by Frank Schroth

The Warrant Committee detoured the development of the East Milton deck last night. The Board of Selectmen had submitted an article to determine “what sum of money the Town will vote to appropriate for design of improvements to M. Joseph Manning Park and East Milton Square. . . “. Based on a motion made, seconded and passed almost unanimously, all but one member,  that amount is $0.00. After discussion Selectmen Chair Tom Hurley and Town Planner Bill Clark agreed to seek funding from the  Capital Improvements Committee.

It is not clear to me that you can accomplish what you want to accomplish without further analysis.
– Cheryl Tougias

The amount targeted for the design of the area was ~$300.000. Warrant member Cheryl Tougias was vocal in her concerns which appeared to be shared by most of the committee. She stated that ” the scope of the services and the [amount and type] of construction are unclear to me.” She characterized the current plans as “too vague” and added that “it is not clear to me that you can accomplish what you want to accomplish without further analysis.”

The lack of clarity was at the heart of the committee concerns. Committee Member Joyce Nkwah said that compared to other budgets and requests for funds this request did not seem “as concrete.” Member Kevin Chase felt that Hurley and Clark were being “astonishingly naive” in arguing that the area based on plans presented would attract people to the park.

Hurley responded that he believed there was a “misimpression that [the plan] had not been vetted properly.” Town Planner Bill Clark cited a parking and access study that had been done and that there was a lot more to the plan than adding parking spaces. He referenced traffic calming measures, coordinated signaling, and reinvigorated green space as examples. However, the committee remained unconvinced on how this would be done and consequently, how much it would cost. Tougias believed the $300K figure to be high and could not get her arms around the scope. ” I can support $75-100K to define the scope of what I can get for $1 million”, she said. The town has $1 million in funding for construction of the project and the committee was mindful of that but in making her motion for a $0 appropriation member Carolyn Chaill stated that in these financially strapped times it was fiscally irresponsible to vote the $300K simply in order to keep the $1 million.

After some further discussion Hurley agreed to approach the Capital Improvement committee with a request for a lesser amount (~$150K) to address the issue and keep the project moving forward.