This column appeared in the Sun Chronicle on Monday, October 7. 2019
AN INSIDE LOOK
By Bill Gouveia
If
you have ever stepped foot in what passes for the Senior Citizen Center or the
Town Hall in Norton, you probably understand both buildings are woefully
inadequate for just about any use.
The
senior center is an old one-room schoolhouse built in the 19th
century. The town hall is an old
gymnasium converted into alleged office space 40 years ago obtained via a
donation and a grant. The senior center
has no parking, and officials in the town hall don’t even have private spaces
to meet with citizens to discuss their tax bills or other private matters.
The
need to replace both is undeniable, though not cheap. Town officials have recognized this for some
time, but only recently have attempts to actually take firm action towards
building new ones become serious.
But
as serious and sincere as those efforts have been – they have been equally flawed
and ineffective.
The
last plan brought before Town Meeting was to construct both buildings on a
piece of badly contaminated land abandoned by its bankrupt owner. The planning leading up to Town Meeting was
bungled so badly that the building committee pulled support for its own article
just days before the voters overwhelmingly defeated it.
Now
another plan is being advanced, seeking to purchase a small plot of land next
to the existing town hall for an estimated $1 million, constructing a new town
hall, and simultaneously building a new senior center on town-owned land behind
it. The ultimate cost has yet to be
determined, but funds for the land purchase and design will be sought soon.
Norton
voters are not known for their willingness to spend large amounts of
money. They have never approved a
general override, and only one debt exclusion since the inception of Prop
2-1/2. But there is some support for
replacing these two totally inadequate buildings.
Except
for one big obstacle. People want their
drinking water fixed first.
It
could be said that any plans to spend large sums of money in Norton are
“underwater” right now. Significant
segments of the community suffer from really ugly, brown water. They have had it for a long time, it has not
gotten better, ruined their clothes and appliances, made them fear for their
health, and generally ticked them off.
They
don’t want to hear that a long-delayed filtration plant currently nearing
completion “should” solve the problem.
They don’t care that the water department is funded through an
enterprise account, not property tax monies.
They want clean water, and they want it now – before committing to other
major projects.
It’s
hard to blame them.
But
other needs do still have to be addressed, and it is the duty of the citizenry to
address them. And it is the duty of town
officials to present logical, common sense, reasonable solutions.
Norton
can fix its water, the senior center, the town hall, and other challenges. But town officials have to come together with
a united, logical, practical plan.
Political bickering needs to stop, and the factions dividing Norton have
to start concentrating on common goals.
The
next proposal to Town Meeting needs to be much better than the last.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime
local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com
and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
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