2023-03-07 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Transportation
2023-03-07 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Transportation
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Good. Alright. Sounds good.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to run a pricing for the at the third Essex District set up 215 feet on transportation. I'd like to officially call this meeting to order. Thank you so much for joining us in person, and those are going to be remotely for our first public hearing of this session. This hearing, as you can see, is being conducted in a hybrid format, which we will continue to do the process sessions, and accommodate all folks who across the commonwealth. Both committee members42 and members of the public can testify and watch this hearing either in person here or virtually through our website.
I'm joined here by my cochair representative William Strauss. Today is hearing We just have 1 bill. Senate bill 52. And that's financing improvements, municipal roads and bridges, filed by Governor Mark Hilli. For chapter 9, you don't provide season pounds as I take everyone here. Those with funding for investments and improvements to their transportation networks. This funding gives municipalities the flexibility to evaluate their local priorities and needs and to allocate funding accordingly. We begin accepting testimony, I just wanna go over a few guidelines and logistics. Each person will be giving me 3 minutes to provide testimony before the committee. In order to ensure that everybody is able to testify, which is to do so, please be mindful of its limit. Qiti will also be accepting written copies of testimony which can be submitted to the staff at conclusion of the scaring or, you know, later on. I'd like to recognize the senate members of the committee before I turn it over to my associate Bill Strauss. First, I'd like to recognize Joining us remotely, the Vice Chair of the Community Center, Paul Mark. We have senator John Keenan.
Senator Moran, also joining us remotely. Senator Tilities here as well and senator Robin Kennedy. With that, I'm gonna turn it over to my
SPEAKER2 - coaching. Thank you, senator. It's great to see people. Had some accurate hearings before, and I I think the the public has been informed in the room knows because 1 of the positive changes as opposed that we did in the new joint roles is that requires that all coming here is being held in this hybrid format so that whether just to watch or participate. This is now a much more open process, and the technology has moved along. Should be said, and we we could not do it without the health and the systems. We would have
SPEAKER1 - LIS,
SPEAKER2 - and and we thank them because it takes more work than people realize to to hold these hearings successfully in this way. So let me introduce the House members that are here and then at198 the memorials echoing my my colleague in regard to chapter 90. First, we have a a new vice chair this session, and we have from Jen Murray, who is here. And we welcome him to the committee and a great addition. We have participating remotely representative, branding, Google, Oakland, And otherwise, in attendance, I don't think I missed anything. We have representative Sally Karen. Yeah. Like, to my right, we have a representative of Natalie's leg further down to my right. And we have representative Capana from Lynn who's here to my right. Representative, Sabodosa,
to my right.
And the right he might not have been here. There's an in how and we also have also from my region state representative portal, Lakeville. Uh-huh. And from the south shore, we have representative who is here.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Well, president of Canada. So as the senate
REP STRAUS - We're here on just a single bill file. Governor's bill. And that is on chapter 90. The thing I wanted to indicate because Historically, it's been a bill of annual filings by the respective governors many, many years. Those in attendance, I think, are all aware of the program. In terms of its largely restriction free allocation of state money augment323 money to the325 municipalities on a formulary. The bill of today doesn't address the the main group. For the discussion for the session, the allocation formula. But the funds are allocated and they've been authorized to be distributed on a reimbursement basis to the municipalities. For the money352 that they have spent, you know, up to their allocation. And And at times, in order to take on more significant projects, municipalities, we will hold an allocation for a number of years.
So there's more for something372 of larger373 scope in374 terms of their you know, spoke transportation needs. But I did wanna point out because at times, I I noticed over the years, in in printed accounts of the chapter 90 program. Some are left with the impression that chapter 90 is to be all in end all and only way in which the Commonwealth assists our towns and cities in in their local transportation needs. Of course, that's not true. But it's worth pointing out. And so just briefly, and I'm not sure that I I got everything I did look back and we, in our last 2 chapter 90 bills, added over and above just the basic chapter 90 line item. 300000000 dollars worth of share in targeted programs.428 There's a small bridge program, 8 streets, municipal bus enhancement grants,434 municipal mass transit enhancement grants, bottleneck, program, supportive infrastructure, EV infrastructure and purchases, and something that we worked very hard on last year last session.
The work on municipally owned state number457 of rows. I don't wanna get too wacky here. But the point is that focusing exclusively on what the single chapter 90 money is ignores the assistance in many ways that that the state has provided to municipalities. And there's an important aspect to these Many of the municipalities are not that the chapter 90 money isn't helpful or significant, but it might be too small to take on a significant project. And so chapter 90 alone doesn't deal with that particular bridge, overpass, ramp, whatever it is. That a municipality identifies. And through these direct programs, a municipality based on the quality of the presentation, the application to Mastot may end up with a larger grant many times over what chapter 90 wide. So again, we'll focus, of course, on the governor's proposal of 200 in each of 2 in the next 2 fiscal years. But I hope people keep in mind that chapter 90 is not the only assistance that we provide. So with that said in more words than I should have provided, I'll turn it back to my coach here. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. To your spouse. So with that, we'll get the hearing center. We'll be taking legislative out of term, but we will start with the head administration. We're joined here now by highway administrator. Gulliver, as well as the assistant secretary of human powers. Welcome you to Best Buy. Thank you for taking the time. It's coming here
SPEAKER6 - today. Right.
JONATHAN GULLIVER - MASSDOT - HB 52 - Thank you, Chairman Crighton and thank you Chairman Straus. And also members of the joint community for the opportunity to speak here today. Again, so good to see so many in person as well as to be joined by so many of our municipalities both on the virtual meeting and here in person. As you said, chairman, this is one bill, but it's one very important bill, which is, I think, demonstrated by the attendance that we have here today. My name is Jonathan Gulliver, and I'm MassDOT's highway administrator and as you said chairman I'm joined here by Kaitlyn Connors who is the assistant secretary of Capital for A&F. On behalf of the MassDOT Secretary and CEO, Gina Fiandaca, and the Healey-Driscoll Administration I'm here to testify in support of House 52, an act financing improvements for municipal roads and bridges.
House 52 strengthens our ongoing commitment to address critical local bridge and roadway needs. This legislation proposes funding the Chapter 90 program at 400 million spanning state fiscal years 2024623 and state fiscal year 2025. As we all know and as we have been discussing the Chapter 90 program is a critical funding source we want to fund by municipalities to fund their roadways and maintenance needs. This two year approach that is new to Chapter 90 this year and proposed by the governor is a result of many conversations with cities and towns across the Commonwealth who have very clearly communicated that a two year approach that gives them more certainty in the program and more flexibility, which enables them to develop longer term roadway maintenance programs.
This proposed 400 million allocation helps keep us at historical levels of this program while balancing the state's many other transportation needs. Something that Chairman Straus was just alluding to, we we also continue to supplement Chapter 90 money heavily with direct investments through our targeted grant programs, which include complete streets, shared streets, the local bottleneck program, the municipal pavement program, and the small bridge program among others.690 We are grateful to the legislature's support of these programs which have been an incredibly useful tool for communities who could often combine these funds from these grant programs with Chapter 90 so that they can replace or improve bridges, roadways, or other infrastructure within their communities.
Due to the seasonality of roadway construction, it is crucial that this legislation is passed properly so that our communities may begin to plan and implement the investments for this coming year. This is a sentiment that I'm sure is shared by both727 industry in the room728 as well as municipalities here as well. As the administrator of the Chapter 90 program MassDOT sees the on the ground changes that this important program provides from new roadway improvements, to sidewalks, to bike lanes and like paths. Municipalities are taking advantage of this dynamic funding sources the chair said is very flexible and allows them to respond to the unique needs of the residents of their community. MassDOT is also well aware that some communities struggle with how and when to best spend their Chapter 90 funds. And some of them do allow the apportionments to stock up over time.
However, this is something that we have worked very closely with municipalities on. And to help resolve this, we've put a lot of effort into releasing new Chapter 90 resources including online tools and guides for our cities and towns over the last few years. We additionally continue to provide technical expertise from our district offices where MassDOT engineers work directly with communities on their transportation issues providing them technical assistance and helping them develop strategies for using their Chapter 90 funds and direct funding opportunities. The resources we provide to help communities better plan projects and budget for Chapter 90 funds, I'm sorry.
These resources we provide help communities better fund projects and budget for Chapter 90 funds. And this 2 year allotment that is proposed this time, along with these tools, help communities plan for larger and more impactful projects that span in fiscal years. The proposed $400 million, two year apportionment approach of the Chapter 90 funding solidifies the Commonwealth's dedication to supporting municipalities and their efforts to advance transportation priorities. I want to thank you for scheduling this bill here in so quickly, and we urge the committee to report the bill out carefully as soon as possible. I'm happy to answer any questions from the committee as well, but I do want to allow Kaitlyn again to say a few words. Thank you.
KAITLYN CONNORS - ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE - HB 52 - Thank you Jonathan. Good afternoon, Chair Crighton, Chair Straus, members of the Joint Committee. It's a pleasure to be here with you this afternoon and I appreciate your time. As mentioned, I'm Kaitlyn Connors, I'm Assistant Secretary for Capital at A&F. And on behalf of A&F Secretary Gorzkowicz, I'm here to testify in support of House 52. As my colleague at MassDOT indicated and I'm sure as you all are very much aware of, Chapter 90 provides cities and towns critical support needed to improve their roadways, and877 invest in their transportation networks. These grants reach each of our 351 cities and towns directly and884 continue the strong tradition of partnership between the Commonwealth and local communities.
