by Frank Schroth

There are two discussion items on this coming Tuesday’s meeting of the Milton Board of Selectmen that may be of especial interest. One relates to their position on the potential award regarding a bid on the town owned portion of the Hendries property and another on the potential merits of consolidating operations between the schools and town hall.

Resolution to the Hendries property is something that has been devoutly wished for by the neighborhood for a long, loooong time. The town had the property appraised ($240,000) and put out an RFP for bids. There was one bid ($1,000) from Carrick Realty which owns the other portion of the Hendries property. At town meeting the BoS requested and town meeting approved rescinding an article from 2007 that restricted how the property could be sold. Essentially it limited the sale to Carrick Realty. The argument made by Denis Keohane, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, on floor of town meeting, was that rescinding the 2007 article would give the BoS the leverage and flexibility they needed to negotiate with Carrick. The BoS has met in executive session several times over the last several weeks to discuss the bid and have been negotiating with the principals of Carrick Realty, the Connellys. These sessions follow on a series of meetings convened by Senator Joyce between the Connellys, town officials, and select residents. The meetings, while not private, were not publicly advertised and were not attended by anyone other than those invited.

On Tuesday the selectmen should be informing the town of their decision. Member Hurley at an earlier session said the board would need to take a vote on whether or not to accept the bid in open session. Presumably that is what they will do. How much discussion takes place around that vote is a separate question. The public may hear the reasons for why the bid was accepted or rejected and how the vote supports how the property should be developed. There are elements that are not known. These include: the award of a bonus regarding the floor area ratio that was tied to the preservation of natural elements, the consequences for the removal of the black oak (the Chair of the Conservation Commission has not replied to an email seeking comment), the status of the demolition order, the status of funds the town earmarked for demolition of its portion of the building, the resolution of who owns the portion of the building with the roof collapse. These, one would assume, have been part of the negotiations taking place. Tuesday’s discussion may provide answers to those issues and what, should the bid be rejected, are the next steps for seeking an alternative.

The discussion regarding consolidation of town and school operations will likely focus on the formation of a joint committee to explore the issue in detail. Mike Zullas, a member of the school committee, has been a proponent of examining consolidation opportunities and it is an initiative that was touched on in the recent report from the Department of Revenue (the report referenced the effort in general terms not specifically as it relates the schools). The goal will be to identify areas of efficiency that might be realized in for example, combining payroll functions. The schools and town hall often seek and protect their autonomy from each other (e.g. amendment of article 2 at recent town meeting). This will be a potential opportunity for collaboration.

The agenda also includes two items that have been absent in the recent past: a Town Administrator’s report and a Chairman’s report. These are standing agenda items frequently found on other committee agendas (the Planning Board, School Committee, and Library Board of Trustees are among those with director reports). They are welcome additions.

The complete agenda for this and all municipal meetings can be found here.