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Welcome back!

Here’s what we have for you this week:

1. Select Board Allocates ARPA Funds for DPW Renovation

2. Act Now to Vote by Mail in Sept. 3 Primary

3. School HVAC Projects In Jeopardy

4. Tiny Art Show Returns At Goodnow Library

5. SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

Let’s get into it!

Select Board Allocates ARPA Funds for DPW Renovation

By Kevin LaHaise

On Tuesday, July 30, the Sudbury Select Board allocated $111,350 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Department of Public Works office space renovation project. Town Meeting had previously appropriated $125,000, but the sole responsible bid came in at $197,933.67. The allocation covers the bid, and a 10% contingency budget.

The warrant article from 2023 described the project as follows: “These funds are required to create one small conference room, one team meeting room, three offices and storage space for the Board of Health and Facilities Department staff at the DPW office building.” (PDF page 31)

Combined Facilities Director, Sandra Duran, presented the situation and explained the timeline of events from Annual Town Meeting in 2023 to now. Select Board members asked a variety of questions about the project, generally voicing support for getting it done.

During the discussion, Vice Chair Dan Carty peppered Duran with questions about the timeline and how long various steps of the process had taken, as he felt is was not the “immediate” execution that he was expecting after Duran presented at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting. Duran explained how the timeline worked, and how many projects her office has been managing simultaneously. She presented a slide of highlights:

Vice Chair Carty then added “We’ve heard it time and time again, the longer we wait on stuff, the more expensive it gets.” He went on to suggest that perhaps this project should have been paused in 2023 if the department had so much work in front of it. (1:23:00)

A pause, under that logic, would result in a cost increase as well. Duran immediately clapped back:

Vice Chair Carty then questioned if Duran could have switched architects, and characterized the project as “essentially building within the shell of an existing space, popping up a couple walls.” Duran responded by listing the components of the project including walls, HVAC, acoustical tiles, floor patching, A/V and data drops, electrical modifications, fire protection modifications, septic work, trenching, and sidewalk modifications. “It is more complicated than what I’m showing you here. This is just to give you a sense of what the outcome will be...”

As tension increased (1:26:10), Chair Jennifer Roberts moved the conversation along to Member Charlie Russo, who noted that the presentation had answered all his questions, and that the project was an ideal fit for the intent of ARPA funds. He indicated full support of the allocation for this project, as did Chair Roberts in ensuing comments. The board voted unanimously to allocate the requested funds soon thereafter.

Act Now to Vote by Mail in Sept. 3 Primary

By the League of Women Voters of Sudbury

Any registered voter can use a mail ballot to vote in the state primary election scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 3. It’s best to start the mail voting process now to be sure you have time to receive a ballot and return it. The town clerk’s office will begin sending mail ballots to voters in mid-August, three weeks before the election.

If you requested a mail ballot for all elections at the beginning of this year, a ballot will automatically be sent to you; you do not need to submit another request.

If you have not previously requested a mail ballot, you can do so using the postage-paid postcard recently sent to all voters by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, or print and fill out the application found here and return it to the clerk’s office.

Note that the Sept. 3 election is a primary election. Voters who are not enrolled in a party MUST request a specific party’s ballot on their application. Unenrolled voters can request any party’s ballot; the request will not change your unenrolled status. Voters who are enrolled in a party will automatically be sent that party’s ballot.

The law says applications for mail ballots must reach the clerk’s office by Aug. 26, but that date is very late for the office to process the request, send out a ballot, and allow time for the ballot to be returned. It’s best to apply for a mail ballot right away.

When you receive a mail ballot, follow the instructions carefully. Be sure to sign the yellow return envelope or the ballot cannot be accepted. You can return the ballot by mail, or deposit it in the ballot dropbox behind Town Hall, 322 Concord Rd. Mail ballots must be received by the clerk’s office by 8 p.m on Election Day Sept. 3. Additional information on mail voting is on the town website.

School HVAC Projects In Jeopardy

By Kevin LaHaise

The July 30 meeting of the Energy and Sustainability Committee contained just one conversation: an urgent request from Sudbury’s combined facilities director, Sandra Duran, for additional funds to complete a replacement of the rooftop air units at Ephraim Curtis Middle School and Josiah Haynes Elementary School that have reached the end of their useful life.

The projects were initially funded by articles at prior Town Meetings, but the bids came in well over the appropriated budget for the work. Duran explained that she was able to scrape together enough money to cover the base bid, which would replace the internal components of 7 air units at the two schools.

But there was a catch: they recently learned that they would also need to replace the controls for those updated units to function. With nowhere else to turn for funding, Duran opted to ask for the committee’s support to draw $223,000 from the Solar Energy Revolving Fund, which is roughly equivalent to what that fund takes in each year according to discussion in the meeting.