Specifically, the bill authorizes the Commonwealth to borrow up to 400 million in general obligation bonds over the next two years to fund Chapter 90 grants . The Chapter 90 program is part of the Commonwealth's five year capital investment plan904 or CIP which is largely funded with GO bonds. These bonds are issued at various times throughout the year on an as needed basis to support actual CIP capital project spending. And as you know, authorization must be secured before we can issue these bonds. As mentioned earlier, the annual CIP budget for chapter 90 is 200 million. Therefore, this bill would provide authorization needed to cover the current budget for the next two years. A two year authorization provides cities and towns flexibility needed to ensure critical state of good repair investments in transportation systems continue seamlessly and that local municipalities have the ability to plan for larger and more impactful transportation projects that span fiscal years. Prompt passage of this legislation will allow cities and towns to address essential maintenance needs and support the delivery of core transportation investments. Accordingly, I urge you to enact this legislation swiftly. Again, thank you for961 your time, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Susan Secretary and Mr. Galver. Any questions from members of the committee?
STRAUS - Thank you senator. My question is more A&F directed. Just so we are clear, what the bill proposes is a authorization for borrowing up to 400 million over the course of the two years. And in terms of the actual borrowing that occurs because I noticed you said from time to time or as needed, are there borrowing instruments that are sent to market, I guess, that include programs beyond Chapter 90? So you might go out and borrow a billion and then putting that together, are you saying that, you know, 100 might be Chapter 90 200 million more something else and, you know, until it? That's what happens?
CONNORS - That's exactly right chairman, yeah. Throughout the course of the year we issue bonds to pay for capital spending. And that spending is dictated on what's in the capital plan, essentially the budget for capital and Chapter 90 is a line item in that plan.
STRAUS - Okay. Although in the case of Chapter 90 it's not really a plan we're telling you. Could a governor say despite our authorization, I'm just not spending it?
CONNORS - In theory, but I don't, you know, it's budgeted. And so the plan is just, you know, to spend it.
STRAUS - Okay, I understand. Here's my question, which maybe I'm asking you because I don't think you'll be able to answer this. In my opening remarks, I talked about which is a hot topic among legislators the funding formula for the way in which Chapter 90 is distributed. And it you know, comes down through the1084 ages with a mix of employment, population, and road mileage. And somewhat akin to Chapter 70 on school aid, I've never met a municipal official who feels the allocation formula is fair to them. It's always fair to somebody else, but not them. But my serious question is, if and there is much1110 interest in the Legislature, if1114 we1114 do change the formula sometime during this session, the Fiscal 24 money that would be part of the bill as filed by the governor would already be out the door. So there might be at least in this case,1134 if we do a correction, call it that, of Chapter 90 allocations we1140 might find ourselves in trouble could1142 we1142 not FY 25 because we've already spent maybe in different ways so that a municipality got more than we thought they would later on and you might be actually forced to cut them back in order to balance out the two years. Is that a risk in the governor's bill?
CONNORS - I'm gonna1166 defer it to my1167 colleague.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I And I previewed. I asked you because I knew you couldn't answer it.
SPEAKER9 - Yeah. He's really the expert on the formula.
GULLIVER - So I will say on on the formula this topic of adjusting the numbers comes up with some frequency. And we obviously stand ready to work with Legislature on providing whatever technical assistance we can in those discussions. You1195 know, we have a lot of people that think about this stuff day in and day out and have put together a lot of really good1205 information and data1206 points on the way the formula works and how1209 it's distributed. And how things1211 would would change depending on what kind of tweaks the Legislature may or may not want to make. And we're happy at1220 any time to to sit down either in1222 a a small focus group one on one or a larger group, or however the Legislature would prefer. But we're always ready and able to have those discussions.
As far as your your larger question goes, if there was a need for a midpoint correction, and we've already committed those funds, I generally, in our world, those are done by a contract so there's there's actually an obligation previously made. And I think that is something that we would have to work with our friends at A&F1253 on to see, you know,1254 how would you address that. Would there be a supplemental budget distribution or something along those lines. I think that would be something we would have to work on. I don't know whether either of us are going to have a good answer for you on that today.
STRAUS - Okay. And my purpose was really just to identify and and make that issue known out there that it's not as simple as 400 million over two years and, you know, and we're on autopilot. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Understood. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, son.
SPEAKER5 - Any other questions of the committee, senator Keenan?
SEN KEENAN - Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps just an observation more so than a question. First off, I'm thrilled to see that it's a $400 million two year allocations. That's been my preference for many years. I've expressed it year after year. So I'm thrilled to see that's the proposal now coming from the governor's office. Just a quick observation on that as I look at the language of the bill, the language of the bill, essentially the same as the language that had been passed by the legislature. And the only change seems to be $400 million. And so it's unclear in that that is in fact a two year allocation. I don't know if there's been any thought of looking at the language to make sure that it's explicitly clear that it is for two years. The prior bills that we passed that have been enacted don't reference two years or a single year because the understanding is that it's $200 million per year.
So I think as we move forward, if it's a sense of the body that we may look at a multi year allocation at $1 million that the language be looked at. In that respect in past efforts to have it be a multiyear allocation language that I looked at is just adding on to the end in Section 2 provided further that the funds shall be used to support a 200 million annual portion of the program. So if it's $200 million annual portion of the program and the amount the line item amount is 400 million then that suggests its a two year program. So I'm thrilled to see it at two years. I'd like to see more money quite frankly, than the 400 million, and I know that's a discussion that we had every a recession.
By the way, thank you for introducing it this way, and my hope is that that's how advance through the process to, language to make sure that it's abundantly clear. With the goal being to give municipalities not only additional funding, but the flexibility that they need. And it's particularly important I believe, small communities where the cost of one project may exceed the allocation. So having that ability to plan knowing that there is additional funding. And then to the Chair's comments, I think he's right on that if there's a change in the formula, we want to make sure that the funds are there sufficient. And I think by adding the $200 million annual portion that can address that issue as well. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
This is true. Let me just
SPEAKER2 - Yeah. Of course. Just before we and the colleague gets recognized, I do want to indicate that a new member of the committee representative cruise has now joined us virtually online and has had a staff member in attendance throughout. So the representative is is well covered by this.
SPEAKER5 - Thank you, senator.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. That's right.
REP HOWITT - Mr. Gulliver I'm just curious of your thoughts on Chapter 90 money being used by local DPWs to help purchase equipment that they need. As you are aware usually, there's a hierarchy of funds that go on a local basis with the school department, police, fire, municipal, and then is a little bit leftover for DPW and some of the other committees. So in the past, many DPWs have spoken to major directors with regard to being able to purchase certain things with this money. So I just wanted to get some sort of a thought how do you see this? Or do you think there should be funding for equipment so it would not be taken out of chapter 90?
GULLIVER - Sure. So we again, we have a lot of policies in place about how Chapter 90 money gets spent and on what it can be spent for. And if you're hearing a comment on1521 specific1521 need, I'd love to talk to you afterward to see if we need to do a policy adjustment, we're always happy to look at that again. Something that we and just by way of example, something that we changed in past years. We have been hearing more and more from municipalities that they're having a hard time keeping up with sidewalks, some of them, for example, not this year, fortunately.
But in prior years, sidewalks, have been a problem. So we we actually opened up one of our shared streets programs actually allowed us to purchase that that direct equipment. But certainly we want to see that DPWs have the tools that they need to get the job done. And again, we do have some restrictions on which types of equipment they do, but they as we tell all of our communities if they have a specific need or a specific ask for one we what we do want to know but for1571 two each one of our districts has a local aid engineer. They should talk to them directly, and we generally, again, the application of the Chapter 90 policy has a lot of flexibility, and we can usually find a way to get a DPW what they're looking for.
HOWITT - Well, more specifically DPW directors are actually having hard times as most businesses are getting employees and drivers. And part of the problem, and I was speaking was at the, or, some of these initials. They can't get drivers because the way this new CDL laws are in effect and the state police is down on their personnel. Many of these trucks over 26000 that you're allowed to buy with Chapter 90 money they can't get drivers to drive them. Or in the wintertime when they need additional files, file drivers they can't put them on their trucks because they don't have CDLs. So, you know, I would like to see the minimum down to 14 or 16 GVWs So that way they drive the smaller trucks and they don't need CDL drivers in those trucks, another usage.
GULLIVER - Thank you that's helpful. And we also experienced the problem with CDLs. That's an industry wide issue for not just municipalities1657 but for us in industry as well. So I think that's great feedback.
HOWITT - And F550, for example which is maybe 16000 GVW, doesn't require a CDL driver, and they could buy two or three of them for the price of one visor truck. And they can get full service throughout the season versus parking those trucks and rotting away during those summer months.
GULLIVER - Understood. Let me let me talk to our team and see if there's some adjustments we need to make on that SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you, mister
SPEAKER11 - Shirk. Thank you. Any other questions, members of the meeting? Thank you, mister Kevin.
REP MURRAY - Thank you for your testimony. But I have a question, can you just walk me through the cross fiscal year project as it may confront the municipality? So Presumably, the municipality is going to have a set number on their Chapter 90 for roadways for this fiscal year and next fiscal year. So they have a project that they've identified that's going to exceed their allocation for one fiscal year and they want to go into the second fiscal year. Will they have to phase that actually over fiscal years or would they be able to do it within one fiscal year but encumbering and utilizing funds from the next fiscal year?
GULLIVER - So our program is large enough and flexible enough that we would look to them and work with them to put out the the project that's going to be most competitive. In some cases, they may wish to phase it to try to reduce the impact on the community. I think in most cases they would look at it as a single phase contract. And I'll just give you an example. let's say we're doing a roadway project that may be expanding to bike lanes and sidewalks for example. And let's say, again, hypothetically, let's say a town gets $1 million each year, and this project is going to be $1.2 million. We would want them to put it out in the most cost effective way possible. And if that's a single phase project, the Chapter 90 program is big enough and flexible enough that we could give them that money upfront so that they can comfortably bid that out.
