Council approves funds for Whitings Pond Dam repairs
As part of a longstanding repair project, the Town Council approved a $16,100 allocation for work to be done at the Whitings Pond Dam.
The funds will come from the Reserve Fund, which has $150,000, according to Town Manager Michael Gallagher. Should this need to be replenished, it can be done in October once Free Cash is certified, but Gallagher indicated that the work needed to be done soon.
“The water levels are low now,” he said at a meeting of the Finance Subcommittee on Monday, July 29. “It makes this a good time to get the work done.”
The work has been needed for some time, but when the Conservation Commission went out to bid in 2016, the results were higher than the budgeted amount. Councilor Jo Ann Cathcart felt this wouldn’t be the best use of the Reserve Fund and that the process had not been properly done.
“If you didn’t know what to do, there were others that could have helped you,” she said to the commission members. “This has not been handled properly. It may be best to start over.”
Gallagher said that a Reserve Fund transfer was the best option for this project, that seeking a bond—as they would for a larger project—wouldn’t work, and the town has done this too often for small projects. The council voted 8-1—with Cathcart opposing—to approve the transfer.
