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WINDSOR

Windsor’s Planning Commission completed its annual review of the town’s five-year capital improvement plan March 24, voting unanimously with two absent to recommend Town Council once again approve the document.

Among the differences between the current plan and the 2021-2025 plan adopted last year are an added $50,000 allocated in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for the hiring of a consultant to update the town’s Comprehensive Plan, and $5,000 for street light extension in fiscal years 2023 and 2025 rather than the $2,000 that had been allocated each fiscal year starting in 2022. 

The $8,000 allotted for geographic information system improvements has also increased to $10,000 and is now spread out into two $5,000 installments in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. There’s also a change in police body-cam replacements from a one-time payment to installments of $5,250 a year over the next four fiscal years, and the addition of $5,000 a year for taser replacement in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

The allotted funds for a parking lot in the town’s cemetery remains unchanged at $35,000 for fiscal year 2022, but the project could potentially be delayed.

“It’s not the highest of priorities,” said Town Manager William Saunders.

The plan also now includes $25,000 annually for fiscal years 2022 through 2024 and $30,000 a year for 2025 and 2026 slated for water meter replacement.

“Most water meters in town are 15-20 years old … they’re failing at a rate of about a dozen per month,” Saunders said.

All other projects funded via the town’s water fund remain unchanged, though some have been re-prioritized to begin in different years than slated in the 2021-2025 plan. A planned $100,000 replacement of the 4-inch water mains on Randolph Drive with 8-inch ones was also struck from the 2022-2026 CIP after the town’s Water Department determined the upgrade wasn’t necessary, Saunders said.

Overall, the 2022-2026 plan totals nearly half a million dollars less than last year’s five-year plan, largely owing to the completion of a $680,000 public works building under budget. Construction began in 2020, with the roughly 4,000-square-foot structure recently receiving a temporary certificate of occupancy from Isle of Wight County.

The building will house the town’s maintenance vehicles, equipment and spare parts, and serve as a new office for the town’s public works staff, which had been operating out of an old pump house on Duke Street.