MURRAY - Okay, so it would be possible then to achieve that, say, $500,000 from FY 2025 money to be used in FY 2024 to get the project done all of in one time period?
GULLIVER - If needed, yes. Something1800 that we have also done is provided them a lot of budgeting tools. So we want them to plan out their spending of money. And again, they may choose to phase it for other reasons. But ultimately, we want them to to spend their money wisely and we give them a lot of tools to enable them to do that.
MURRAY - And then of course in that scenario you mentioned, obviously, their FY 2025 allocation is going to be less what was spent on the particular project in FY 24?
GULLIVER - Exactly. That's what I'm getting at is we want to make sure if they are putting out the a a larger size1833 project that exceeds their annual amount that they're budgeting adequately so that they can handle whatever they have coming the next year as well. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER12 - Thank you. Any
SPEAKER1 - other questions for members of the committee? Anyone remotely
Thank you so much for your testimony. Look forward to working with the call to you as well as the Interesting administration. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Yeah. Definitely.
SPEAKER7 - Next, I'd
SPEAKER1 - like to to welcome state representative Michelle Sapoulo. Interesting.
REP CICCOLO - HB 52 - HB 3084 - Thank you, Chairman Crighton, Chairman Straus, the members of the Joint Committee. It's terrific1881 to be here in person. And I'm so thrilled that this hearing is coming up early in the session. I want to thank the administration for putting forth a great bill and really just offer my appreciation that it's terrific, that it's a two year appropriation this time around. Folks know that I used to sit on the MMA board as well as on their transportation1901 sub committee for many years, and we dealt with Chapter 90 quite a bit. And I know that was one of the prime objectives was to get a multi year chapter 90 bill just for the reasons that the administrator just described. Chapter 90 is an incredibly important program to our cities and towns. I think you'll hear later from many municipalities that it's not enough money at 200 million a year. That has been essentially flat since I think it's FY12. Over 11 years, I think that the funding has been essentially flat while inflation and the cost of paving roads as gone up over 65%.
So we need to put more money in the system, but we also need to deal with the formula that Chairman Straus so eloquently pointed out and folks know it also that I'm keenly interested in how we might amend the formula. So one of the things I want to for in addition to having you vote this out early and and favorably to consider taking on some of the bills that have been filed by myself and others relative to the formula. This session I filed HD 3084, co filed with Rep Pignatelli to ask for a commission to look at the formula for Chapter 90. It's a nine person commission chaired by the secretary of transportation and is very well represented by rural communities, urban communities, suburban, gateway cities. It's got a nice balance to really try to find a way that we can make the formula more equitable.
One of the things people may not be aware of in the formula is that it doesn't take into consideration sidewalks that municipalities have to take care of, nor does it take into consideration unpaid roads that rural communities have to maintain anyway. They have to drag the roads and keep them up to speed but they don't get reimbursement in their formula funds for those roads. So even just what we count in the inventory matters. It also matters because of equity, wealthy communities frequently appropriate additional roadway funds but poorer communities don't have the luxury doing that because their budgets are more constrained, so there are some serious equity issues. There's also just the concern about the sufficiency of how much we spend.
More communities are starting to have roadway maintenance inventories, asset management systems, but the poor communities don't tend to have asset management systems. But we know that in order to maintain our roads at a state of good repair, a mere B plus, not2045 an A, we'd probably need something closer to 600 million or 700 million a year to actually accomplish that goal So while it's true that we have there2053 are a number of funds that were mentioned by both the administrator and Chairman Straus that we as a state, have been appropriating funds into,2059 and those are terrific programs and very helpful full. One of the reasons why I do appreciate the Chapter 90 program is because it's such efficiently spent money unlike tip projects construction projects that2070 have very high design costs. Most of the Chapter 90 money is appropriated and used with limited design dollars. So the soft costs don't have to be very high because you're just overlaying in some cases, you're painting, you're so you don't have significant engineering costs.
So per mile, it's a very efficient way to do road maintenance. And people know that roads are like roofs if you don't invest in them, they rot and decay underneath, and it costs far more money down the road to reconstruct a full road. So that's why putting more money into roadway maintenance is so critically important. The final thing I'll say is that it used to be the case that we didn't bond for this money. And I think, someday, given that we have the fair share money, we might want to get back into not bonding or if we're going to increase the amount of money in the Chapter 90 program we need to think about that. Because paint and overlay and crack sealant are things that only last a year or two, a couple of years, and we're bonding 20 years for improvements really that are not going to be in place for long periods of time.
That's not the case of all the Chapter 90 money. And in fact, you know, some of the Chapter 90 money is used for more complex projects where you do have engineering costs and you do have 20 year lifetime of the road, but a lot of the maintenance costs are not really in place for 20 years. So that's another consideration that this committee might want to think about. So I appreciate the opportunity to testify. I hope that you move this forward favorably and quickly. And I look forward to2151 coming back to talk more about my Chapter 90 form of the bill at a later date. Thanks for letting me testify. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, representative. Any questions for members of the2160 committee? Well, you're off easy. Yeah. Thank you, though.
Next, unless there are2166 any legislators in the audience that wish to testify, seeing done next on our side and sheet. We have a number of folks from the MMA. David, I don't know if is this look at a a panel of sorts or or maybe issues? We'll just
SPEAKER10 - see. 1 at a time, if you guys can see it's your mind too.
SPEAKER1 - Beautiful.
SPEAKER10 - I'll just kick it off. Yeah. Bless you. Bless
SPEAKER1 - you.
SPEAKER10 - Alright.
DAVE KOFFMAN - MASS MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION - Well, it's really tough to follow both Rep Ciccolo and certainly the the administrator and really important items that they really emphasize for us. But first, Chair Crighton, Chair Straus, members of the committee thank you all so much for for having this hearing today. And I'm really privileged to be here. I'm Dave Koffman. I'm the legislative director at the Massachusetts Municipal Association. And, first, again, I want to thank the Healey administration for filing this bill, making it one of2226 the first bills that they did file at the beginning of their entire career here as governor of the Commonwealth.2233 It shows the really importance of this bill,2236 and it shows how dedicated her and2239 her team are to getting this in support of cities2242 and towns all across Massachusetts. And, of course, I want to thank again the legislature for swiftly dispensing this to the Transportation Committee as well as making sure that this was was really one of the first hearings of of the legislative cycle this year.
Again, we know how much you really see this, how important this issue is to all of you, and again, the dedicated support that you've provided2265 to cities and towns through a lot of transportation investments. You know, in particular, we know the Chapter 90 program. We know it's the essential funding source for cities and towns when it comes local road maintenance and support. But again, I do also want to make sure I show appreciation as Chair Straus and others had mentioned of a lot of the investments, even very, very recently, just last year of $400 million in the winter recovery assistance program. And $150 million also authorized just last year as part of the Chapter 90 authorization for various support for municipal roadway needs, including on small bridges, shared streets, complete streets and others. We know Again, it takes a lot of different resources and a lot of different programmatic support that all really makes a difference in the commonwealth.
But again, we are grateful for those investments however, it's no substitute for continuing to increase this funding Chapter 90. We see it as an important and conversation as you all are thinking about the investments that you all really have a full delivery process to figure out how to best to limited resources in the state to support cities and towns and, of course residents all across Massachusetts. This is particularly important this year and where we've come with this area of inflationary pressures hitting everything. Every single2346 thing we know in Massachusetts.2347 But in particular there's a significant funding2350 gap for our cities and towns in terms of Chapter 90. Right now, a recent survey that the MMA did from our municipal leaders, 715 million for just this fiscal year coming up is the needs to get all of our local roads and bridges into a state of good repair. We know that's again that's not all on the state to help fill that gap, but we know from the importance of Chapter 90, increasing Chapter 90 is going to be a big part of that.
Again, we'd like to thank the Healey Administration for including a two2381 year authorization. We've always advocated for that for the exact reasons like many have just mentioned for stability as well to make sure that this program, really the folks on the ground, the practitioners can can really plan best for what suits the local needs, really the core interest of this program. But again, fiscal 12, as Rep Ciccolo had mentioned, is when this was most recently increased to the stable level it's been since fiscal 12. In that time, of course it's been drastically worsened recently but since that time in fiscal 12 the construction and maintenance inflation this is from US Department of Transportation it's increased by that 65.7%. So $200 million today from when it was first increased up to $200 million is now just 68.6 million in today's dollars.
Again, I'm sure some of that's not a surprise. We know it's not unique to local government nor unique to transportation funding, but it's an important part of this consideration as we think about trying to increase this to a more adequate level for cities and towns. That's why we feel this request is reasonable to account for, in this particular case, 131.4 million in that lost purchasing power. Of course, we're so thankful of the administration for filing this bill, but we the MMA are going to be requesting to increase this to at least 330 million per year, again, for the two years proposed by Governor Healey, otherwise cities and towns will continue to fall further behind each year.
2474 And2474 behind me, I'm joined by some of our, both virtually as well. Our fantastic municipal officials. They'll add a little bit more flavor and localize the really tough decisions and and tough really positions they're2488 in right now, especially when it comes to this important funding source. I'll let them just jump in right after me. But I'm happy to answer any questions now or if we want to wait till later. But either way, I just want to say thank you. I know this is a top priority. This is why we're here today. It's great to be back in person, and we really look forward to working with all of you in the Legislature towards getting this done and and and moving it forward swiftly. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thanks, Steve. I think in the interest of time and efficiency, we
SPEAKER1 - may hold questions still after the
SPEAKER10 - -- Sure. Yes. -- channel. I'm happy
SPEAKER1 - to legislative to ask you. Right? Any particular
SPEAKER10 - perfect presentation. Yeah. That's great.
