Wayland selectmen advance five new town positions to Personnel Board

WAYLAND -- October 10, 2017, Wayland selectmen back five new positions and hear consultants call for sweeping financial restructuring. The Board of Selectmen reached consensus Tuesday to advance roughly $325,000 in new staffing, increased hours for Conservation land manager Brian Harris and the Council on Aging project coordinator, two firefighter-paramedic slots, and a 24th police officer, to the Personnel Board. Collins Center consultants Mike Ward and Rick Kingsley presented draft reports calling the town's financial management structure "increasingly anachronistic" and recommending a consolidated finance department, stronger town administrator authority, and reserve policies tied to Moody's concerns after fund balance fell to 18.5 percent of revenue. The board voted 4-0 to insert high school stadium design, a related CPA request, a Loker turf field design, and $154,000 in Western Aqueduct crossings into the Nov. 13 special town meeting warrant, and declined to insert a library construction article after the state extended the deadline.