Politics & Government
Can Mobile Home Park Avoid Receivership For Sewer Work?
The Westborough Board of Health wants two letters next week.
The Wayside Mobile Home Park must provide the Westborough Board of Health with two letters next week.
Otherwise, the board, at an emergency meeting tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 3, will vote on whether to seek court-appointed receivership to connect the Route 9 park to Westborough's sewer system.
The board told park residents Tuesday night it wants two letters by next Wednesday, Nov. 27: one from Andy Danforth, who is reviewing the six or seven absentee ballots from the election held Monday for officers of the Turnpike Park Cooperative Inc., which governs the park; and one from park residents Paul Dorr and Scott Knox, who both claim to represent the residents.
Danforth's letter should that the election results are official, health board Chairman Dr. Alan Ehrlich said. And Dorr and Knox should state that they agree there was a "legitimate and valid election," Ehrlich said.
Dorr said Danforth should have the election results next Monday, Nov. 25.
"I think we should give them a week. And by god, you better get it straight," health board member Priscilla Federici said.
"We're not fooling around. A week from Monday, you better have all your ducks in a row, or you're in receivership."
The park at 165 Turnpike Road has a failing septic system, but had five years to connect to the Westborough sewer system, Director of Public Health McNulty has said.
The five-year window closed in May.
In July, the health board gave the park residents until the board's Sept. 24 meeting to secure project financing. The cooperative also had to have its first election in about a year.
Otherwise, McNulty would be directed to seek court-ordered receivership for the park, to accomplish the job.
In July, Dorr presented the board with a signed proposal, dated June 7, from the Northboro Septic Service, estimating the project's cost at $627,275. The work would begin on March 1, 2014 and end by Nov. 1.
Find out what's happening in Westboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In October, the board asked Dorr to provide McNulty with two pieces of information within two weeks of Tuesday night's meeting: a letter from TD Bank about when financing should be secured; and a letter from the Northboro Septic Service stating that company's deadline for committing to the construction.
Tuesday night, Ehrlich said Dorr said funding hinges on the banks completing their due diligence, and the governance issues being resolved.Health board member Dr. Nathan Walsh said that he had hoped to hear that "all of the governance issues (were) worked out."
"It's already leaving a taste in my mouth that it's not solved," Walsh said.
Knox said that "on the 25th, we should be totally through all this. We will have your answers at that point."
Walsh said that "We've got to get this project done. I still don't see this as moving forward at a speed moving fast enough to accomplish what we need."
Town Counsel Greg Franks outlined the receivership process in a Nov. 6 memo to McNulty and the board.
State law allows the board to petition the district, housing or superior courts "to enforce the standards of fitness for human habitation set forth in the state sanitary code," Franks wrote.
The board may also petition for a receiver "where it is shown that the sanitary code violations will not be properly remedied without a receiver," Franks wrote.
"A receiver is authorized to collect rents and shall apply the rents to payment of any repairs necessary to bring the property into compliance with the sanitary code and to necessary expenses of operation, maintenance and management of the property," he wrote.
Find out what's happening in Westboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
