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<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> <strong>Medway</strong> & <strong>Millis</strong> Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com Page 15<br />
A Year in Review: <strong>Millis</strong> 2017<br />
By David Pasquantonio<br />
The biggest issue in 2017<br />
in <strong>Millis</strong>, <strong>and</strong> certainly the one<br />
most discussed by residents, was<br />
the new school, but there were<br />
many other newsworthy items<br />
<strong>and</strong> accomplishments. Town<br />
Administrator Michael Guzinski<br />
<strong>and</strong> Selectman James McCaffrey<br />
reviewed <strong>Millis</strong>’s 2017 key happenings<br />
in a recent interview.<br />
On December 8, a groundbreaking<br />
ceremony marked the<br />
official start of construction for an<br />
elementary school to replace the<br />
aging Clyde F. Brown Elementary<br />
School. Voters approved an<br />
override at the spring town meeting,<br />
<strong>and</strong> reaffirmed that decision<br />
at the fall town meeting. The<br />
project was delayed due to citizen<br />
concerns <strong>and</strong> a few lawsuits, but<br />
was given the go-ahead after the<br />
November meeting. Clearing of<br />
the site, including the former 6.4-<br />
acre Town Park, began almost<br />
immediately. The Massachusetts<br />
School Board Association will reimburse<br />
the town for about $20<br />
million of the estimated $51 million<br />
project. Construction will be<br />
completed in 2019.<br />
Guzinski <strong>and</strong> McCaffrey said<br />
that although there was divisiveness<br />
among residents concerning<br />
the project, in the end, they<br />
hoped that the high level of civic<br />
engagement will carry over into<br />
other areas, like volunteering for<br />
boards <strong>and</strong> committees or regularly<br />
attending more meetings.<br />
Residents approved a plan to<br />
create a stormwater utility to pay<br />
for compliance <strong>and</strong> maintenance<br />
costs of meeting more stringent<br />
EPA regulations on stormwater<br />
runoff, containment, <strong>and</strong> management.<br />
The owners of each of the<br />
approximate 4,000 l<strong>and</strong> parcels in<br />
town will pay into the utility.<br />
One of the biggest events in <strong>Millis</strong> in 2017 was the groundbreaking of the new Clyde F. Brown Elementary School, which took place on December<br />
8th. The Town voted twice on the hotly contested override, overwhelmingly supporting the new MSBA-supported construction.<br />
“All communities in the Commonwealth<br />
will have to find a<br />
way to either absorb the costs of<br />
developing a program, or find a<br />
new way to pay for it,” Guzinski<br />
said. McCaffrey added that while<br />
sometimes <strong>Millis</strong> waits for new<br />
programs to be “tried <strong>and</strong> true”<br />
before the town adopts them, in<br />
the case of the stormwater utility,<br />
<strong>Millis</strong> is proactively at the<br />
forefront.<br />
The separation of the town’s<br />
public safety departments into<br />
two buildings was completed<br />
after the fire department fully<br />
took over the building previously<br />
shared with the police department,<br />
which moved into its own<br />
facility in 2016. McCaffrey said<br />
that the meeting room in the facility<br />
has seen extensive use, as<br />
have the meeting spaces at the<br />
library <strong>and</strong> town hall.<br />
The active adult community<br />
at Glen Ellen has received a<br />
number of approvals, with the<br />
next phase of the project being a<br />
proposal to hook into the town’s<br />
existing sewer system rather than<br />
having an on-site treatment facility.<br />
McCaffrey <strong>and</strong> Guzinski<br />
noted that some potential road<br />
work on Orchard Street, among<br />
other areas, has been delayed<br />
pending that outcome, as there<br />
would be little sense in repaving<br />
roads only to have them torn up<br />
again for the planned Toll Brothers<br />
community.<br />
Other developments in town<br />
have seen action, including the<br />
continued building of residences<br />
at South End Farm <strong>and</strong> the clearing<br />
of l<strong>and</strong> in preparation for an<br />
assisted living facility on Dover<br />
Road. The new Tractor Supply<br />
Company store on Main Street<br />
was the biggest new retailer in<br />
town.<br />
The Department of Public<br />
Works had a busy year, including<br />
some key road work on Village<br />
Street, the completion of the Veterans<br />
Memorial outside of Town<br />
Hall, <strong>and</strong> improved access for the<br />
Life Experience School. The latter<br />
two projects were delivered<br />
with minimal outside aid, an<br />
example, McCaffrey said, of the<br />
department continuing to deliver<br />
cost-effective local solutions.<br />
The police department added<br />
three experienced officers to the<br />
force, an outcome possible after<br />
a previous town decision to withdraw<br />
from the Commonwealth’s<br />
civil service system, thus allowing<br />
departments to hire officers<br />
based on their own criteria rather<br />
than a state ranking system. The<br />
fire department finished up training<br />
as part of a move to providing<br />
Advanced Life Support services<br />
for ambulatory care.<br />
No recreational or medical<br />
marijuana facilities started up<br />
in 2017, although the issue saw<br />
much debate <strong>and</strong> planning. <strong>Millis</strong><br />
issued a moratorium on recreational<br />
marijuana establishments<br />
as the town waits to see how regulations<br />
surrounding the Commonwealth’s<br />
vote to approve<br />
marijuana play out. McCaffrey<br />
<strong>and</strong> Guzinski said that the town’s<br />
most prudent approach was to<br />
issue a moratorium. One medical<br />
marijuana facility has obtained a<br />
license to open a facility along<br />
Main Street towards the <strong>Medway</strong><br />
line.<br />
The <strong>Millis</strong> girls’ varsity soccer<br />
team won the state Division<br />
4 championship, <strong>and</strong> the varsity<br />
football team won the state Division<br />
8 championship.<br />
In May, local l<strong>and</strong>mark Bob’s<br />
Family Restaurant was destroyed<br />
by a fire. And a trail camera<br />
caught the image of a bear w<strong>and</strong>ering<br />
through town in August.<br />
Guzinski started in late March<br />
as the new town administrator,<br />
replacing Charles Aspinwall, who<br />
had taken a similar role in Canton<br />
in 2016. Guzinski was the town<br />
administrator in Douglas for 13<br />
years before taking the position<br />
in <strong>Millis</strong>, <strong>and</strong> had also worked in<br />
Rowley <strong>and</strong> Blackstone.<br />
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508-429-2535<br />
Propane Open Sat & Sun<br />
Gas Grill Tanks Filled<br />
Neil Lazzaro<br />
ASE Technician<br />
1292 Washington Street,<br />
Holliston<br />
Tires & Alignment<br />
Suspension & Steering<br />
Exhaust & Brake<br />
Air Conditioning<br />
Factory Scheduled Maintenance<br />
Mass. State Inspection Station