MoorecolNo.9 09-30-2004 hed : Summer's over; the real work begins BY BOB MOORE First- a $90 million debt-exclusion override floated by Town Manager George King. The only way to save our infrastructure before further deterioration, he insists, is "with a dedicated stream of revenue, outside the budget cycle." Go for it - a five-year plan. Next - a 13-article Special Town Meeting Dec. 19 with two articles growing out of the recent attempt to devise an overall housing plan. Article 3, with 30 sponsors, spells out just how such a plan drafted by joint sessions of selectmen and Planning Board would be suitable in the Master Plan. Emphasis on diverse public input. King bypassed Town Meeting, going directly to Board of Selectmen for an "endorsement." That drew fire and the 12 projects he outlined have figures but no architect or other examination to back them up. Action on such incomplete data will make for a hard fight. In effect, King floated a trial balloon. He told me that he doesn't know what will click, "but I'm going to try." In rough figures, this is what he asked for : Memorial Building, $24million; Roads and sidewalks, $20M; Various School Projects, $10M; "townwide communications center," $5M; branch library, $3.5M; Bowditch Field, $3M; Tercentennial Park, $2.5M; and so on down. A reminder of what the town needs to catch up. OK. Cost of upgrading our long-neglected road system has been estimated at $30-$40 million. The catch: Tackling roads is not a solo proposition. Sewer improvement, another $30 million, has to coincide with road work or you know what - doing it twice. Bringing roads up to snuff involves planning ahead, establishing maintenance standards and grading. Something that can happen, but not all at once. Since the dozen projects are likely wish lists and don't reflect detailed planning. That has yet to come. Sometime this fall - if hearings allow. And a mid-January Special Town Meeting, so the public could vote on the "finished product" next April. Ummm. A $7 million override of Proposition 2.5, for example, means that you've indebted the town by that amount forever. A debt exclusion override means that $90 million, for example, is no longer a debt once you've paid off in 25 years, with interest. Sound better? HOUSING HORRORS - We've been through the tense doubletalk and confusion "a Housing Plan" for Framingham. So briefly, the first effort spawned in the Planning and Economic Department last summer led to a mad scramble to see if what had been submitted to the state reflected what a wide number of people would want or if Town Meeting would approve as a town bylaw some of the zoning projected . The Planning and Zoning Committee wanted to see "the plan." I feel foolish in reporting this but selectmen and supporters of the first plan insisted it no longer existed, so in a sane world how could Town Meeting examine anything. Well, that's what they said. Finally, Article 4 was redrafted to allow TM to examine the Ghost of the Housing Plan. I don't believe in ghosts but, whatever, something is floating about - and TM will dissect it. It is vital to set up some standards. Those who felt stung by what they considered a narrow "study" of what belongs in a Housing Plan got together on Article 3. The Standing Committee on Planning and Zoning lined up 27 TMMs who wanted a full study from now on had their say about a housing plan : "˙˙shall be developed jointly under the jurisdiction of the Boardof selectmen and the Planing Board . . . . Such plan may not be considered, implemented or represented as official until a public hearing has been held and approved by a majority of both boards and adopted by two thirds of Town Meeting." There, from now on you can't call something official and get away with it without this OK. [Uh- don't think some won't try.] SENATE RACE - Now that it's only 33 days until the decision of who will be the successor to Sen. David Magnani, we begin to see some action. Atty. Jim Coffey, R-Hopkinton, has at last shown up. He and Rep. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland met Wednesday night in Holliston. They will again on Oct. 14 a Framingham State. Spilka will appear next Wednesday at the forum sponsored by the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce. Coffey is reported skipping that session. After that, forums come quick and fast and it's a matter of which one a candidate can squeeze in. Meanwhile, Spilka has invited parents and educators to attend an Education Roundtable, hosted by State Treasurer Tim Cahill, Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Mindess School. Cahill will outline the expanded School Building Assistance Program which is opening up state aid for modernizing local school plants. Spilka's efforts on school aid from the state has made her well known in the region. __________________________________________ You can reach Bob Moore at edmoore4@aol.com or at 1-508-620-1449.