Time for a Strategic Infrastructure Blueprint

After attending the last Board of Selectmen's meeting, hearing Dedham's FY2009 Budget presentation, and meeting with some of our elected officials on an individual basis, I want to applaud what I sense is a critical and refreshing move in the right direction for our town government.

As a resident, homeowner and taxpayer in Dedham since 1988, I have longed for a more strategic, long-range approach to infrastructure improvements in our town. Too many expensive problems have been ignored or delayed, leaving us with more projects than we can now reasonably afford. Adding to the challenge, we've spent scarce tax dollars on a number of costly purchases of land that now seem like white elephants (e.g., Striar property.) or some that may never be needed for town purposes (St. Mary's parking lot.)

The town sorely needs one staging and timing blueprint to coordinate all the competing infrastructure demands facing us. I propose establishing a Strategic Infrastructure Planning Committee similar to the School Building Rehabilitation Committee, which successfully created a thoughtful twenty-five year plan to address the school's critical infrastructure issues, which is now in its second phase of implementation. This new committee would include a manageable number of town leaders and neighborhood representatives. Working in concert with Dedham's anticipated Master Plan, SIPC would review, prioritize and cost out all major town proposals. Overseen with rigorous management, we would have a comprehensive, sustainable master project plan - paying as we go while responsibly serving our community.

This plan would incorporate the school system's infrastructure plan - orchestrating a smart staging order for all projects. Along the way, we would also identify land and buildings available for reuse, an often-overlooked asset. For example, under the school's plan, we already know that the current Avery School could become available for another reuse in approximately three to four years, and help us avoid another costly land purchase.

Setting a cost-effective schedule is critical - since we can't just keep spending on more projects without looking at the long-term tax and social/community impacts. And, at the same time, we can't afford to keep pushing off problems (such as whether to build a new police station) into the future - as we're now paying for decades of delays at higher and higher costs.

The good news is that millions in debt exclusion and debt will be paid off and/or retired in the coming six years. Carefully managed, we can take advantage of these "debt roll-off windows", strategically voting for and placing the most critical new projects on line in a way that takes advantage of retiring debt. This master blueprint and smart staging will take a lot of work, but with the right kind of thoughtful, dedicated leadership, I'm confident Dedham can do it. The payoff should be a town that not only survives the next few years of tough economic times, but also flourishes in the future.