Finance Committee takes no position on Town Center articles ahead of Monday vote

WESTON — March 14, 2019 — Weston Finance Committee withholds endorsement on $19 million Town Center articles. The committee voted 7-2 for no position on the $10.9 million master plan and 6-2-1 for no position on the $8.1 million utility undergrounding ahead of the March 18 Town Meeting. Project manager Steve LaRock reported the rebid drew five qualified bidders, with Gioso low at $13.6 million all-in, slightly below the lone November bid. Members focused on a $2.87 million Eversource line that an outside consultant repriced at less than half — "this number's just bogus," Chair Bharath Venkataraman said. Members also faulted the warrant for offering no scaled-down "level of service" option, which engineers estimated at $5.4 million to $6.2 million. Median household tax impact was pegged at roughly $300 annually.