Town Manager Chris Ketchen broke down the sizeable investments in front of hundreds of residents at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School Thursday.
“The combined $60 plus million in construction plus contingency is for the wastewater treatment plant upgrade under Article Seven – and this is a federally mandated phosphorus limit compliance issue – and $20 plus million for the public safety building to address code and other non-compliant issues with the police, fire, and EMS department in their current facilities,” Ketchen told the assemblage.
Select board member Neal Maxymillian explained the impetus behind the $45 million upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant.
“Many years ago, at the federal level, effluent standards for any operators of wastewater treatment facilities were modified and made more strict," Maxymillian said. "When that was passed down to states, our permitting body, the Massachusetts [Department of Environmental Protection], when they rewrote our [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] discharge permit for our wastewater plant included standards that we cannot meet with our existing plant. In a nutshell, phosphorus is the main issue. That's the sort of driving force behind requiring us to modify the plant to be able to meet the discharge requirements.”
Select board member Ed Lane presented on the $20 million public safety building project.
“Presently the police department and is located in the cellar of the town hall," he said. "The fire department is in the building adjacent to the town hall. Each building is over 100 years old, having many deficiencies for any kind of present-day police or fire and EMT operations- For mold issues, overcrowding, a litany of code issues, no decontamination areas, tight engine bays that forces us to purchase custom-made vehicles to fit in the equipment bay. And these two sites have frankly reached the end of their life useful life as a public safety facility.”
Lane said Lenox had no choice but to invest in a brand-new building.
“The plan is to construct a new 19,000 square foot facility at the corner of Route 7 and 20 and Housatonic Street, across from Caligari’s hardware store," he said. "It's also known as Sawmill Brook, currently owned by [Community Preservation Committee] and affordable housing. The facility will be large enough to house everything needed for the current services plus have enough area for future expansion if needed.”
During the two years construction of the new building is expected to take, the town will assess what to do with the existent spaces and return with a plan later.
Select board clerk Marybeth Mitts explained why Lenox is using land originally intended for affordable housing for the new public safety building.
“While several attempts were made to build affordable housing on that site, no developer has been able to put forward a proposal for this particular property, owner or rental, that was both realistic and or acceptable to the town,” she said.
Ketchen explained how the projects would be funded.
“For planning purposes, we've assumed that the wastewater treatment plant will be subsidized by a 30% federal USDA grant as well as a subsidized loan for a period of 40 years, leaving $28 to $31 million in town unfunded debt, approximately $1.3 million in annual debt service every year," said the town manager. "The public safety building does not benefit from state or federal funding. We're looking to amortize that over 25 years, approximately $1.6 million in debt service in year one, with the plan to amortize on a level principal basis so that the debt service levels will decline over time.”
The town manager stressed that Lenox enjoys a AAA bond rating – the highest possible – and is financially stable heading into the big investments.
“The plan moving forward would be to utilize the surplus lodging tax, a 10% increase in sewer rates over time, and 5.6% levy increase to fund the early years of both projects," Ketchen continued. "And again, that would be declining over time.”
Lenox voters approved both spending measures by overwhelming majorities and with little debate.
