A deal with NStar utilities that would bring millions into town coffers over the next two years is still not finalized and may require convening a special Town Meeting this summer.
NStar wants to use the town's Ellis Avenue substation to provide additional power to Westwood.
In exchange, the two sides have negotiated the outline of a deal that stipulates the town will get roughly $2 million over the next two years. After that period, the company would pay the municipal light department $1.8 million from the remainder of the contract, which could last between 10 and 20 years.
Town officials have a request to borrow $24 million in front of Town Meeting, but they have opted to table it until the body wraps up its business, possibly Monday night.
If a deal is not finalized by the conclusion of Town Meeting, officials say it may require a subsequent Town Meeting be called this summer or fall.
"I certainly hope we get it done by Monday," Selectman Jerry Kelleher said yesterday, adding that the two sides had a four-hour marathon negotiating session Friday. "We're very, very close, so I hope we can get it done. I don't want to have to call everybody back in the summer."
General Manager John Carroll recommended Town Meeting table the plan until it concludes its business in the hopes a final deal can be struck before Town Meeting adjourns.
"We're still negotiating and trying to work out all the details," said Carroll.
Selectmen Chairman Mike Lyons said the larger points have been agreed upon.
"Basically, it's a language issue right now - it has nothing to do with the numbers," said Lyons.
Selectmen want to borrow the $24 million to install a transformer inside the substation and a pair of duct lines beneath portions of University Avenue and Rte. 1.
Under terms that have been agreed upon in principle, the town's Electric Light Department would do the work and NStar would pay the town's debt service from the borrowing on a monthly basis, meaning the town would not pay any money for the work. Beginning the third year of the deal, NStar will pay the light department $150,000 a month during the length of the deal, equating to $1.8 million a year.
If the town chooses to terminate the deal, it must give NStar five years' notice, at which point the company's monthly payments would be cut in half, meaning the light department would receive $900,000 a year instead of $1.8 million.
Town officials estimate that $3.5 million of the $24 million in work will result in improvements to the light department's facilities.
Daily News staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or at bfalla@cnc.com
