Tonight at 7, Lenox, Massachusetts will hold its annual town meeting at Lenox Memorial Middle High School. Voters will decide on financial plans for the coming fiscal year, including a $9.5 million general fund and appropriating almost $17 million for the Lenox Public Schools – a roughly 8.5% increase over the previous year’s spending. It’s the last annual meeting for Town Manager Christopher Ketchen, who is moving to a new job with the state’s Division of Local Services after a decade once his contract expires at the end of June. Ketchen broke down tonight’s warrant items and his new responsibilities with WAMC.
KETCHEN: We want to provide for all existing municipal services, as well as the restoration of some pre-pandemic line items, as well as fund some other strategic initiatives that the school committee, the select board, and finance committee want to want to see the town pursue in the coming year. The school committee, select board, and finance committee unanimously support all the articles on the warrant, both general fund and enterprise fund related. We've got some CPC- Or, sorry, community preservation committee projects that that committee is bringing forward. So, we're charging ahead with an aggressive capital plan and maintaining town services.
WAMC: Let's start with the general fund. How much is Lenox planning to spend in fiscal year 2025? And how does that compare to the year prior?
We're looking at about a 7.2% increase in overall municipal departments, 8.4% in the in the schools, largely driven by inflationary pressures around wages, health insurance, as well as utilities driving a lot of that cost. At the same time, there are things that the town wants to wants to accomplish in its capital plan, and we're really looking at moving aggressively to accomplish those tasks.
Well, let's turn to the capital plan. When you talk about that aggressive strategy, what is that in relation to, and where is that best expressed in this warrant?
So, you can look you can look both backwards and forwards. We've been on track to make major improvements in public safety and wastewater treatment. The town has been tremendously supportive of that. And we're hoping that the town will be just as supportive on improvements to new classroom space at our middle and high school over the over the next fiscal year, and that that article is on the warrant tonight as well as several other things.
Now the public safety aspect, let's talk about that- Where is Lenox trying to direct more investment into public safety?
So, we've had very inadequate facilities for quite some time. Modern fire apparatus, for example, won't fit into our existing central fire station, and the police department and the ambulance operation are in the basement of the town hall building, and that's not how you run a modern public safety department. So, we just broke ground earlier this week on a brand-new $19.7 million public safety project, and I just feel strongly that it's one of the most important things that we do, and we've got to provide the infrastructure to support that operation.
Now, earlier, you talked about returning to pre-pandemic spending in this warrant. Can you sort of highlight where that would be happening if Lenox voters approve this tonight?
Well, it's more of a minor aspect of things that are going on at the micro level within several different departments, including town hall and at the library and police. We are adding a police officer, that's a that's a new position. So, you know, we're really just trying to get our get our organization on track to carry forward in a in a modern, professionally managed way.
Is there anything that's sort of unique or different or out of the ordinary about this warrant tonight? Or how do you look at it from the town managerial perspective?
Just continuing to make progress on policy priorities for the town, most notably, public safety, education, and public works, but really in all areas to try and move forward.
Now, this is of course, your final town meeting as a town manager of Lenox, you're moving forward with your career- Talk to us, where are you headed off to next?
So, I'll be joining the Division of Local Services in the state's Department of Revenue as director of finance and local payments. So, I'll be working with a just a really terrific team and working for a well-respected deputy commissioner and I am looking forward to that. But that being said, being town manager of Lenox has been the privilege of my career. Since I was 19 years old, I wanted to be a town manager, and for the last 10 years, I've had the opportunity to do that in Lenox and I call it my home and I am just happy to be here even after my appointment as town manager expires, to enjoy just being a resident of the of the town even though I'll no longer be the town manager.
