We didn’t see this one coming. Town Meeting members spent more than 2 hours on Monday debating an article seeking approval for $1.85M to pay for architectural and engineering designs to repair and renovate the insides of the 137-year-old Town Hall building.

According to former Wellesley Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman, who presented Article 17, Motion 1, this would mark the building’s first major interior fix-up since 1985, and would make Town Hall safer to work in and more accessible to all.  Freiman described Town Hall as being among the last town buildings to get “long-deferred maintenance work.” An exterior renovation finished last year.

Town Meeting members who spoke up agreed that Town Hall needs the work. Jim Roberti, who said he has literally attended hundreds of meetings at the building, ticked off numerous reasons renovation is needed, from peeling paint to the notorious sewer line break in the basement.

The discussion started off simply enough, with questions about how historical artifacts, including the big bell out front, would be dealt with.

Things got interesting when Town Meeting member Pete Jones asked about plans for all heating and cooling in the building to be electrified, and how much that  might cost vs. using natural gas.

Town Facilities Director Joe McDonough pointed out that the town’s current sustainable building guidelines for big projects like this and the two new elementary schools call for all-electric infrastructure. “I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me but I can tell you that at this point anecdotally it is more expensive to heat a building with electricity…probably at this point I would say in the order of twice as expensive as natural gas,” he said, adding that the expectation is that heating systems will become more efficient and electricity usage will drop. (Later, McDonough quipped “that’s the last time I’ll make that mistake of estimating utilities…”).

 

Town Meeting members then proceeded to swap anecdotes about how cheap or expensive electric heating and cooling is, and how easy or difficult it is to manage. Some claimed it’s the right environmental choice, while others questioned its true greenness.

Many of the town’s leading sustainability voices weighed in over the course of the discussion, backing up McDonough’s point about expected savings over the long run, in part due to the Municipal Light Plant’s well-known low rates, and with the possibility of carbon taxes or other developments making natural gas a less attractive choice in the long run. They also said electrical systems, including newfangled heat pumps, are the best environmental option for residents and their offspring at a time when the town is aggressively pursuing net-zero goals through its emerging Climate Action Plan.

“I’m am unwilling to tell my children and my grandchildren that I decided to destroy the environment that they are going to live in because I wanted to save a couple of dollars on my tax bill,” said Town Meeting member Paul Cramer.

A motion to amend the original motion was submitted by Town Meeting member Royall Switzler to ensure that the Permanent Building Committee would include a study of comparative costs between electric and natural gas heating systems.  Switzler pointed out that electrifying an old and poorly insulated building like Town Hall isn’t the same as electrifying a new school or senior center.

The Advisory Committee voted in favor of the motion, but the amendment was narrowly defeated by a vote of 94 in favor, 110 opposed, 6 abstaining.

Soon after, the main motion easily passed.

For more Town Meeting results, here’s the scorecard. Town Meeting wrapped up on May 5.

(Video courtesy of Wellesley Media)

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The state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in October put in place stiff drinking water safety regulations that set a maximum contaminant level for Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.” That forced communities such as Wellesley to start testing their water in April for a combination of 6 PFAS components from chemicals used since the mid-20th century to make stain-resistant, water-resistant, and non-stick products but that are no longer made in the United States due to health concerns—these chemicals don’t easy break down and stick around in the environment and your body.

Wellesley just got its water testing results back, and they weren’t good for the Morses Pond treatment plant, with traces of PFAS more than double the acceptable level set by DEP (45.1 parts per trillion, far exceeding the 20 parts per trillion limit). Samples from Wellesley’s Rosemary Brook and Longfellow Pond treatment plants were well under the maximum, with both under 11 parts per trillion.

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have regulations on this, but its guideline is 70 parts per trillion. “This more stringent guideline of 20 parts per trillion is very aggressive and that’s intentional on the DEP’s part. They want to be cautious, and we do, too,” said Wellesley Department of Public Works Director David Cohen during this week’s Board of Public Works meeting. Though he did say it’s hard to get their arms around testing for parts per trillion vs. parts per million or billion, which are more typical testing measures.

Since getting the results the DPW has been in outreach mode, connecting with town leadership, the Health Department, and DEP to figure out next steps. After all, the wells near Morses Pond account for about half of the town’s usual water supply.

The first big step taken by the town was shutting down the Morses Pond treatment plant on Monday. “Morses Pond is now offline,” Cohen said.

The DPW now awaits confirmatory samples of the water, and will take more samples in June before finding out what protocol the DEP will put Wellesley on. The town for now will rely more on its other wells, as well as water sourced via a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority connection to the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs, which have just trace levels of PFAS. There’s a mix of science and art in blending water from different sources to deliver safe water to customers.

Despite Wellesley taking quick action to source water, residents can expect to hear from the town about the public needing to reduce water usage as a result of all this. “In the coming weeks we’re going to need some aggressive messaging about having people throttle back,” Cohen said. The DPW has already been working on conservation efforts, and this only speeds things up. Wellesley like much of the state is experiencing mild drought conditions.

The DEP has already begun working with other communities, including Natick and Wayland, that have detected elevated PFAS levels. Natick’s Town Meeting just approved $3M in water treatment facility upgrade spending (see 1 hour, 12 minutes into recording) that will address its PFAS challenges. Wayland has been doling out bottled water intended for those most likely sensitive to its water issues.

Wellesley will be exploring mitigation options, such as carbon filtration, in the months to come. The upshot for customers is that rate hikes could be in the offing to cover such investments, which aren’t cheap. But it’s too soon to say how this might play out cost-wise, Cohen said.

In Wellesley, the source of the PFAS is unclear, but Cohen noted there was a landfill near the water supply. That’s just speculation, he cautioned, when asked about a possible source.

Wellesley’s DPW has readied educational material that it plans to get online as soon as possible, once it gets DEP approval. This will include information about health concerns, including for pregnant and nursing women.

As Board Chair Ellen Korpi put it towards the end of the Public Works meeting: “We have a very complicated story to share with our community here.”

We’ve given it a start here. Expect to hear more from the DPW soon.

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