SPEAKER1 - So I I could I could beat off and listen over here. I don't know if there's
SPEAKER10 - Yeah. I'll I'll just I think we'll who we have here today. We'll go Meredith Steven Natalia from Pittsburgh. Meredith is we have Meredith Paul Broder here as
SPEAKER14 - well somewhere. Not
SPEAKER10 - yet. But then Mary Nicole Schappel from me, Sampton, town manager, Sean Saasse, and Apple. David Knowlton, who's our city engineer in Salem. Again, real practitioner in this, and then we know Brianna Lungo Kern is here from Medford as well, and I believe you haven't do this from the n scale too. So we've got plenty. So, yes, for the sake of time, I'll stop.
STEPHEN DINATALE - MAYOR OF FITCHBURG - Thank you, David. Thank you Chairs Crighton and Straus. It's good to be here on the hill once again seeing some of my old friends Senator Timilty Division 1, hunting those halls several years ago. Certainly Chairman Straus as well, and my good friend, Steve Howard. Thank you, and it's great seeing you all today. What I'm gonna report on today is not unique to Fitchburg. It's certainly a situation that exists in many of2589 the commonwealth cities and towers. And thank you to the members of the Joint Committee the opportunity to inform you of the ever increasing importance of adding much needed revenue to our infrastructure needs. The great majority of cities and towns like Fitchburg, this annual program is the primary funding mechanism by which roads are paved, bridges repaired, so on and so forth.
I'm in a city with 180 miles of road and 47 bridges not counting multiple dams and a lot of water. However, since 2010 the state legislature is consistently level funded this program save for one year. That means for the last 11 out of 12 Fiscal years, there has been no increase whatsoever in this program. Testified it before the legislature's transportation committee emphasizing the need for this program to not only be increased, but to be increased at levels. Advocated by my colleague here Mr. Koffman of Mass Municipal Association, MMA currently estimates that the road paving needs of all cities and towns in Massachusetts, it's between $600 million $700 million annually. The state2666 has historically funded the program at 200 million.
Cost of construction materials, equipment and labor continue to increase year after year, we know what inflation means, resulting in less and less paving being completed. In FY 23 Chapter 90 apportionment decreased 1.26% but the average price of installing one ton of asphalt has increased by $6.90. Projects are not bid and constructed in the same fiscal year. For example, you bid your project in FY 22, but constructed it in FY 23 based2703 upon the average posted price for FY 23,2706 you are you are paying $17.95 per ton more just for the asphalt. All construction costs have increased. In this same period of time, Chapter 90 funding has decreased 1.45%. Fitchburg's annual allotment from this program is what roughly 1.1 million. This, depending on the street, would allow the city to pave 1 mile of road at 3 inch crane2738 and no sidewalk2739 improvements. Doesn't go far, does it folks?
Fitchburg has over 180 miles road as I reported and along with over 40 miles of private roadways. This is the principal reason our road paving deficit falls further and further behind. And I want to thank you. I'm closing here. I want2760 to thank you once again for the opportunity to inform the joint committee on2765 the ever growing challenges that municipalities are faced with and the importance of increasing dedicated revenue to address our burgeoning road condition needs. And again, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the opportunity to share my thoughts and my concerns in a city of 41 plus thousand people. Thank you so much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank
SPEAKER8 - you very much. Thank you
SPEAKER1 - very much. We appreciate your testimony. We've just entered the room birthday calling up mere Paul Roder next from Melrose.
SPEAKER5 - Good to see you. Nice to meet you here.
SPEAKER7 - Like
SPEAKER4 - it better on that side. Yeah.
SPEAKER2 - It is good just to tell them, you know.
SPEAKER4 - It's just a slide.
PAUL BRODEUR - MAYOR OF MELROSE - The only place I would rather be is in the city council chamber of Melrose, fighting for my residence. And that is what brings me here today. You know, Steve already told you the story along the current, and2824 some town managers are going to be up, but we're all essentially going to tell you the same thing. So I don't want to belabor the Melrose statistics of the to tell you, Melrose has got about 81 miles of roads that we take care of. So whatever Steve told you, the same thing scaled down a little bit. For us it's the same story. You know about the inflation in the industry, you know that I think that started about maybe a dozen years ago, $200 million so that, you know, we need more to do more. We need more to do status quo.
One thing that we haven't talked about2860 a bit. We focused2861 so much on roads is the kind of the broader implications of this money. I would ask you to think about this to a certain degree as climate money and as economic development money. Because as roads, and in particular, in a place like Melrose, as our ability to maintain and improve our sidewalks we sometimes leave those behind. But that is what matters for our seniors, for parents with2888 carriages, but also to try to create a walkable city. Melrose is only a little shy of 5 square miles, a lot of it is green space. So where we have people it's fairly dense compared to a lot of other communities. What makes that work is our ability to get around in terms of multimodal transportation.
And that definitely means road, but it means the investments in Complete Streets, which I know is a little bit different than Chapter 90 and some of the other more dedicated or maybe competitive programs that you all do. It all goes into the mix and it allows us, particularly, you know, in Greater Boston, to create those opportunities. To create that economic development separate and apart from the MassWorks grant, which we all love and we all want to see keep happening. But we have metro mayors, I think, asking for 300 million and Mass Municipal asking for 330 or perhaps it's reversed, but it really it's about the sustainability and the ability to meet our inflation needs. So with that, I know we have a couple of my colleagues are coming up.2963 Certainly happy to hang out and answer any questions you may have. Appreciate your2967 time. Good to see you all again. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, mister mayor. Appreciate your testimony, and welcome back to a golden dome. With that, I'd like to welcome up May or Nicole Lachella from New Santa.
NICOLE LACHAPELLE - MAYOR OF EASTHAMPTON - HB 52 - Good afternoon. Thank you Chairs Crighton and Strauss for the opportunity to speak today as well as the members of the Joint Committee. I am like my2993 fellow mayors, city managers, DPW, managers are speaking on House 52 an act financing improvements to municipal road and bridges. I am the mayor of Easthampton and Hampshire County. With surety, I can switch the names of my city and my county and I am positive that the content of my testimony will remain the same if you ask any one of my colleagues today who are testifying. As a mayor, I have a unique relationship to potholes and bridges with coals looking down at Manhan River. Candidly, our public fates, potholes and mayors' public fates are tied together. This is a fate well known by all the mayors across the Commonwealth.
With gratitude to Governor Healey for a two year bond authorization bill, we are here to ask legislature to amplify the impacts of H 52. Our ask is two parts. One, increasing the bond authorization to at least $330 million annually. And two, to index that growth in our need on the 330 million to match or stay up with inflation. In Easthampton are Chapter 90 dollars are used for the projects presenting the greatest threat to public safety in between bigger infrastructure grants. This approach is very similar to a dog chasing their tail. We fill potholes, paint crosswalks, only to have to do it once again because of climate change, the price of materials, and just daily use. With temperatures vacillating between 20 degrees and 50 degrees in the same week, if not the same day, road patches just simply don't stick.
We go back to the biggest potholes over and over again. Our DPW cannot keep up. And we spray orange paint around the edges of potholes to warn drivers cyclist and pedestrians. With increased Chapter 90 funding tied to inflation, our hard scrabble efforts become a road and bridge maintenance plan that can consider climate resistant materials and the safest street treatments that are coming out monthly. Cities and towns can also work together in buying materials. Potholes do not stop at Easthampton's boundaries. The safety of Northampton and Holyoke roads are connected to our safety and tourism as well as businesses because you have to go through those cities to get to us. In closing, thank you for the time to testify and hearing all the conundrums facing all Massachusetts mayors. H 52 with increased funding to at least the 330 plus tying it to inflation gives mayors from Pittsfield to New Bedford, a chance to efficiently forecast and plan road and bridge work. Most importantly, our ask today studies public safety and the quality of life. Thank you again. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank
SPEAKER1 - you, Mary Lasch Powell. We'll shoot you a testimony. Next, I'd like to welcome the town manager of Apple, Sean Sehaski. Sorry. I just pronounced
SPEAKER16 - that. That's alright. Thank
SPEAKER1 - you.
SHAUN SUHOSKI - ATHOL TOWN MANAGER - Thank you Chairman Crighton, Chairman Straus, members of the committee. And when I say thank you, I really mean it. Like, thank you for hearing from us directly and I view us all, we're actually partners in this, right? You're all elected officials. So you're traveling from your districts out here. You know all the conditions of the roads in your community. Some of you perhaps were local officials even before you3224 came into the House and the Senate. My role here I'll support everything that the mayors have said because that's the facts on the ground. But speaking from a smaller town perspective, we're a community of about 12000 people. You drive out on Route 2, you wave to Mayor DiNatale in Fitchburg. Then you drive another 25 miles and then Route 2 kind of meanders down to a one lane road after Phillipson. And then you kind of trickle down into the North Quabbin region and Athol is the hub of this small town region.
And so in my role as town manager and in a role I also hold as chairing the small town administrators of Massachusetts I hear from a lot of my colleagues in rural Massachusetts. And when I heard Rep Ciccolo, I don't know if she's still here, but talking about the formula, Chairman Strauss, you mentioned that3279 it's, you're right it's not fair, right. It could be fair. I don't. It's it's your perspective on that, but that's interesting to hear that there's another bill pending And I'm going to share with you one example. You might also talk about funds using them in one fiscal year, can you carry them over? Well, a bridge in rural Massachusetts, I'll use a real example, Pinedale Avenue. It crosses from Athol into our neighboring town of Orange. It's jointly owned. It's a $2 million replacement for that bridge. It's 2 million, if you're in a town of 12000, it's 2 million if you're in Gartner with 21000 people. And it still is a vital piece of infrastructure for access, especially in a remote area of the Commonwealth as we are in the North Quabbin region.
