The Select Board Goes to Tax School
At 7:00pm on Monday, October 24, 2022, Select Board Chair Ben Sparrell called the weekly Board meeting to order, promising a “wide-ranging” agenda to cover. Chair Sparrell wished a Happy Diwali to those who are celebrating.
Following the disappointment of negotiating a Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) agreement with New England Appliance Group (NEAG) and having NEAG select a different location for their planned expansion, the Select Board wanted to learn more from an expert in the field of taxes and business retention and acquisition. Ms. Lynn Tokarcyk, (below) President of Business Development Strategies, Inc. and a government tax incentives expert to this meeting to pick her brains.
Ms. Tokarcyk thanked the Board, Mr. Ahern, and Principal Assessor Kevin Rudden for the work done to achieve a TIF with NEAG. Several highlights to be noted from the following presentation: retain existing businesses by reaching out, acknowledging their achievements, etc.; Real Estate brokers are the target for the Town’s efforts to attract new businesses; several tax incentives are available; Holliston’s reputation in the commercial real estate broker world is that we are a bedroom community; Holliston should demonstrate that it is “Open for Business.”
Ms. Tokarcyk highlighted several towns in our area that have successfully attracted / retained businesses, calling out Hopkinton as a very successful example.
Below, Principal Assessor Kevin Rudden (back to camera) noted that he does reach out to existing and potential businesses to discuss Holliston’s taxation policies and practices. Any time a business calls with a question, Mr. Rudden makes an appointment to meet with the person to provide a more comprehensive answer. Rudden reported that smaller businesses are looking to move to Holliston.
The Board acknowledged that the presentation highlighted areas of focus and one member can’t wait to view the recording of the meeting that dealt with the business development discussion to be prepared for the next new business opportunity. The Board thanked Ms. Tokarcyk for her time and expertise.
Warrants: The Board approved the weekly warrant totaling -> $1,819,825.05
Public Comment:
- Mrs. Hein:
- HCAF is hosting Downtown FrightFest this Friday -> https://hollistonreporter.com/2022/10/halloween-frightfest-coming-to-downtown-holliston-friday-october-28th/
- Winter Parking Ban starts Tuesday, November 1st. No on street parking between 1 and 5 am.
- Curbside leaf pickup will be the week of November 28th on normal trash pickup day – paper bags or barrels
- Mr. Cronin: None
- Mr. Sparrell: None
- Public:
- Liz Theiler chose to send her comment via e-mail as outlined at the bottom of the Select Board’s weekly agenda. Below is her e-mail submission.
Comments from Town Administrator:
- Timeline projections for projects approved at Fall Town Meeting on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Below is a table of each item approved at Town Meeting.
- Safe Routes to School (SRTS) potential projects for application prior to deadline of Nov. 18, 2022
Mrs. Hein proposed three projects to construct NEW sidewalks in three areas of town to connect to existing sidewalks increasing walkability to schools: Lowland / Fiske St.; Highland St.; and Linden St. These projects would be fully funded by and completed by MassDOT. 192 other municipalities could also be applying for grants from this program.
The Board unanimously authorized the Town Administrator to complete and submit the application by the Nov. 18th deadline. Letters of support from the community will be needed to support the application. Town Boards / Committees are requested to consider sending such a letter to the Town Administrator for inclusion with the application.
- HDAAC (Holliston Drug and Alcohol Coalition) has requested access to the Town-owned “Viewpoint” footage as part of its work on the Town’s recent Drug Free Community Grant award
- PARE Corp, the contractor for the 9 Green Street construction project, has bid on a traffic study for the affected area.
- The Blair Square project kickoff meeting will be held Tuesday (TODAY).
- Mr. Ahern will be at Holliston High on Wednesday for “Civics Day”
- The video from the MAPC/EDC workshop is available on the Town website -> https://www.townofholliston.us/economic-development-committee/events/134251
- The new seven-member Envision Future Holliston committee (with up to 5 associate members) is being recruited by Mr. Ahern, giving first priority to those who served on the initial committee. Stay tuned for the final roster.
Green Community Annual Report
The Board approved this year’s Green Community Annual Report compiled by Chris Meo. A Green Community grant will be put to the cost of converting our streetlights to LED bulbs. The report goes to the State.
Police Department 5-Year Strategic Plan Update
Chief Stone and the Holliston Police Department initiated this introspective look at where HPD is now and where it wants to be in the future. Mr. John Ostman, a consultant, was engaged to lead the department through several months of open and frank work to develop the plan presented to the Select Board at this meeting. The process involved ALL members of the department in several different meetings / activities to develop the plan.
The 2023 – 2027 plan is 64 pages in length, including the department’s Mission, Values, Vision, Goals, Objectives, and Strategies. The following slides provide an overview of the document that represents our department’s future.
