Wayland Select Board declines $30,000 town-building study, routes work through volunteer panels

WAYLAND -- March 4, 2019, Wayland Select Board kills $30,000 town-building study and reworks OPEB article on counsel's advice. The board voted 0-4 against inserting an article to fund another infrastructure-and-use study of the town building, accepting Economic Development Committee Chair Bill Steinberg's offer to do the preliminary work, including a town counsel opinion on deed restrictions, through existing volunteer committees. Resident Annette Lewis called another study "a waste of money." On the OPEB article, the board dropped roughly $25,000 in "parity payments" from the Children's Way preschool and school food service after counsel and the state Department of Revenue advised that town meeting cannot compel payments from school-side revolving funds; former OPEB Advisory Committee chair Cliff objected, warning "the math is unrelenting." Town Administrator Louise Miller also reported the Finance Committee approved a $100,000 reserve transfer to cover a transfer station revolving-fund deficit.