So what happens with that 2 million? Well, the good news3335 is we're splitting the cost, Athol pays half, Orange pays half in this case. Orange is a a town of say 7000 folks They get about $400,000 a year in Chapter 90. I spoke with their highway superintendent yesterday before knowing I was going to testify. They have to allocate two and a half years of funding. It's not a wealthy community for this one project. And then I didn't know, and I was informed, oh, the East Road bridge in Orange was right before that. And it did get help from one of your programs the legislature and the administration supports the small bridge program. But they still have to come up with another half million above that. So essentially, they've had four years of Chapter 90 funds locked down so they can do two bridges that were long overdue for replacement.
So that's a reason why we support multi year approach. And if you look at 200 million, which is now 68 million in net dollars today, it's clear that we need to do a better job in this partnership. And I would definitely support an increase in the funding. I consider the Roadway Network, it interconnects all of us. I actually was in Fitchburg this morning for a meeting So I drove on Mayor DiNatale's, Street and Main Street and it's the commonwealth. The road network is all of us, all of you. And I stand in support, testify in support of the allocation, the two year program, multi year, and increasing the funding. And I thank you again for letting me speak today. Thanks. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - Not so bad, man. Oh. See, we're listening and that
SPEAKER16 - Unless you're bad. Emails.
SPEAKER1 - Right?
STRAUS - Just in this conversation, and this will be open ended for you to give me your thoughts and committee member your thought committee members your thoughts. In a certain sense, what came across from your presentation with the example of the bridge says to me exactly why Chapter 90 is not your bridge program or any other municipality's. It's not your major project program, and we shouldn't pretend that it can become that. And the analogy of just because no question you'd be familiar with this. We do school funding for call it operations, but sometimes more than that, through Chapter 70. But when they have a major capital, goal, like a new school we have an entirely separate program, SBA.
And obviously it has3504 its own great funding source, which we provided 15 years ago where we dedicated streams of money and got rid of the backlog, but focus on the bridge. No municipality, in my view, should be in a position where it's taking four years of its Chapter 90 allocation for which there are the regular day to day demands to fund a bridge repair. So that is why imperfect it may be because of the dollar amounts, but that is why you have seen the Legislature move to more project specific grant grant programs as a build upon for Chapter 90. Not that we've been flat and we haven't. I mean, you could say, yeah, Chapter 90 is 200 million and notice,3559 but on said so far, year to year, we sometimes add an extra 100 million that isn't broadcast3565 as Chapter 90, but it really is.
What we've done is add hundreds of millions of dollars to these capital projects so that at least for me representing four pretty small towns as3584 well as a little piece of a big city. So what we've done is we've said, look, when you've got that capital project, you can come to the state even though it's not state roads and get it done without sacrificing what you anticipate is your year to year demands for the Chapter 90 program. Spend as you largely see fit apart from the equipment issues that Rep Howard talked about that I'm always getting a little confused there. But so that's my goal is not to just add money, add money, add money to Chapter 90 and hope 300 plus different collections of municipal officials identify it as well as you do. But to say, Do your local maintenance in Chapter 90.
We know it's not adequate for your big3644 project. And we have this other project that you work on in cooperation with MassDOT, whether it's bridges or bottlenecks or, you know, complete streets, whatever. And that's where we'll focus the attention on getting these significant problems in transportation flow concluded. Because no doubt may be the case because I, you know, I know that little stretch where Route 2 is humming along fine and then if you think you're doing great, you're going to get there, you know, in a flash. And then it disappears. I know exactly the route you're talking about. Isn't that a better way to enhance not Chapter 90, but these other programs? So I put you in a difficult spot I understand, but happy to get your reactions.
SUHOSKI - Thank you. No, it's not a not a difficult spot. What I would offer is the example I gave, in my community we had the ability, and we went to the taxpayers through debt exclusion. We had the ability to do that they funded it. The neighboring community, geez I hesitate to speak about our neighbors. But they're looking at it, their highway superintendent, their board of selectmen they're picking the top priority. If they feel they need that bridge for the public safety response or otherwise, that's the pot of money they got to go to. And I think well, maybe there's a public works director that coming up or city engineer. And the program works. People do, aside from the formula, right, you'll never have the perfect formula. I agree with you on that.
The program works, the the public works folks know how to utilize it. The local leaders, the mayors and boards of select and town managers, we understand it. It is the bread and butter. So I do think we need to increase the funding. I hear what you're saying, and there is more funding of late. I think the federal funds are now working their way as well as the state funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law. It's filling up DOT and it's allowing some backlog projects to get done. So I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just saying it's it comes down to the local priority at that moment. And the bridge needed to be done. So. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
No. Fair enough. Thank you. Thank
SPEAKER2 - you, Shannon. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your testimony. I'd like to We have a few more folks from the MMA panel. I'd like to welcome TPS director of Salem, David Knowlton.
DAVID KNOWLTON - CITY OF SALEM - Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairman Straus, thank you Chairman Crighton, and members of the committee for allowing me to provide some testimony about what Chapter 90 funds mean to the city of Salem and my other DPW directors and city and town engineers across the Commonwealth. As you've heard today, Chapter 90 is a very vital source of funds for cities and towns. They're used by municipalities for all kinds of different projects. And certainly addresses the roadways and sidewalk issues that you all struggle with. Chapter 90 program is a very efficient way to effectively make improvements. It's a very quick process working with the local aid engineers in the districts, requesting money for a project is fairly quick, being able to go out and actually then do the work and then seek reimbursement is another quick process for us. So we really appreciate that.
We've been partnering with MassDOT for a long time and that relationship is really working. The City of Salem and other communities across the Commonwealth are considered a complete streets city. You know, we've adopted that initiative and that means that we prioritize improvements for all users of the roadway and sidewalks. We prioritize for vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, persons with disabilities, and all other forms of of transit. And that means we're not just doing roads, we're doing sidewalks, we're resetting the curbs, replacing sidewalks, we're replacing ADA compliant handicap ramps. Everything that goes along with the roadway to make it friendly and user friendly for everyone. Our current annual budget in Salem for the Chapter 90 allotment equals about 50% of our total overall expenditures that we do. So we do supplement with local money.
But it's insufficient to meet the sea needs3914 and our backlog continues to grow. The cost of construction, as you've heard, and construction materials continues to increase as well. And3923 the proposed Chapter 90 increase to the $330 million annually would go a long way to close that gap. Timing is another issue I'd like to to share with the committee. When we get the Chapter 90 funds, it's important that we get the funds as close to, if possible, April 1st every year, which is considered the start of the construction season. That allows us to do our bidding, select a contractor, and actually start the work April 1st so we could take advantage of the entire construction season. If we get the money later in the year or later in the summer, July, or August, September, we lose that construction season and we just don't get all the work done.
In addition, trying to go out to bid or or select contractors late in the season, the construction season is when all the contractors are busy. And that drives costs up and that results in the less amount of work that we can do to make those improvements. And finally, I just wanted to say3980 you've heard about potholes. We're in the pothole season3982 right now. It's a constant source of aggravation for our residents and our businesses. Potholes could be temporarily filled than they are, but it's not a longstanding long term solution. The ultimate solution is to reconstruct or repave the roads to ensure that the roads are not safe and state3999 of good repair. Again, thank you4002 for allowing me to provide this testimony.4004 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER10 - Thank
SPEAKER1 - you. Appreciate your testimony, David. Next, I'd like to welcome mayor, Brianna, Boingo, Colin? Sorry. Listen.
I blame the the the person who signed up there. It's a little chicken.
SPEAKER19 - Adrian, she was great.
BREANNA LUNGO - KOEHN - MAYOR OF MEDFORD - Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn from the City of Medford. Senator Crighton, Senator Straus, representatives, senators thank you for having me. Here with the MMA and the metro mayors. And I saw this come up yesterday, and I had to be here to testify. When we sat down with Governor Healey before she became governor there was a luncheon we were at, I think 25% of the conversation revolved around Chapter 90 and the need every city and town is facing for, in my case, roads, streets. We did an assessment about a year and a half, two years ago in Medford and it showed that we needed $175 million worth of work to get our roads up to par. That doesn't even include sidewalks, which was an additional 50 million.
We are a city with a budget of 200 million total and we get approximately 1 million in Chapter 90 funding which we are very thankful for but it only goes so far because a full repave and soup to nuts complete rehab of a street is close to double that. So I'm short but sweet but I just wanted to echo what my colleagues have said, town managers, mayors across the state. The need is there. It's the number one complaint that I get as mayor. Our streets are in deplorable conditions. We have claim after claim that comes in for potholes, and we too fill them nonstop tons per week sometimes. And due to the climate change and even this week, 40 degrees to 20 degrees, our streets are expanding and being constricted. And we just have to refill those potholes several weeks again over and over again until obviously the warm weather comes and it stabilizes. So I ask for your support, and I know I heard 300 million, 330, 350 400, whatever you could give cities and towns for Chapter 90 would be very appreciative. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank
SPEAKER1 - you, Mary. Appreciate your testimony. It's a welcome town manager, Kevin Dumas from his perspective.
4143 KEVIN4143 DUMAS4143 -4143 TOWN4143 MANAGER4143 OF4143 MANSFIELD4143 -4143 Thank4143 you Chair Crighton, Chair Straus, and honorable members of the committee. It's an honor to be able to share a few words with you today. And I represent the town of Mansfield. And now in my 20th year municipal service, I can certainly assure you that like with everything else around us, our current 200 million allocation from the Chapter 90 dollars does not go as far as it used to, which certainly is the true challenges you've heard from my colleagues today across the entire Commonwealth. The challenge of keeping up with our pavement management plan is certainly difficult when the proper amount of funding isn't available to our municipalities equally. This is called out certainly in the state's Chapter 90 program municipal guidance documents, which certainly shows the pavement management ratings, of course, in the green where we want to be, which is over the 80th percentile. And as it degrades over time, all the way down to the 25th percentile being poor.
