Finance 11-14-24 – Gardner News Magazine: Local News & Articles in Gardner MA

Finance Committee has Honor of Hearing from Assistant Director Evan Cudmore

All were impressed as Assistant Director of Community Development and Planning Evan Cudmore updated the Gardner MA Finance Committee on various projects and grants. Mayor Nicholson also added some information, but Cudmore was thorough. Cudmore has been with the City about 8 months, but this is his first meeting appearance. See a complete list of Project Updates below. Listen to the entire meeting on any device. CLICK PLAY.

Finance Committee 11-14-24

The Gardner Tax Rate has been certified at $14.36. Auditor John Richard spoke and praised the Assessor. Gardner was the 39th community in the entire State of MA to set its tax rate. Mayor Nicholson spoke about how this will help in planning.

The Finance Committee is sending some FREE CASH recommendations to the entire City Council include monies to the Stabilization Fund, 10% to roads, 100k towards a 3rd party grant writer, and 95k for IT software and cloud backup. Nicholson said he would wait until about April to utilize additional FREE CASH to be cautious. This is a strategy the City of Gardner usually uses because until Winter is over, for example, the total cost of snow removal is unknown.

Updates Provided to the Finance Committee by Evan Cudmore on 11-14-24
Rear Main Street Phase 2 North: The $3.64 million project is under construction right now Rear Main Street Phase 2 South: The $3.5 million housing works grant was recently awarded to the City. Bike trail, nature trail construction is continuing. The layout of the trail and the sub-base material is complete. The crossings are installed, and the contractor is working on finalizing the agreements with New England Power. The pathway should be complete this year, and landscaping is to be complete in the spring. Maki Park ADA Compliance Solutions: The Building Commissioner is reviewing 2 options for ADA compliance submitted by the City’s engineering firm. One option is $30,000, the other is $50,000. Funding may come from some CDBG projects which came in under budget. Potential New Industrial Park: City’s Engineering firm of Hudson O’Neill is currently developing concept plans for a potential build-out of proposed site based on wetlands and topographic data. Once complete, market analysis will be developed, and the location of land is south of Route 140 from Route 101 to Mathew Street. City would have to purchase the land. Currently Gardner has the Gardner Industrial Park, the North Gardner Industrial Park, and the Suffolk Industrial Park. This would be adding a 4th one. 16 Lot Subdivision being considered by Planning Board. See separate article. Public hearing is continued to the next meeting on December 10th. Greenwood Indoor Pool Building Demolition: Contractor has completed the site survey. The lake delineation testing and the hazardous materials testing is complete. Contractor is working on finishing the sketches for the plan and hopes to have that done by the end of the year. And then given the swim season in mind, demolition will be done probably late winter, early spring at most. 205-213 Main Street (Old Rome Building) Demolition across from Police Station: Bids were opened on November 13th. Awaiting Awarding of bid. Target time for demolition is mid to late December. Later, grant funding would be sought to improve the intersection itself. *Listen to the meeting for even more information.*

Updates Provided to the Finance Committee by Evan Cudmore on 11-14-24

Rear Main Street Phase 2 North: The $3.64 million project is under construction right now
Rear Main Street Phase 2 South: The $3.5 million housing works grant was recently awarded to the City.
Bike trail, nature trail construction is continuing. The layout of the trail and the sub-base material is complete. The crossings are installed, and the contractor is working on finalizing the agreements with New England Power. The pathway should be complete this year, and landscaping is to be complete in the spring.
Maki Park ADA Compliance Solutions: The Building Commissioner is reviewing 2 options for ADA compliance submitted by the City’s engineering firm. One option is $30,000, the other is $50,000. Funding may come from some CDBG projects which came in under budget.
Potential New Industrial Park: City’s Engineering firm of Hudson O’Neill is currently developing concept plans for a potential build-out of proposed site based on wetlands and topographic data. Once complete, market analysis will be developed, and the location of land is south of Route 140 from Route 101 to Mathew Street. City would have to purchase the land. Currently Gardner has the Gardner Industrial Park, the North Gardner Industrial Park, and the Suffolk Industrial Park. This would be adding a 4th one.
16 Lot Subdivision being considered by Planning Board. See separate article. Public hearing is continued to the next meeting on December 10th.
Greenwood Indoor Pool Building Demolition: Contractor has completed the site survey. The lake delineation testing and the hazardous materials testing is complete. Contractor is working on finishing the sketches for the plan and hopes to have that done by the end of the year. And then given the swim season in mind, demolition will be done probably late winter, early spring at most.
205-213 Main Street (Old Rome Building) Demolition across from Police Station: Bids were opened on November 13th. Awaiting Awarding of bid. Target time for demolition is mid to late December. Later, grant funding would be sought to improve the intersection itself.
Listen to the meeting for even more information.