ASHBURNHAM — Though 2018 was a financially chaotic time for the town, the main focus of local officials is in getting the town’s financial house in order and pivoting to concentrate all available energies on economic development.
During a recent Board of Selectmen meeting, new Town Administrator Brian Doheny reported that the draft audit for fiscal 2019 was sent to the state Department of Revenue on Feb. 13. Doheny said they had a few comments and concerns with regard to some of the balances.
“We are trying to work through those right now,” he told the board. “Once they are resolved, we are hoping we will get free cash certified right after that. It’s a good thing if we get free cash certified sooner rather than later.”
Doheny added that his draft fiscal 2021 budget will be ready for selectmen this week, then on to the Advisory Board later in the week.
There have been a few people expressing interest in marijuana cultivation in town. A marijuana review team has been formed with Doheny as chairman and a non-voting member. He commended all who have participated in the recent meetings to produce an application and policy for all those seeking to grow and sell marijuana in Ashburnham. The marijuana application review team has met twice so far, Feb. 4 and Feb. 13.
Doheny said that soon there will be an application that interested parties can access online with drop-down menus. He explained that after an application is complete, the marijuana review team will pull the application from online, meet with the applicant and go over a lot of the questions. Once the applicant is ready, the review team will decide whether the applicant should move forward with the process and work on a host agreement with selectmen.
The school district has also presented a draft 2021 budget, and Selectman Leo Janssens attended their budget meeting to see what it would mean for the Ashburnham side of the district. Janssens reported that he took away two conclusions from the recent School Committee budget presentation.
“I am jealous of them because they are audited like our town does, and they use Melanson Heath (same auditing firm as the town),” he said. “What I took away from her report was their books are always in order. Their budget is tight but managed well.”
Janssens said the school district’s draft operating budget is going to increase by 3.3 percent — it will reflect a 2.5 percent increase for Ashburnham.
“This was the proposed budget,” Janssens said. “It still has work to go.”
The budget can be found at https://www.awrsd.org/.
Ashburnham Economic Development Commission Chairman Kirby Lecy gave the selectmen an update on where the commission is presently and where it is going.
Lecy explained that there has been massive amounts of work since the group’s inception, compiling data on properties and what makes them appealing for business and what is holding them back from being utilized, whether it is zoning or something else. Lecy said the information is both on private and town-owned properties. She said planned activities for 2020 will be to analyze data amassed and prioritize.
“We understand that economic development takes time and strategy,” said Lecy. “Economic development takes a village in some ways, and we see our role as helping convene that village by acting as a clearinghouse for information and strategy.”
She said connecting with local chambers of commerce and state and federal agencies will be imperative to development moving forward. They are beginning to focus on property inventory and what is available along with what restrictions might be tied to that property.
When asked to prioritize what she felt was needed from selectmen, Lecy said, “I think that just a focus across the town on economic development is going to be imperative, whether that means asking every committee that sits within the selectmen’s auspices or the town’s auspices: What do you envision your role in economic development as, or what steps are you taking on your committee or commission around economic development?”
