Selectmen

Town of Stow Selectmen’s Report

During the course of 2010 our Town of Stow has faced challenges concerning personnel, major roadwork, transfer station, town computers/website and the school system. However, we selectmen have witnessed town solidarity in support of the old town hall, our annual Christmas tree lighting; citizen’s communicating concerns, Valley Pride day and the opening of the Stow Corner Store. Despite the obstacles, we feel our small rural town is on a positive momentum of improvement and upgrade, and with your caring attitudes and unified spirit we can overcome our challenges.
One of our first dilemmas was the resignation of our Deputy Clerk and Road Commissioner. In an attempt to have the town office open on Saturday mornings for the community by our appointed Deputy Clerk we failed to keep the position filled and have had to accept the resignations of Sharon Peterson and recently Laurel Walker-Jones, both for personal reasons. In August our Road Commission, William Parmenter resigned over billing disputes and other personal reasons, and we selectmen scrambled to find a qualified replacement. After advertising and interviewing possible candidates, Maurice Carrier, a Stow resident, was selected as our new Road Commissioner.
A thorough evaluation of our roads was conducted by we selectmen, Maurice and a paving contractor. Substantial ditching, replacing culverts, and road reclaiming are key areas of concern. Meadow road was reclaimed and paved this year at a cost of $111,264.00 and reduced our tar account to $6, 908.40 remaining. To address the other major road concerns we have received an estimate and hope to begin on those projects after our town meeting.
Our affiliation with Lovell and the Lovell Transfer Station has remained a positive one, and our 5 year agreement to payout $7,500 per year, plus $9,000 in tipping fees is near completion. The current cost of the Lovell Transfer Station to cover our town is far more than what we are contributing, and we selectmen have spent time negotiating with the Lovell selectmen new terms. For 2011 we selectmen are requesting from the town an increase based on a use per ton formula or tonnage. It would behoove all of us to recycle our recyclables in our trash, which would reduce our total cost for the following year.
Administrative services through the use of our office computers and website has become a limiting factor in how efficiently business is being conducted in our town office. Upgrades to our computer hardware and programs, especially our tax program, are necessary. Furthermore, we have terminated our services with our website manager, and we are seeking a new website design program to allow easier access for our office personnel for updates and town postings. All these upgrade recommendations were thoroughly researched by a computer consultant business and our town tax assessor.
Further strains on our municipal budget, are the costs to support our school system, which increased due to our town properties re-valuations, and the increasing demands of rescue and fire protection services in our area. We selectmen feel that although our tax burden is slowly increasing, we remain optimistic that we can meet our town needs and stay abreast to future needs We ask that the Town of Stow citizens all try their best to be stay knowledgeable of issues, communicate concerns, be involved with town decisions, and be a team player at making all of our lives easier. We hope to see you at the town meeting.

Sincerely,
Your Selectmen