormier are also each members
of the Master Plan Committee, which
had its completed document supported by
the residents of East Brookfield at a
Special Town Meeting in February.
Both vying for one three-year term as the
East Brookfield representative to the
Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School
Committee are James Casey and Peter
Rock. Candidates for this position are subject
to change through this week, as a
greater number of signatures are required
for nomination.
Up for the position of Spencer representative
to the Spencer-East Brookfield
Regional School Committee this year is
Matthew Laliberte.
Additional positions to be voted on
include a three-year term as a member of
the Board of Selectmen. Running unopposed
for the position is incumbent
Lawrence Gordon.
Also running unopposed are incumbents
Rae Anne Barnes for the position of treasurer
and Sandra Kady for tax collector.
Susan Jacobs is the only candidate for a
three-year position on the Board of
Assessors, and Susan Gordon is running
solo for a three-year seat on the Board of
Health.
Richard McNeaney is facing no opposition
to renewing his three-year positions
with the Cemetery Commissioners or the
Trustees of Shade Trees and Cemetery
Funds.
Trustees of the Public Library Thelma
Bloom and Susan Gordon will both be looking
to renew their three-year terms.
Making an unopposed run for a seat on the
Finance Committee will be Sandra Buxton,
and Tree Warden Robert Allen will run to
get his position renewed.
The deadline for voter registration is 8
p.m. Wednesday, April 23.
Christopher Tanguay may be reached at
(508) 909-4144, or by e-mail at
ctanguay@stonebridgepress.com.
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WRTA secures $6M funding, saves local routes
BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY
NEW LEADER STAFF WRITER
State Sen. Edward M. Augustus (D-
Worcester) announced recently that the
Massachusetts Regional Transit Authorities
(RTAs) can expect some state relief from the
major deficits they are facing.
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Augustus said. “And
in that budget, there’s
$6 million for all of
the RTAs to deal with
deficits they have this
fiscal year.”
Included in that $6
million is $520,000 to
help curb the $2 million
debt of the
Worcester
Transit
(WRTA).
Regional
Authority
“That will take care of their operating
deficit from now until July 1, when their new
fiscal year starts,” Augustus said.
He went on to explain that one of the primary
reasons for the financial situations the
RTAs now find themselves in is the way they
are funded. He said it is the independent
responsibility of each RTA to secure lending
to fund its operating budget and immediate
expenses. The state then picks up only a percentage
of that amount at the end of the
RTAs’ fiscal year. Since they run a deficit of
varying amount each year, the debt accumulates
over time.
“A big chunk of what they budget is servicing
last year’s debt,” Augustus said. “We really
need to fundamentally change the way we
fund our RTAs.”
Augustus explained some of the future
options for funding the transportation system
that he called “a life saving and life sustaining
service for a lot of folks.”
If the state were to consolidate the multiple
debts-on-loans from the RTAs into a single
item, Augustus said, the state could expect
nearly $150,000 in interest savings.
“What we’d like to do is figure out some
way to pay off all the debt,” he said, in hopes
of having a clean slate on which to begin
annually forward funding the RTAs.
Augustus said there is legislation in the
works that would address forward funding to
the RTAs, instead of end-of-the-year debt
servicing.
These reforms come in the wake of an
announcement by the WRTA at the end of
January, to cut routes 110 (Clinton) and 32
(Holden/Jefferson), as well as suspending all
bus service on New Year’s Day, Memorial
Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and
Christmas, effective July 1.
On Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday,
March 13, the WRTA held three public hearings
for residential input on proposed cuts
and service adjustments that could also
potentially take effect on July 1.
The largest alterations will be made to
routes 3, 4, 10, 15, 18, 25, and 30, with slight
alterations to accommodate the new routes
made to 2, 5, 14, and 22, all of which service
the city of Worcester.
Details of the proposed changes are available
at the WRTA’s Web site,
www.therta.com, and at its office on Grove
Street in Worcester.
Also under the new proposal, Elder
Shopper trips would be cut from six trips per
day to three, and any school extras would be
eliminated.
The WRTA Advisory Board will vote on the
proposed alterations on April 17.
In October, the WRTA proposed extensive
reductions in service that would have affected
its entire territory, which includes
Spencer, Leicester, Brookfield, East
Brookfield, Millbury, Oxford, Shrewsbury,
Auburn, Holden, Clinton, Webster, West
Boylston, and Worcester. Those changes were
not adopted.
Christopher Tanguay may be reached at
(508) 909-4144, or by e-mail at ctanguay@stonebridgepress.com.
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