And as you may be aware, our pavement continues to degrade over time due to a lack of maintenance and its repair is certainly just as not as simple as repaving the4204 top layer, but rather continues to be costlier and requires the full roadway to have full debt reclamation from the base course op. Unfortunately, our $200 million allocation only provides Mansfield for example with about $725,000 which does not meet our current infrastructure needs for our road construction, sidewalks, bridges, roadway designs for our future tip projects. To make that point even more clear for you, town of Mansfield annually contributes an additional $2 million a year on top of the grateful 725,000 that we received from the Commonwealth towards this pavement management plan. And that represents for the 115 miles of roadway within the town of Mansfield. But as you heard today, it's simply just not enough to keep our roads and the 80th percentile in that very good4254 condition.
4255 So4255 you can imagine how much more difficult it is for other municipalities who simply don't have the additional infusion such as we do annually, but we put our dollars to good work. And while we're progressive and we certainly respect the taxpayers' dollars, and all the help from you, from our various grant programs and the Chapter 90 program, we're asking for an infusion of new life into the needs across the commonwealth. And certainly, we hope that we can add that from your support. And I respectfully request that you consider increasing that amount to a higher amount to help us meet our needs as suggested by MMA at 330 million. Furthermore, most importantly, this proposal would in fact benefit every single municipality, every city and town across the Commonwealth who needs your assistance. And so thank you again for your support in the past and of course in the future as well. Thank you so much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank
SPEAKER1 - you, Kevin. Appreciate your testimony. With with that, I believe the folks in the M and A are finished with their testimony. I would welcome any legislators committee members that have questions?
Yes. That helps.
DUMAS - Well it is a reimbursement program. As Chair Straus mentioned, it's historically been seen as a, allotment I'll defer to either David or any practitioners on, I guess, some of that is a reimbursement program within the DOT unit, but I'm certainly SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Sorry.
SPEAKER12 - That 1
KNOWLTON - Once the money is is allotted, then it stays in the account the MassDOT. So it doesn't go away as our operating budget would on a fiscal year basis. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Yes.
KNOWLTON - Potentially, yeah. There always always overlap. You know, we like we try to save some of the money from the current construction season to be able to go and be ready to to do work in the spring of the next year not knowing exactly when that next Chapter 90 new allotment is going to go. So we try to we do try to budget that way. I think a lot of cities and towns do that as well. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any of the questions from members of the committee? Anybody joining us remotely? Don't see anyone. Thank you to all the folks that testified4410 on behalf of the I'm sorry. Representative Cruz. Sorry about that. No. No.4415 No. No. No. No.
SPEAKER4 - No.
REP CRUZ - Thank you so much4419 for the testimony from our good friends at the MMA. Just wanna acknowledge David Knowlton of4425 Salem who's been a real leader with respect to thinking about issues with mitigation. And so my question is actually for David as one of the things that I've been really curious about is the impact of and I appreciate Mayor Brodeur actually being the first to name climate change and its impact on the roads and the conditions. In Salem we're a coastal community, and David, I know that you and I have worked together back when I worked for Representative Tucker on mitigation and the impact that that was having with respect to king tides and the damage that it was causing to sea walls around the city. I'm curious about the the impact that some of those same king tides have been having on some of the streets in Salem that we've been paving as well. So I was just curious if you could speak to some of the flooding that occurs on Canal Street, Commercial Street, and then some of the other areas in which we've used some of the Chapter 90 dollars. As I'm still trying to get a handle on I think understanding that particular issue.
KNOWLTON - That's a great question. We do see further degradation from flooding whether it's salt water or fresh water. When a road becomes inundated the water will sip underneath the pavement into the base and start to move around the fines and you'll start to see cracks develop and it just enhances the deterioration of that roadway. So it is something that we need to think about as we move forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER10 - Thank you. And do you have the questions posed4519 to the community? Yeah.
KOFFMAN - If I could just sorry, Mr. Chair. I know Chair Straus had mentioned the formula, right, because we understand there's a lot of interest in the Legislature, and similar to Administrator Gulliver talking about. We're also here to partner with you all in that work knowing that there's a lot of considerations as part of it, but we hear similar things from from local officials all across the Commonwealth on trying to make that more equitable. We know that this was something that was really deliberate based on specifically the winter recovery funding of actually having that not distributed based on the Chapter 90 formula, but having that based on road miles. So We know that's an active conversation.
And I would say as part of your your interest on the two4561 year authorization and how to make sure that4563 mechanism would work and not necessarily and make sure that the money was accounted for appropriately. In our perspective the best way to do that is obviously building that pie and increasing the level to float all boats as to make sure that if there is a a kind of reorientation of the formula at some point as you all look at that, that's certainly our suggestion to do that. So thank you all again, thank you all for the time and your support. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Great. Thank you so much. We appreciate your testimony. Oh,
SPEAKER2 - let me Yeah. Sorry. I apologize. Just It
STRAUS - It's not in this bill, but, you know, as Rep Ciccolo mentioned specific legislation just so people understand the clerk's office is still working through the pile of bills. So there will no doubt be a distinct Chapter 90 hearing at some point on this topic of the formula. It's likely that that issue cannot be4618 resolved in time for what the municipalities need for their funding. So that's the genesis of that. Although there's never a bad time, I'm curious may be that MMA gets pulled in multiple directions, what is the fix on the formula?
KOFFMAN - I think similar to the considerations of the committee, we know that there's a lot of levers there. I think the main area that we are really honed in and specifically focused is making sure that it's increased, to make sure that no community loses out.
STRAUS - And more money, I understand that formula. But as I say, if the Legislature is going to have any hope of of coming out with that nearer to perfect formula between population and miles and all the rest, has the MMA ever taken a position on on what would make the formula more fair?
KOFFMAN - We've had discussions and I think we're absolutely committed to working with you all to to see and support something that is more equitable. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
You know?
SPEAKER2 - Well, good feelings help. So
SPEAKER10 - thank you for your time.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your for your testimony. Next, I'd like to welcome to join for the Construction Institute of Massachusetts. Thanks, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Laura's yours.
JOHN POURBAIX - CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES OF MASS - Good afternoon, Chairman Crighton Chairman Straus, and members of committee. My name is John Pourbaix, I'm the4717 Executive Director of Construction Industries in Massachusetts. We represent the heavy and highway construction industry. Best way to look at us is we represent contractors, suppliers, equipment dealers, designers, anybody involved in the horizontal construction business. We'd like to thank the committee for their quick hearing on the bill this morning of, today. As you know, CIM has long supported a multi year Chapter 90 bill. And we've always advocated for increased funding so no surprise there. And just to kind of be efficient with my time, I would agree with almost everything I've heard today by Representative Ciccolo and members of MMA.
We're very appreciative of the additional money that's been provided on top of Chapter 90. I would point out that those are very, very competitive programs and there's a long line, a long list to to get in there. So it's something that we're very appreciative of, but it's something also that there's an awful lot of demand for. I'd like to point out a couple of things that maybe weren't raised this afternoon. Was that 78% percent of the lane miles in the state fall under our municipally owned roadways and the Chapter 90 program is the most important source of maintaining those critical assets. A couple4812 other things, inflation was talked about. Inflation has wrecked havoc on our industry over the last couple of4820 years, particularly since you know, COVID.
And as many of you know, due to the credit and the work by this committee in previous years, Massachusetts has a some price adjustments for diesel or fuel, asphalt, cement, and steel. And since the pandemic and I'm just going to you, like, use July of 2020 to July of 22. I'll just give you a couple ideas of how things have gone, is liquid asphalt in 2020 was $485 per ton. In July of 22, it was $800 so a 65% increase. You know, from filling up your car and your trucks, what fuel has done. It's gone up about 250% since then. Cement has been much more modest increase. That's only gone up 36%. And steel has gone up about 156% from July 80. Now I will point out that over the, you know, like the prices are, you know, like, fluctuate back and forth. But because of this huge increase in cost of material, labor, equipment, overhead we work very closely with MassDOT to adjust their prequalification formula. And they've,4921 you know, they've recognized it.
Bid prices have come in anywhere from 20 to 35% over the engineers' estimate and it's just crazy right now. So kudos to the committee for their foresight years ago in putting those price adjustments and in place. But4941 it's just something that I think the committee should really, you know, take into consideration. And then I guess the other thing that I would definitely4953 advocate for is I can't emphasize how important it is to get the the bill signed into law as quickly as possible. Because as has been mentioned earlier, the procurement period is very lengthy. And what we have found municipalities will not advertise their work until they have the funds in place. So by the time they have the funds in place, go to town council or town meeting or city council, and get approval to or authorization to advertise a project, bid it, open bids, award, issue a notice to proceed. Probably the rule of thumb is at least 4 to 5, 6 months.
So anything that's advertised after June, you're really looking at next year's work. And as mentioned earlier, the cities and towns would really benefit from having the ability to bid their work earlier in the season when contractors don't have as much of a backlog as they would as the year goes along. So just a couple of thoughts to think about. And the other thing that, and we will not get into formula at all. That's like taking a winner and a loser. But I I think a couple of things that were brought up, the top 10 municipalities in the state that have the largest, I guess, allocation or haven't used their Chapter 90 money represents about almost 30% of the unspent Chapter 90 money. So I think if you looked at the list of what state, you know, what municipalities, what their balances are. And who knows whether or not, as stated it's a reimbursement program.
