Southbridge DPW Subcommittee Advances $278,800 Emergency Boiler Repair and Two Budgets

SOUTHBRIDGE — April 9, 2026 — Southbridge DPW subcommittee approves emergency boiler contract and forwards $2.76 million in budgets to Town Council. The Joint DPW Subcommittee and Town Council, meeting April 9 with four members present and Councilor Adam excused, voted 4-0 on every item, including a $278,800 transfer from sewer retained earnings to fund emergency boiler replacement already underway at the West Wastewater Treatment Plant. The panel also approved a $4,500 water insurance transfer, a $20,500 sewer insurance transfer, a $7,500 habitat assessment contract with Tighe and Bond for the Hatch Brook Reservoir No. 3 dredge project, and a $15,000 EPA-mandated Risk and Resiliency Assessment update with the same firm. Stephen Wheeler, a local CDL Class A-licensed resident who had a competing offer from Paxton's DPW, was recommended for appointment as a maintenance man and equipment operator to help cover a position left open when a DPW worker was struck by a car. The FY27 DPW operating budget of $2,342,427 and a $420,000 snow and ice budget — reflecting a current-year deficit driven by roughly $350,000 in salt purchases at $79.47 per ton — were forwarded to the full Town Council.