Weston Has Taken an Important Step Forward

Over the last two years, our writing on the Water Tank project was not against water tank replacement, but was critical of the process that town government was relying upon to get to an answer, and the fact that the answer was perennially incomplete. In our view, the process that was redesigned by the Select Board in January not only had a positive effect on the underpinnings of the Articles that were put in front of voters on March 12th, but was also a very positive step forward in town governance. Why do we say that?

More typically, the Select Board has operated largely as a discussion group rather than a working group. Much of the reason for that, we believe, is that there are only three select board members, and that makes it impossible for them to deal with “discussion” outside a meeting, let alone the “working” part. But that’s a subject for a different day.

In this case, the Water Tank Working Group operated the way a “Board” should operate. The issues and uncertainties were clarified. All of the right questions were asked and debated. Resident input and questions were welcomed and addressed. Timetables, designs and costs were refined. All the important project steps were outlined and issues were resolved and communicated to residents in time for voters to be educated before they walked into the Special Town Meeting in March. The Select Board demonstrated both leadership and teamwork, and the results speak for themselves.

That said, and in the spirit of continuous improvement, there are still a few things we could do better next time. First, the financial analyses, cost estimation and financing plans for any capital project deserve to be detailed and transparent early in the working group process for any future capital projects. From a governance perspective, this should be a major responsibility of the Finance Committee.

Second, we need to do a better job of translating the capital cost estimates – that is, the use of any “Free Cash” plus the cost of financing – into the likely financial impact on residents over the life of the financing (whether through property taxes or otherwise).

Last, any working group should be engaged from the very beginning of a major capital project and remain involved all the way through to completion, not just until a vote is taken. And in the case of the Water Tank project, the Select Board and the Finance Committee should ensure that progress is tracked and measured regularly, relative to the detailed project plan, timeline and cost estimates that Wright-Pierce and the Select Board developed and presented to voters. All of that tracking can easily be made available to the community on the Weston website.

Let’s not forget the lessons learned from the Water Tank project – especially with other big issues ahead. Next up is a Fire Station, with a price tag in the same league as the water tank replacements. The Select Board has the opportunity to leverage the same working group model they used in February and March, and take advantage of some simple improvements. By doing so, we’ll save time, money, and acrimony, and it will, as we’ve seen firsthand, get us to a better answer faster.