Support The DPW. Yes On Article 17

To the editor: Let’s give our DPW employees the right tools and equipment to do their jobs. Please vote YES on Article 17.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and spend the money. Nantucket’s DPW, led by Drew Patnode, does a great job for residents and summer visitors alike. DPW crews perform a myriad of tasks that keep our roads safe, maintain parks and playgrounds and keep the Island looking great. DPW crews operate out of 20,000 square feet of dilapidated, reclaimed buildings on Madaket Road. These facilities haven’t been updated in decades.

The Town and DPW have been working on plans for a replacement facility since 2015. The most recent version proposes a new facility on Shadbush Road behind the Airport. Over this past winter, a DPW Work Group assembled by the Town Manager (of which I was a member) met seven times to review the project. Applying value engineering as well as common sense has resulted in a revised project that is 55% smaller than initially proposed but is 40 percent larger and better fitted out than the current operation. The Town expects to put this project before the voters at Town Meeting 2027.

But to get there we need to approve Article 17, which would appropriate $1.2 million to complete the design process: detailed construction plans, engineering details and permitting. A ton of work has gone into this project over the past eleven years. The current proposal will give the DPW the tools it needs going forward while carefully spending taxpayer dollars.

Please support Article 17.

Sincerely,

Joe Grause