On a glorious Saturday morning better suited for almost anything other than sitting indoors to discuss municipal planning, the Select Board spent three hours prioritizing a to-do list appropriate for a town contemplating the largest capital project in its history.
The Aug. 15 discussion, framed as a “goals-setting” exercise but more accurately a meeting about choosing among priorities that help meet the board’s seven standing goals, was highly cognizant of the town’s pending obligations for building a new Pollard Middle School. After factoring in expected reimbursements from the state, the town’s financial obligation for the project will be equivalent to the amount the town is expected to spend on everything it does in FY27, or roughly $260 million.
Given the project will be funded by debt, the interest costs over three decades will inflate that number considerably.
So, it was not surprising that the Select Board reviewed far fewer town initiatives than it has traditionally evaluated in past goals meetings, when up to 100 or more items were considered. The board discussed 50, and by the end of the process the members chose to list just 23 as top priorities.
Select Board Chair Heidi Frail said the morning’s work would be to try to answer “how do the projects and the tasks that people ask for, or we think are important, fit within these goals. And then, what do we actually have the ability to execute on? How will that work and how much money will it cost?”
“We’ve got a lot of really big projects that are already in motion and therefore we’ll probably end up pushing a lot of other projects off of the priority list,” she said.
“I think we have to be prepared for some discomfort — the discomfort that it gives us but also the discomfort this gives others as well,” a reference to projects and initiatives that have strong constituencies yet will likely be deferred.
“But there’s only so much time, so much money. We have to be realistic about what we can achieve so that we can achieve the things that we prioritize.”
The backdrop for the decision-making process was the seven goals the board had previously established and opted not to change. Those goals are that Needham be:
• Healthy and Socially Thriving
• Economically vital
• Livable
• Accessible and Connected
• Safe
• Responsibly Governed
• Environmentally Sustainable
What IS do-able?
While Pollard surely will be a massive lift (assuming October Town Meeting and voters in November approve the $325 million project), its debt will not have a meaningful impact on the town budget until FY2030.
Also, the town has been reducing its debt load. Since FY2023, the town’s debt service payments have been dropping — falling from $20.2 million and 9.85% of the operating budget in FY23, to $16.8 million and 7.14% in the current FY26 operating budget.
Consequently, the Select Board generally showed cautious optimism about being positioned to advance certain major initiatives.
“We all want to do everything,” said member Kevin Keane. “But I think the issue is we have to clear the decks just to do the mission critical stuff — and that’s Pollard, Stephen Palmer and the Quiet Zone.”
For Pollard, that support was expressed when the board voted at its Aug. 3 meeting to place the Prop. 2½ debt exclusion override question on the Nov. 3 election ballot. The Select Board vote was 4-1, with member Josh Levy voting against.
While consequential in the long run, that support carries no significant immediate financial impact. The same is true for the board’s intentions to prioritize plans for a possible new use for the Stephen Palmer apartment building scheduled to be returned to town control by next spring.
The Pickering Street property will be under the jurisdiction of the School Committee once its residential use ends, but the schools have only recently initiated the process of studying possible school-related uses.
As long as the School Committee remains in planning mode, the town will continue to manage the wind down and remain responsible for maintaining the building after it is vacated.
Any future use of the property will likely be discussed in the context of an overall townwide facilities master plan. Town Manager Katie King expressed the need for a holistic look at all the town’s permanent buildings and town-owned land. King said the town will seek funding at a future Town Meeting to obtain consulting help to conduct a study. That study could require more than a year to complete.
As for the Quiet Zone, Town Meeting in May authorized the town to take on $8.2 million in debt to upgrade the town’s five public way commuter rail crossings. The town has reached an agreement with the MBTA and its commuter rail operator, Keolis, to initiate the project. It is also advancing the design for all five crossings while studying the feasibility of a culvert at the town’s sixth rail crossing of the non-public way at the Needham Golf Course.
Support for the day-to-day
The board also discussed multiple aspects of town operations that are focused on day-to-day needs. This includes significant IT projects that have already been funded.
In a project expected to take up to three years, the town will be installing a new Enterprise Resource Planning Software System funded by a $2 million appropriation voted at the 2025 Annual Town Meeting.
The principal objective is to replace the town’s problematic billing, collections and accounting software with a modern, cloud-based ERP system. The town in June chose Tyler Technologies MUNIS system as the single financial system for the town.
“The financial software has huge implications for our residents,” said King of the need to replace the current technology, a glitchy system that has more than occasionally made a hash of issuing water and sewer, real estate tax and excise tax bills.
The town also will be making investments in a cybersecurity upgrade to lessen its vulnerability to ransomware and other outside attacks.
The next step in the prioritization process will be for all five Select Board members to rank their goals as either Tier 1, 2 or 3 and submit that list to King. She will then compile the results for further discussion at the board’s Sept. 8 meeting.
“I feel your pain — prioritization is really hard,” King said. “I just want to set realistic expectations because I don’t want to start from a place where I know it might result in frustration.”
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