During the deliberation, members raised concerns about the type of refrigerant being used in the existing system. It has a very high “global warming potential” (GWP) score that’s almost four times higher than what newer systems have. Adding more complexity to the matter: new regulations will kick in at the start of 2025 that limit the allowable GWP for the refrigerants used in these systems, and the current refrigerant will begin to be phased out.

That put the committee in the unenviable position of having no appealing choices.

If they voted “no,” the project would effectively be cancelled, and the end-of-life systems could fail during the school year. And if the Town does the project later, the only option will be to install entirely new units that comply with the 2025 requirements. Duran estimated that would cost four times as much, or approximately $4.8 million based on guidance that his been provided to her.

Duran noted that manufacturing of the needed equipment will cease in roughly two months in anticipation of the 2025 transition, leaving no time to redesign and re-bid the project with a different scope. Any delay could run the risk of the cost of the project quadrupling.

If the committee voted “yes,” members expressed that they would be compromising their values around sustainability, and their obligation to do thorough vetting of projects that request funding from the Solar Energy Revolving Fund. Duran repeatedly noted that the upgrades to the HVAC internals and the addition of new controls would almost certainly result in energy savings, but there was no time to do a formal analysis. While some members seemed to agree the upgrades would likely result in energy savings, continuing to use a refrigerant that is soon being phased out was a big hangup.

At times, Duran pleaded with the committee: “If I don’t order this equipment and get on the controls within the next two weeks, this project dies on the vine. I don’t even have two weeks. One week.” (51:00)

Several members indicated that they were struggling to find a way to support the request. Others were looking for ways to alter the approach of the project to make it more palatable. Duran repeatedly explained that procurement laws and the timeline for the industry transition on refrigerants wouldn’t allow for scope changes or delays.

After nearly an hour of discussion, Duran juxtaposed two paths:

Chair Alwan later responded: “What I really want to say is, I don’t want to be put in this position in the future. We have a history of being a deliberative body that gets a lot of information, does a lot of research, works through issues and problems in a complete manner, and this does not feel like we’re doing our due diligence and it just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Two other members also voiced their discomfort at that time, but just as Chair Alwan was going to ask for a motion and a vote, Duran encouraged the committee to ask questions of Town Manager Andy Sheehan and Sudbury Public School Superintendent Brad Crozier, as both were present for the meeting. The committee didn’t have questions for them, but both made comments in support of the project and empathized with the position the committee was in.

Crozier noted that Sudbury Public Schools had found “over a quarter of a million dollars” from other sources to cover the higher-than-expected base bid. He then added a little pressure: “Also, I’m the one that’s going to stand in front of Town Meeting to ask for four times the amount for this project, and that’s not something that I’m looking forward to, and certainly I’m happy to be able to say that we’ve exhausted all the funding sources possible, including coming to you, if that were to transpire.” (1:04:40)

The committee breezed past those comments, and continued looking for ways to alter the project to gain more support. One idea was to only do the five units at Curtis Middle School. But Duran explained that procurement laws wouldn’t allow such a scope change, and she would have to go back out to bid. If the Town went back out to bid, they’d miss the window to buy the components they need before manufacturing ceases.

Discussion continued until the committee discovered that not all the members had received the materials that were circulated by Duran the week prior. They wanted to see some efficiency data regarding the new equipment. After some confusion around those materials and the committee’s email alias, they opted to take a few days to review the data, and reconvene next week. Duran cautioned that even a one week delay could endanger the project, but did not explicitly press the committee to take a vote on the spot.

The Energy and Sustainability Committee is now scheduled to meet next Tuesday, August 6.

Tiny Art Show Returns At Goodnow Library

By Kevin LaHaise

On Wednesday, July 31, the Goodnow Library hosted this year’s Tiny Art Show. The event welcomed participants of all ages to “create your tiny artwork at home with your own recycled materials or drop by the Tinker Table outside the NOW Lab on the second floor of the library.” From there, participants could submit their tiny artwork to the show.

On Wednesday, the Community Room was dubbed the “Re-useum” and the show featured 88 entries. A library representative told Sudbury Weekly: “We encouraged the use of recycled materials and got very creative results.”

On Facebook, the Goodnow Library page added: “An egg carton became a busload of people, wooden pegs struck sculptural poses, and abstract shapes made for cool compositions. Exhibition viewers savored small bites and strolled to the sounds of smooth jazz. Small, thoughtful, and inspirational – we loved these July creations made by community members of all ages.”

The event is credited to the work of Amy Stimac, who heads the children’s department, and Kat Liddle, who is the assistant head of the department. Library staff were kind enough to share some pictures from the show. (All images courtesy of the Goodnow Library)

Parting Thoughts

That’s enough for this week. We’ll be tracking that school HVAC story next week. Sudbury Public Schools will be discussing the end of year budget report for FY24. And there’s plenty more happening all around Sudbury.

If you haven’t done so in a while, click on over to the Town website for some public health updates about the Sudbury River, Hop Brook and the Camp Sewataro ponds. What a time to be alive!

Onward!