The following is the State of the Town address was delivered to Town Meeting on April 24, 2023 by Select Board Chair Mark Dockser
Greetings Town Meeting Members!
I speak to you this evening as one of my last acts as Chair of the Select Board. The Select Board reorganizes each year, and we will be doing this at our next meeting. We usually reorganize before Town Meeting, but his year, we had a recount from our election that was successfully completed this past Saturday with no changes in the final outcome. Both of the board incumbents Karen Herrick and Carlo Bacci, are returning to the board. Thanks to Laura Gemme, our Town Clerk, staff, and the Board of Registrars for a well-run election and recount.
In your report on the warrant, this evening are the written remarks that I prepared one month ago as outgoing chair of the Select Board. I encourage you to read that document to get the lay of the land if you will.
This evening I want to further emphasize some of my written remarks, and discuss a few aspects of who we are, where we are and where we are going.
First and foremost, I am very pleased to report that the State of the Town of Reading is strong, positive and active. Under the strong leadership of our new Town Manager, Fidel Maltez, Reading delivered excellent current services to us, the residents, laid out plans for the future, and accelerated our position as the envy of and model for many neighboring towns.
Reading is making strides toward the two highest priorities of the community, in my opinion: developing a new active living center to support the quickly growing age 60+ community in town with a new building and services AND a replacement for the Killam Elementary School. Town meeting supported $2.2 MM in funds for the Killam Feasibility Study, and we were able to allocate $900,000 of Federal relief funds toward activities for the senior community including $300,000 for a feasibility study for the active living center.
In fact, let’s talk more about the older adult population in Reading and its needs now and going forward. The population of residents in the town age 60+ stands at nearly 27% today and is forecast to grow to 29% by the year 2030. People love this town and want to stay here.
In order to support the needs of the older adult population, we, the town need to support more programming activities as well as the facilities that allow for these activities. Town Meeting last year overwhelmingly passed an instructional motion asking that the Town step up its efforts. On the programming side, the federal recovery funds that I mentioned a moment ago represents a good start on this path. However, the Pleasant Street Center does not have sufficient space to house the desired programs.
To better understand the needs of the older adult community, last year the Select Board formed a committee called RECALC, the Reading center for active living committee. This group benchmarked many other communities for older adult-focused facilities. RECALC also did a community-wide survey and found strong support for a new senior/community center with dedicated space for the 60+ community. The report in your warrant from RECALC offers easy-to-read slides to share the results in more depth. I encourage you all to review these slides.
The Reading Council on Aging has been very active with RECALC and has just finished producing a video that highlights where we are today with the facilities at the Pleasant Street Center and how it is not able to meet the needs of the older adult community. You will be receiving a link to this video in the next few days, and it will be available on the Town Website as well.
So we have identified additional space needs…where can we find this space? As I mentioned, the Select Board allocated $300,000 of the Federal recovery funds, the so-called ARPA Funds, to use for a feasibility study to explore various sites and bring back plans for Town Meeting and then voter approval.
The Select Board believed that we had found a very suitable space at 17 Harnden Street in the middle of our downtown, the former Walgreens building that has been sitting empty for years. The board designated me to work together with our town manager to negotiate with the current owner to see if we could acquire this space. Several drawings were created to understand the potential for this space, ranging from very modest changes to a more dramatic and highly featured facility. In fact, we hoped to bring a deal back to this Town Meeting in the form of Article 21. Despite a lot of time and discussions, because of how the building is owned and the remaining lease with its former tenant, the town as a municipality was not able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the current owner. It was not about price, but rather about structure of the deal. We worked with town counsel and bond counsel to try to find a way, but we could not, and we have thus suspended discussions with the owner at this time. When we come to Article 21 later this evening, we will be moving to indefinitely postpone the subject matter of that article because there is no offer for both the space and the development of the space to share with town meeting. This is very disappointing as we believe this space would offer a very good solution and we invested a lot of time and effort to try to make it happen.
So what are the next steps? We continue with our original plan of fielding a feasibility study to review potential locations and return to town meeting in the fall with a recommendation. The Select Board will be discussing this further at our next meeting.
The Select Board, with the help of an advisory committee of town volunteers, allocated more than $7MM in Federal Covid relief funds to community projects. Grants were given to the Reading Public Schools for new materials, to the Birch Meadow Phase I project, which with a bit more support from this Town Meeting, will result in a “spine” paved path, a pavilion with bathrooms, an environmentally sound parking area, and a lacrosse wall. We also were able to support the great work of the Reading Food Pantry, the Burbank YMCA for an adaptive swim program, water infrastructure replacement projects and special financial recognition for town employees who worked through Covid providing municipal services despite the challenges of the pandemic. Details of the allocations are contained in the report on the warrant.
There are many other things moving ahead in town to report on.
- Our purchase of “Lot 5” at the edge of the Town forest is moving ahead. We have obtained state approval as this is a protected area, for a pervious surface parking area with porta-potties. We also have reached an agreement with Meadowbrook Golf Club for an easement allowing access into the Town Forest from the parking lot. This project was supported by a grant from the state for the site work.
- In fact, with the support of staff and elected board members, the town brought in more than $8MM in grant funding supporting everything from sidewalks near the high school to stormwater and environmental management at the Maillet-Sommes area to new community gardens at the Mattera cabin. And there are many more potential grants in the offing.
- Reading demonstrated its commitment to inclusivity and willingness to be a warm and welcoming community through a variety of community-focused programs and events. Some of these activities also brought challenges and an opportunity for us all to learn more about one another. Events included a holiday season celebration that included a Menorah and a Christmas tree in addition to the lighting of the common and hanging of wreaths; parades and celebrations in honor of PRIDE day, June-teenth and programs and discussions about equity and social justice, including honoring the legacy of the late, great Bill Russell. PAIR, partners, and allies for an inclusive Reading through the library’s Office of Equity and Social Justice held regular meetings and community discussions. And in addition to Friends and Family Day and the Town Street Fair, we enjoyed expanded use of the Town Common for family-friendly entertainment featuring music, beer, and other libations and treats!
- We are moving ahead toward joining the Green Communities program sharing a commitment to environmentally responsible practices and the potential to unlock a new source of funds for the community.
- Town meeting shared with us a desire to develop more affordable housing in Town, and we have created a new Affordable Housing Trust and board to guide these activities. The Governor and our state legislators are in tune with supporting these initiatives, and the budget proposals being discussed at the State offer additional support for affordable housing.
- The Reading Coalition for Prevention and Support continued and continues its great work, and the RPD’s addition of comfort dogs calmed and supported our students as well as the greater community.
The town remains in a very strong financial position, spending money responsibly and frugally. Our cash reserves have grown to ~14% of our annual budget, well beyond the finance committee guidance of 7% and potentially providing additional opportunities for wise capital spending should Town Meeting authorize those uses in the future.
In summary, 2023 starts with a lot of action and a lot of promise. We are a proud community, well managed and with a lot of potential. Here’s to 2023 and beyond! Thank you!
