Thursday, January 25, 2024

Each year, at the Annual Town Meeting, voters assemble to debate and ultimately approve funding for operating the town during the next fiscal year.  Included are funds for the maintenance, improvement, and creation of capital facilities.

Orleans has over 40 buildings or fixed equipment and owns over 100 pieces of rolling stock. The Town Charter sets up procedures for maintaining and updating these capital assets by requiring the development of a five-year Capital Improvements Plan.  The plan is prepared by the Town Manager annually and submitted for a review process on January 15^th.

This forum provided an overview of three critical parts of this process, presented by the following panelists.

• Kim Newman, Town Manager, presented the draft of the five-year Capital Improvements Plan
• John Ostman, Member of the Long Range Capital Planning Committee, presented the recent work of the committee, which is charged with projecting out an additional 15 years to alert the town about longer-range needs
• Alan McClennen, member of the Long Range Capital Planning Committee and OCF board member, moderated

The Orleans Citizens Forum is an unbiased, public service organization dedicated to keeping
the residents of Orleans knowledgeable about the issues confronting our town