Build To Minister

GEORGETOWN The Board of Selectmen and town administrator are considering several strategic initiatives and objectives for the upcoming year.

A list of the annual planning ideas made available to the press late last week indicates the board has set it sights on increasing services for senior citizens, executing a plan for an affordable housing trust, enabling economic development initiatives and strengthening capital improvement planning.

It hopes to foster stronger communications with constituents, as well as the towns relationships with contacts and agencies at the state and federal levels. Improving cross-functional working relationships between town departments is also on the selectmens radar.

The board has set as an objective the successful replacement or refurbishing of Penn Brook Elementary School. Voters will likely be asked to fund $26 million of a $47.7 million building project in the spring. The remainder should be covered with a reimbursement from the states School Building Authority. Building a new K-6 grade school on a wooded section of the Penn Brook property is the choice of town and school officials to deal with crowding issues at the Middle/High School that threatens its accreditation. Six-graders would be moved from the middle school on Winter Street to the new Penn Brook School.

Selectmen will examine a potential new health care design and any related financial savings. Theyll review performances of department heads over the past year and set new goals for them in the upcoming year. Union contracts will be finalized, and open seats on appointed boards and committees will be advertised to the community and promptly filled.

The board will consider the impact of state policy mandates and discuss possible alternative solutions. It hopes to strengthen relationships with governments from neighboring communities and supports the creation of a regional town board to facilitate communication and the exchange of ideas.

It will review governmental structures and financial planning and policies and make recommendations for improvements in 2012 and plans to continue with its efforts to develop the towns strategic plan. Voters rejected a $50,000 request to fund the long-term planning blueprint at a special meeting in November.