Springfield Annual Town Meeting

Around 70 people turned out for the annual town meeting Monday night which went on for nearly 3 hours as the 31 Articles on this year's ballot was read and discussed.

The issue that seemed to generate the most discussion was what to do with the old water reservoir with Town Manager Robert Forguites and Select Board Chairman Mark Blanchard making the case for selling off the reservoir and surrounding property while virtually all the citizens who got up to comment or ask questions about it seemed to be in favor of keeping it. Blanchard argued the cost of restoring the reservoir to serve as a back up water supply would not be worth the cost. Far better to drill extra wells next to water storage tanks the town has. Steve Sysko, advocate for the reservoir for over 30 years, was stopped at one point during his presentaion by Moderator Patrick Ankuda who took offense to him saying the town should be ashamed for letting the reservoir become an "unmaintained mudhole".

In other discussion, a few praised the School Board members for their hard work on the budget. Woody Bickford offered them a verbal report card saying "it was the best effort ever made in my memory to keep costs down." School Superintendent Frank Perotti said statewide, the average cost of public education per pupil is $12,000 a year but in Springfield it is $12,900 per year. Debt service is where the $900 extra goes.

Forguites said the new budget for the town will only increases the cost to taxpayer by $1 a month.