And they're we don't have a real good handle on what's been obligated, but the lion's share of the municipalities have spent their money that's been allocated to them. So it's just something that I would just kind of bear in mind when you're you're looking at this and trying to get it through. So again, thank you very much. And again, thank you for all your work. We really appreciate. And it's nice to be back in the building. I hadn't had the chance to really kind of thank any of you for the passage of the past bond bills. The industry really appreciates that. And Jonathan Gulliver and his team along with DOT are doing their best to to put that work out on the street. And one last thing is Jonathan in his group have really done a great job of putting together the Chapter 90. They've revamped their Chapter 90 handbook on how to use it. And I think it has really helped the municipalities, in addition to the industry, on getting the the best bank for your Chapter 90 out there. So, thanks very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank
SPEAKER1 - you, John. Appreciate your testimony. Great to see you in person as well. Any questions from members of the committee?
Thank you, remotely. Seeing none. Thank you. III have to apologize. I'm gonna need to step out and join remotely. I have5171 a unforeseen child care issue5173 I need to take care of. We do have a few more folks that are testifying, so I turn it over to my cochair, Bill Strauss, and thank you everyone for attending. Thank
SPEAKER2 - you and we'll continue with the hearing.
I'll go continue on the sign in list as as the senator has indicated, and I think I saw a list of remote witnesses who we will work through to get to as well. Excuse me.
I'm no better reading hand writing, but I think I've got Georgia Barlow. Thank you.
GEORGIA BARLOW - MAPC - Good afternoon Chair Straus, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts on the legislation before us. My name is Georgia Barlow. I am a government affairs specialist at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. I'm here on behalf of both MAPC5236 the regional planning agency for the 101 cities and towns in Metropolitan, Boston, and the Massachusetts Association5245 of Regional Planning Agencies MARPA. We prioritize5249 efforts that foster regional collaboration and we've long advocated for an increase to Chapter 90 funding to support the large volume of roadway repair and maintenance needs both in our region and across the Commonwealth.
At current funding levels, roadway construction and reconstruction needs continue to outpace our municipalities' ability to keep up with these projects. We respectfully request the Legislature increase this 2 year bond authorization to at least $600 million to ensure that cities and towns can plan for larger and longer term projects. As proposed, level funding Chapter 90 funding at $200 million is just not meeting the scale of roadway repair and maintenance needs. This level of funding has not risen for years despite increasing inflation, rising construction costs, and a backlog of road and bridges maintenance needs.
Both MAPC and MARPA urge the legislature to increase this amount to at least $600 million over two years. An investment this size more closely mirrors the need for infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth though even this is not enough to fully address the backlog of needs at this point. As construction season nears, we respectfully urge the legislature to act quickly and to increase these bond authorizations to at least 600 million. Thank you for5334 your time and the opportunity to share perspectives on this bill. Both MAPC and MARPA have also submitted written testimony that goes into more detail. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions from members of the committee? Seeing none and looking online? No. Alright. Thank you very
SPEAKER1 - much.
SPEAKER2 - Next on the list, Galen Mook from Mass Bike.
SPEAKER23 - Alright.
GALEN MOOK - MASSBIKE - HB 52 - Chair Straus, distinguished members of the committee, and Chair Crighton in absentia. It's a pleasure to be here in person. First off, so thank you for holding this hearing and for your patience. My name is Galen Mook. I'm the executive director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, also known as MassBike. We are a statewide bicycling advocacy5390 organization. It's been around since 1977, and I respectfully submit this testimony generally in support of H 52. I'm going to go a little bit off script because a lot of what I was going to say has already been stated. I do support the increase in funding. I do support the multiyear allocation. I do think that plans for municipalities need to be as flexible as possible. I would also suggest that any funding above and beyond the $400 million be tied to active and sustainable transportation commonly known as complete streets to provide dedicated annual funding to construct and maintain safe and accessible infrastructure for people on foot, on bike in wheelchairs, and generally not in automobiles.
In recent years, I'm sure that your various districts and municipalities have seen the benefits of what is generally5442 known as complete streets. And we are grateful through state programs, through the MassDOT, through programs like complete streets, mass trails, shared streets and spaces that we've been able to see bike lanes, curb cuts, cross walks, and all the rest kind of come into fruition. But unfortunately for smaller cities and towns that don't have planners, that don't5464 have grant writers, they aren't able to access5466 these competitive grant might not have matching funds to put up against complete streets. So what we're asking for here is a dedicated annual fund potentially as part of Chapter 90, as part of the increase that cities and towns can rely on.
We do think that this is a matter of not just sustainability but for equity. Not everyone, of course, has the ability to have a car, whether they're too old, too young, have a disability, or have an economic impairment. And we also know that, you know, MassBike has a statewide reach. We were doing some database pull. Turns out that we have members in 300 of the state's 351 cities and towns, but of course, you have people who walk or bike in literally every single municipality. So hopefully this Chapter 90 money can focus on that as well. I also want to point out that people on bikes and foot and other vulnerable road users are more at risk from the deferred maintenance and the failures on our roadways. It's not just5524 an inconvenience this is a matter of life and limb. I myself took a tumble a couple weeks ago on a dark road in Medford, still nursing a couple of bruises. Luckily, I'm okay. But that's not always the case. So hopefully, you can think about those who are the most vulnerable out there and focus on that as part of the increase in Chapter 90 as well.
I also want to thank the committee who accomplished a lot of work on protecting people from the dangers of automobiles. And I'm grateful that we are focusing on mitigating some of severe crashes and the fatal crashes that occur with faster trucks and cars that are out there on the roads. But the simple task of creating bike lanes, repainting sidewalks, putting in curb cuts, and repaving potholes generally, as they're left to municipal DPWs. So the ask is with this bill to expand that capacity for active transportation improvements for all cities and towns, whether they have the ability to have a grant writer or not, will be able to access these funds. Thank you so much for the time. And I appreciate your interest, your leadership, and I'm available to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Very helpful. Any questions from memory? Yes. Repshaveidosa
REP SABADOSA - I should probably be able to answer this question, but I don't. If you were to go with the proposal that you just highlighted with this additional funds to put those grant programs,5606 would that be increasing or decreasing the amount of money that traditionally goes to those programs?
MOOK - Well, it depends on how the programs are tapped by each municipality. As Chair Straus kind of mentioned at the beginning, there is a plethora of opportunities that the state offers generally through grant programs, generally through matching fund programs. So what I'm suggesting here is that an increase above the $400 million from Chapter 90 that there is a specific allocation that goes towards active and sustainable transportation, specifically sidewalks, curb cuts, transit improvements, bike lanes, etcetera, which are granted under Chapter 90 and allowed under Chapter 90. But5641 as we have heard from municipalities and DPWs and town leaders generally, the focus is on potholes repaving because once they run out of that money, there's not much left.
And I honestly appreciate my opportunity to be able to visit across the state in my role. I try to bike in every municipality as possible. A lot of them, as you are familiar, are5661 lacking sidewalks. And there's just not the money there from Chapter 90 allocation to go towards repaving and adding in the infrastructure. So I think what I'm asking in short would be an increase that would be earmarked tagged specifically allocated as a dedicated annual fund that does not require grand writing, does not require matching funds, does not require other hoops or competition in order for municipalities to access.
5686 SABADOSA5686 -5686 Use5686 the5686 same5686 formula?5686
5686 MOOK5686 -5686 Ideally,5686 yes. Again, don't want to kick that hornet's nest of formula, but I appreciate that that is definitely a future challenge of this committee. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
K.
SPEAKER2 - Any other reps? Anybody online? I've seen that. Thank you very much. Alright. I appreciate your
SPEAKER23 - time. Leadership. Yeah. Good to see you too. Good pleasure.
SPEAKER3 - Feel better.
SPEAKER2 - You're welcome. And and now I will be going to what we have and and it's not exclusive if somebody is not officially signed. We'll give you a chance. Michael Hale
And he the question comes testimony comes remotely. Thank you. Good afternoon Chair Straus, members of the committee. Can you hear me okay?
SPEAKER2 - Absolutely.
SPEAKER14 - Great.
MICHAEL HALE - MASS HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION - HB 52 - My name is Michael Hale, I'm the public works director in the City of Gloucester and I'm also the Essex County representative to the Massachusetts Highway Department. I'm here today to testify on behalf of the membership of Mass Highway Association and lend our support to H 52 as well as request5752 Mass Municipal Association to increase the annual authorization of Chapter 90 funding to no less than $330,000. I'm grateful for the governor's proposal. The bond will cover two years5763 of guaranteed funding, which allows us to5765 hit the streets early in the construction season,5767 and really allows us to better manage our pavement management programs. As public works officials we're challenged daily with payment management and transportation issues and the need for greater funding. We simply do not have enough local funding to meet the demands that we have.
I'm confident to say that, although I can't speak for all 351 public works directors we all have the same issue. Answering constituent calls is very difficult, and we try to work as hard as we can that use the money that's allocated to us. You've heard earlier, sometimes, the life expectancy of Asphalt has diminished in the past years. Our pavement management cycle with our current Chapter 90 funding plus our local funding is putting our roads at a 45 year paving cycle. The average life expectancy of a paved road is somewhere between 15 and 25 depending on how much excavation is done for utilities,5826 which, again, weak grapple with utilities excavating our roads. We all use our pavement management index as the matrix for how we judge our roads. That as the PCI lowers, we have greater concerns for our motorists and pedestrians as they move throughout our communities. Again, road complaints are probably the most frequent, constituent complaint that we receive here in Gloucester and I think that's true across the board for many small town and larger city communities.
