Posted on December 17, 2018
Bourne officials are gearing up for the coming budget season, in which they will determine the proposed town budget for the coming fiscal year.
Town departments accordingly have started to make their requests to the capital outlay committee, which estimates total capital requests this year at roughly $6.7 million.
The committee met December 3. Members heard from Bourne Fire Chief Norman P. Sylvester and Department of Natural Resources Director Timothy W. Mullen, who also appeared before the committee representing the Bourne Shore & Harbor Committee.
Chief Sylvester’s big request to the committee was to purchase two new ambulances for his department, at a cost of $343,000 per vehicle. The chief explained to the committee that there are new state requirements for what an ambulance must carry that the department must meet with the new vehicles. The requirements have boosted the cost by approximately $60,000 each, he said.
Committee chairman Mary Jane Mastrangelo suggested that the cost of at least one ambulance could be covered with money from the town’s ambulance fund. Ms. Mastrangelo noted that the fund’s balance at the end of June was $1,761,000.
“So we could easily do one,” she said.
Chief Sylvester added that he wants to meet with the finance committee in early January to discuss the possibility of raising the town’s ambulance fees, which he described as being on the low end of towns on the Cape.
The chief also requested funding to replace a 2010 Chevrolet Silverado pickup that is part of the department’s vehicle pool. He said the truck is nearly 10 years old with 124,000 miles on the engine, and the bed is rotting out.
Chief Sylvester said that Department of Public Works Superintendent George M. Sala has shown interest in taking the truck for his department. But Town Administrator Thomas M. Guerino said in no uncertain terms that the truck should not be handed off from one department to another.
“Trade it in,” Mr. Guerino said, more than once.
The last item requested by the chief was funding for a new surveillance system at the Sagamore Beach headquarters. He told the committee that the current system is antiquated and replacement parts are no longer available. He said the proposed system was recommended by the facilities department and would be the same one now in use at Bourne Town Hall and the Department of Public Works building.
“They’re trying to get it, so they’re all on the same page with the equipment and maintenance,” he said.
Mr. Mullen said the natural resources department would be looking for $56,125 in capital funding for the coming year. Items the money would go toward include a 500-foot-long guardrail along Academy Drive next to the Taylor Point Marina.
Mr. Mullen said the purpose to the guardrail would be to restrict boat trailers in the marina from being backed up such that they block the abutting sidewalk. He suggested it as being good “for public safety.”
Other items requested by Mr. Mullen include funding for a new outboard motor for the department’s pumpout boat, and conversion of the heating system at the department’s garage to propane gas. The new boat engine would be included in the budget to be approved at Annual Town Meeting next May, but it would not be in use until the summer of 2020, he said.
The DNR garage is currently heated with oil, which Mr. Mullen said is considerably more expensive than gas. Mr. Guerino suggested that natural gas would be even cheaper than propane, but Mr. Mullen said they would be using so little an amount of propane—just enough to warm the garage in the cold winter months—it would ultimately prove to be less expensive.
In addition, natural gas would entail the cost of digging up pavement to connect from the garage to the gas lines in the street. Mr. Mullen said that town gas inspector Michael Golden told him doing that “would be crazy.”
For the Shore & Harbor Committee, Mr. Mullen said he would be looking for $200,000. The money would be used for dredging operations at Pocasset River Marina, including rental of the county dredge, he said. He noted that plans for dredging of the Pocasset River are on hold because of mechanical problems with the county dredges.
The county has two machines, but both are not working at present, he said. The time frame for dredging is November 1 through January 15. With both machines out of commission, the project has been put off until a year from now, he said.
He said the plan now is to create a dewatering basin at Monument Beach that would accommodate dredge material from the Pocasset River, as well as from the channel in Little Bay from Toby Island bridge across the Tahanto flats.
Negotiations are underway, he said, between Bourne and Sandwich for removal of the giant sand pile on Shore Road created by dredging of Barlows Landing Beach in October 2017, as well as the material from the Pocasset River dredge.
Mr. Mullen also told the committee that his last day as DNR director will be Friday, December 28. He introduced his replacement Christopher M. Southwood, 47, from Pocasset. Mr. Southwood is a member of the Shore & Harbor Committee.
Source: The Bourne Enterprise
