Oxford BOS: sewer extension; fees raised for assorted business licenses

OXFORD – Selectmen on Tuesday, April 3, signed the Inter-municipal Agreement between the Town of Oxford and the Town of Dudley for the Transportation of Wastewater. Dudley selectmen had signed the agreement the day before, after rejecting it at their March 19 meeting.

Town Manager Joseph Zeneski said there had been some misunderstanding with Dudley, which was resolved after meetings between town and state officials.

The agreement allows Oxford to build a pressure sewer line through Dudley, which will then connect to the Webster waste treatment plant. Owners of Dudley properties along the route will be able to connect to the line, but they will be customers of Oxford, which will do the billing and collecting.

In January, Oxford received a $2.2 million grant from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program for the sewer line extension, given specifically to support IPG Photonics' expansion of its corporate headquarters in the town.

At its announcement, the grant was described as a win for all three towns. The businesses in Oxford on Old Webster Road would be able to tie in, future development along Old Oxford Road in Dudley would become possible, and for Webster it meant additional customers for its greatly underutilized sewage treatment plant.

At the Tuesday meeting, selectmen also voted to increase the license fees for certain businesses after discussing the time involved to administer the paperwork, the police support required in some cases, and the fact that these fees had not been changed since 2007.

Class I, II, and III car sales licenses will increase from $75 to $100. Yard sales permits will go from $5 to $10. A new fee for out-of-town constables will be $50. There will be no charge for local constables.

Selectmen had a lengthy discussion about the appropriate increase for alcohol sales licenses, noting that Oxford's 2 a.m. bar closing time brings people from surrounding communities with 1 a.m. closing times, necessitating extra police patrols.

The fees were changed as follows:

The all-alcohol license fee for pouring and package stores increased from $1,000 to $1,350. Establishments that stay open until 2 a.m. will pay an additional $150 “special privilege” fee.

The all-alcohol fee for private clubs remains $675. Wine and malt pouring fees go from $575 to $775, wine and malt package store fees go from $525 to $725, and special pouring licenses (30 days in a calendar year) will go from $100 to $125.

In other business, Mr. Zeneski reported that the town had received a notice from Lt. Governor Timothy Murray that the town's Chapter 90 apportionment for FY 2013 is $505,143, based on the passage of the pending bond bill. Chapter 90 monies are used for local transportation infrastructure improvements.

Mr. Zeneski also brought a request from the School Building Committee to add $1.7 million to the proposed $5.7 million budget for air conditioning for the Oxford Middle School project. While the extra costs would be reimbursed at 57% by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the board agreed that it did not wish to add to the taxpayers burden, and did not act on the request.

The board also initiated a review of Access Oxford cable to determine how the $140,000 per year paid to Charter is being spent, and to assess the possibility of updating the video recording equipment.