Even with our active pavement management program, constituents expect more and rightfully so. Chapter 90 program is by far the best program that we have as municipal officials to use. Certainly, the competitive grant programs are in place. There are costs associated with that that aren't directly associated with construction costs. Certainly, consulting costs, engineering costs drive up those projects and so at the end, you're still taking some of your local funding from your transportation projects to offset these competitive grant programs. And like we heard a little while ago, not all communities have an opportunity to even apply for these just because they don't have the staff to do so. It is not necessarily an easy process to apply for some of these programs.
Chapter 90 provides flexibility for the 351 communities. I think that's the lore to Chapter 90. And again, we are certainly short in what we have for available funding. We fill out the MMA survey annually as many other communities do. And we're probably about 50% short on what we need annually to make our roads at least to an 80% on the PCI. And 80% again, that's that's kind of our goal.5936 We are certainly far behind that here5938 in Gloucester and many communities, certainly in Essex County, and across the Commonwealth. A lot of what I planned to say is already been said today, I'm kind of at the tail end of this. So I certainly appreciate you the opportunity to provide testimony today. And I look forward to working with this committee and any other committees that want to take up Chapter 90. I invite anyone out there to visit Gloucester this year. This is 400th anniversary. It'd be kind of a a very exciting summer here in town. And I'm here to answer any questions if you have any.
STRAUS - Thank you, Mr. Hale. I just want I had one question because I'm not sure I heard this correctly. Were you suggesting as as part of your testimony that there be either a floor or a minimum for any community or did I get that wrong?
HALE - No, I apologize if that came through like that, no. I think, I mean, obviously, the formula is something that we're not going to address today. It's a difficult, very thorny subject to address. At Mass Highway Association, we kind of grapple between the rural communities and kind of the the Metro West communities as far as how the formula kind of benefits or does not benefit us. So we won't touch the formula today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - Okay. Okay. That and and that's fine. I I just wanted to make sure. Any questions for members Committee. Seeing none and none online, thank you for your patience6027 in staying with us through the hole here in mister Hale. Next next signed up for remote testimony, David DeRosa.
SPEAKER4 - Can
SPEAKER7 - you hear me?
SPEAKER2 - We can. And I don't know if I got that right. It's pronounced different ways and different parts of the state.
SPEAKER5 - Very close.
SPEAKER7 - Very close. Thank you. Chairs again.
DAVID - CONCERNED CITIZEN - I'm not going to rehash everything that the others have spoken so eloquently on a few minutes ago on the inflation and the cost of asphalt. But if you would allow me to share my screen, I think I've got a couple of graphics that would really drive home a lot of these points Is that possible? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - LIS is shaking their head. Yes. So go for it.
SPEAKER7 - Okay. Can you see that screen?
SPEAKER2 - Not yet. But, you know, let's be patient.
SPEAKER7 - Let me back that down here a
SPEAKER1 - minute.
SPEAKER7 - 1 second
SPEAKER1 - here.
SPEAKER7 - Let's try this again here.
SPEAKER2 - Well, III think we may have to go to the old fashioned way, but what I would invite you to do is, if you don't mind printing it out or or emailing as an attachment, the staff will make sure that every member of the committee gets it.
SPEAKER7 - I I can definitely do that.
Didn't work. Yeah?
SPEAKER2 - I'm afraid not.
DAVID - Alright. The bottom line is asphalt costs have gone from in the year 2000, I've tracked it over 20 years I've been here a long time. I'm a small rural community. I've tracked the cost when I first started, it was about $27 a ton to purchase a ton in place that's our cost in Granby. Now we're approaching $100 a ton that's a 400% increase. Over that time period, Chapter 90 has remained relatively consistent with the exception of the extra went to road monies,6165 and we really appreciate those funds. But over time, when we first started doing our chapter, and I apologize that I couldn't get6173 that graphic up for you quickly here. When we first started doing our Chapter 90 surveys in in 2003, our PCI payment conditioned6187 index was about6188 a 76 or somewhere around there. It declined all the way through the mid and later parts of 2015 to about a6203 42.
At that point, we started,6206 you know, ringing the alarm bells locally here and we were fortunate that the town did come up with a few large paving articles that helped us turn it around a little bit. And in addition to the extra wrap funds and winter road recovery funds, we were able to bring that PCI back up. But right now we're starting to see that the funding is tailing off again because if you factor in the cost of inflation, it's just eating away our purchasing power on the Chapter 90 dollars, we6245 we purchased a quarter of what we did back in 2000. And and that's the result of the declining PCI's. I'll be glad to send those graphics so it really drives home the point of how much of an issue it is. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - That'll be fine and maybe some additional burden to you. But if you want to add some explanatory comment that that would work as
SPEAKER1 - well.
SPEAKER7 - What would you
SPEAKER1 - like?
SPEAKER2 - As as I say, you'd follow-up and I I don't see questions from members of the committee. So but we look forward to receiving the the graphic that you've prepared.
SPEAKER1 - Okay.
SPEAKER7 - I know that mass municipals Association does have it already, and I'll I'll forward it along. Great.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you so much.
SPEAKER23 - Okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER2 - And the last person I have signed up for remote testimony is Angela Otis. Are you with us?
SPEAKER3 - I am. Thank you.
SPEAKER2 - Good afternoon.
ANGELA OTIS - TOWN OF GOSHEN - Good afternoon. I'm the Select Board chair in the town of Goshen in West Mass. And, again, I'd like the opportunity to reiterate some of the same points that have already been made. Obviously, the first being how grateful we would be to see an increase in this annual funding. Secondly, to complement everyone for their support on a two year commitment upfront for all the reasons that have been mentioned prior to this. And thirdly, again, no talk about the allocation. I think that we can probably present our thoughts in many venues that way with the MMA, etcetera. But for Chapter 90, one of the things that I think is really critical for folks to understand is what I'll call elevation. We have just 26 miles of road in Goshen with 34% of those miles being gravel or partially gravel roads. And we're at a very high elevation. And at this elevation, the world changes for roads.
And so Chapter 90 funding is so critical in a town such as ours. Even though we appropriate money with our for road improvement, the value of that dollar of Chapter 90 to go around on roads in this town is just hard to compare to any other challenge that a municipality will face. We are able to do about half the amount of road work that we were in prior years with this level funding of6437 Chapter 90. We aren't talking about bike lane improvement, equipment purchases. We're talking about the basic blocking and tackling, laying, road fabric, improving drainage, resurfacing roads, and just being able to provide the expectation that's there for school buses to be able to6464 travel on roads to regional school systems. So I thank you for your time and your consideration on this bill and for any support that can be made in terms of an increase. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - Great. Thank you for your testimony and and your patience for holding on with us. Any questions for members? Yes. Rep Sabodosa.
SABADOSA - I just want to say Ms. Otis is my constituent. I want to thank her for hanging out for so many hours through the hearing. She is absolutely right about the elevation issues. And perhaps it needs a transportation committee field trip to understand, particularly during this winter, what she means by the elevation issues in the building? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - As long as each of you gets a note from your parents, Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry to jazz. But your point on the elevation is well taken. Not every road is same in terms of what it endures even though we have what others consider a6531 relatively small state, So thank6534 you again. Sure. Rep Karens.
REP KERANS - Thank you. I'm interested to hear a little bit more. What's with the elevation? What is the significance of higher elevation when it comes to road maintenance, if you will?
OTIS - Yes. Well,6549 thank you. I appreciate your interest in this actually. What happens is there's so much varying degree with climate change experience. So when you get to this higher elevation, you have lots of snow but with climate change, you have lots of melting, lots of down trees and roads, lots of disrepair, lots of cracked roads as a result, mud, more grading that's required. The conditions are very severe. There's an amazing difference between this elevation and the town below. It's like night and day, and it causes so much of the budget to be used that we really are jeopardizing safety in the decisions that we make in town with our highway department because we don't have the funding to be able to care for these roads or produce the type of road improvement we should for a town at this elevation. So thank you for asking. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER2 - Yes,
SPEAKER13 - sir.
KERANS - So while we're at it, what percentage of your overall town budget do you have to devote to road maintenance? We'll leave bridges out of it. Just your your roads, your sidewalks, what what percentage of your budget?
OTIS - Our operating budget?
KERANS - 800 people in your town?
OTIS- About a thousand. And again as I said, 34% travel road.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
hear a feedback here at UK?
SPEAKER2 - We we we hear you fine. Okay.
OTIS - And so our budget is probably 34% of our operating budget is for our highway department. And when I6671 say highway department, I use those terms loosely because it is a very limited frugal activity that goes on. Once upon a time, we were able to do roads every 10 years now that's moved to every 20 years because of this level funding of Chapter 90.
KERANS - And your annual town budget is roughly?
OTIS - Without capital plan or capital stabilization is roughly 3 million.
KERANS - Okay. And your road maintenance line item is? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
when you say Go ahead. Yep. Go ahead.
OTIS - With the exclusive of the crew, you mean just for the the line for row maintenance? Not the people that are filling the potholes and preparing the roads, but simply for the outlay of expense for materials, is that what you're asking?
KERANS - No, no, the actual cost to the town to maintain your roads.
6737 OTIS6737 -6737 Outside6737 of Chapter 90, it is about a 130,000. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Helpful. Great. Thank you.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you again. So that exhausts the list that I'm aware of, so I'll look around the room.
And if there's anyone interested, we miss And is there anyone online who we may not have perceived an indication, but does want to
SPEAKER1 - testify.
SPEAKER2 - I'm gonna take that as not an interesting test fine. So hearing none, if there are no other
it's been moved and second that we adjourned. Thank you to everybody for participating. And again, a big thanks to the LIS staff for making this possible. We are a journalist.
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