The Board thanked Mr. Ostman and Chief Stone for the presentation (there were virtually no questions – so it must have been good). The Board sees the plan has a powerful tool for HPD now and in its future. Ultimately, this is one of the many plans to be woven together as we Envision Future Holliston.
Board Business: The Select Board took the following actions:
- Awarded the contract for the Central Fire Station Driveway Improvements – not to exceed $233,615.95
- Approved the event permit for “Spookerfest” Soccer Tournament 10-29-22 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Marshall Street Soccer Fields – a police detail will be on hand to monitor parking / noise
- Appointed Janet Alexander as a member of the Council on Aging with a term to expire June 2024
- Approved minutes of the September 19, 2022, September 27, 2022, and September 30, 2022, meetings.
- Accepted the $1,000 donation to Elderly & Disabled Tax Relief from the Lions Club
- Accepted $10,000 donation to the Rail Trail gift account for restoring buffer plantings adjacent to 56 Lowland St from Lowland Street Legacy LLC
- Approved a business address/office for Boston Transportation Group LLC a Limousine/Livery service in a local residence – no vehicles will be parked in Holliston.
Other Business: None. The Patriots game started about 45 minutes ago.
No meeting next week. The meeting adjourned 9:19pm.
6 Comments
I fully support hiring additional officers to support increased calls for service. I think HPD does a fantastic job helping our residents and they deserve our support for their strategic plan.
I’m really not sure how Holliston views themselves as “business friendly” when we have multiple examples of struggles businesses face with permitting and public opinion the last few years. I feel like we need to decide as a community which way we want to go. We can’t be both. I see both options clearly available to Holliston, but somehow we need to decide THE direction.
I think the town Administration should first focus from within the current business community and hold a listening season on issues facing small business within Holliston, instead of from a regional approach as was the case in the economic development workshop held a few weeks ago.
I can site numerous examples of how this town,, thru its Departments, causes strife and stress to small business owners.
In particular, the town thru its ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act ) steering group had initially budgeted aprox. $400k to immediately address the economic injury caused by the public “covid” health crisis to small businesses and households.
These federal funds were meant to be used to help small business with immediate needs to pay rent, payroll, utilities, etc to keep them going thru the covid pandemic.
In an Article in the Holliston Tab, Kamala Boutique, a fixture of our downtown for I think over 15 years, cited covid and the changed retail environment on her decision to close the store. I attended a ARPA meeting last year and the committee stated it did not want to give direct checks to independent businesses. But instead wanted to find a third party to possibly administer a program. Nothing came of that!!
I sent an example of a grant program for small business that the City of Providence was doing to help small business during the crisis to the Town Administrator Travis Ahern, but nothing came of it.
It’s sad that after serving the community for all those years and having tools in the toolbox to help a small business-like Kamala Boutique the town chose to do nothing to help “retain business” and now we are talking about economic development?
As a community we have the ability to create both a great place to live and at the same time support a thriving business community that provides jobs, provides services to our residents and has businesses at the retail level attracting visitors from outside of Holliston. It just takes a few of us to push back and then forward to retain and grow our existing businesses within Holliston.
Andy Reseska
Boston Honey Company Inc
45 Chestnut Street
Mr. Reseska,
Handling of federal grant dollars, such as the CARES Act or American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, requires that the Town have the appropriate failsafes in place to ensure the dollars are awarded properly, and don’t conflict with the many Federal/State grants and loans that were created during COVID.
Direct CARES/ARPA funding for two similarly structured programs were overseen by a 3rd party fiduciary; for rent/mortgage relief it was the Community Action Fund (CAF) and for the Senior Center Home Repair Program (link below) the fiduciary and administration is run by Habitat for Humanity (H4H):
https://hollistonreporter.com/2022/09/senior-critical-home-repair-continues-applications-now-being-accepted/
It is vital that the Town have this 3rd party administration for equity of distribution of funds and also to maintain compliance with Federal/State programs that were made available at the same time as ARPA and overlap with your stated purpose.
As always, any readers can watch these discussions from past meetings or contact the ARPA Steering Group here:
https://www.townofholliston.us/arpa-steering-group
Travis
The police department and their strategic plan shows leadership and deserves our support. I have found them responsive and my experience with them has been very positive.
Thank you for the coverage of full meeting. I will clarify that walkability is a term that describes “how friendly a place is to walk around”. While it can be an issue in some areas of Holliston, the far greater issue for school children is lacking access to safe routes to school, and all the health and wellness benefits that come from arriving to school on foot or bike after being in contact with the nature and the community surrounding them. The Safe Routes to School Infrastructure grant program is an opportunity to seek funding for expanded access for Holliston students, and for the benefit of the entire community.