WESTFORD — The Select Board has continued to review American Rescue Plan Act requests as a year-end deadline to allocate funding quickly approaches.
The board voted unanimously to approve two projects totaling $64,900 during a. Aug. 13 meeting.
Daniel O’Donnell, Westford’s Finance director, provided an update to the Select Board about where the ARPA balance stands. The current balance has increased to $671,424.48 from $666,030 reported on July 30 due to project closeouts.
The board anticipates larger closeouts later this year from upgrades to the Cameron Senior Center among other projects.
One request, totaling $14,900 for land surveillance at 12 North Main St., will create a land survey of the Graniteville parcel to target future cleanup efforts. The town has already received $500,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency and $250,000 in a state Brownfields Grant to remediate the property.
“We’ve received several state and federal grants for the cleanup services at 12 North Main Street. Additionally, there’s been a great amount of work done on property related to wetlands, delineation, testing, soils, and what we have determined is that there was no land survey done in the past for 12 North Main Street and the associated town properties,” town manager Kristen Las.
Las said that it is in the best interest of the town to redevelop the property, with a land survey acting as a preliminary step to begin remediation. Nobis Group will serve as the contractor for the project.
The board also approved $50,000 for a 2-year contract with Northern Middlesex Council of Governments sustainability support services.
The $50,000 request would cover support from NMCOG for green communities reporting, monitoring and assisting with next year’s green communities submission.
The board previously authorized eight projects in FY24 totaling $197,446, as well as $675 in FY25 for a new cash counting machine, which was approved on July 30.
