To kick off the new year, officials in northern Franklin County towns shared their plans for 2024.

Warwick

The town will certainly have a full plate in 2024. One of the bigger issues is the continued operation of the town’s new school district, which opened in the fall. Alan Genovese, a member of the town’s Selectboard, said the town has revamped its Highway Department and hired a new highway superintendent and will be working to put better systems in place to improve operations. One matter they’ll be focused on in 2024 will be clearing fallen trees from roadsides, coordinated by the Conservation Commission and Forestry Committee.

“We have a very active highway commission that will work with the superintendent and the new crew that he will be supervising,” said Genovese.

Other matters that Genovese said would be key next year are the Capital Planning Committee putting together a list of municipal equipment purchases as well as completing the new fire station.

“This is a matter of multi-tasking and handling aspects of every one of them,” he said of the different projects for the next year. “They’re all really important to the operation of the town.”

Erving

Erving Town Planner Mariah Kurtz said town officials have “a lot going on” in 2024, including a project that she’s been working on with the library called “Making it Public,” a selective annual program that awarded the town $15,000 to display public art in Erving.

Near the beginning of 2023, Kurtz went through training alongside Library Director Abby Baines, and at the end of the year, they put out a call for art. Eight proposals were received. This month, Kurtz said they will review the proposals and pick one to move forward with. The artist they pick will then install a temporary sculpture in front of Erving Public Library as part of its summer reading program.

Two other projects that Erving is working on are repaving Maple Avenue and a section of Bridge Street. The town will also be rebuilding a wall on Bridge Street.

Kurtz said the probable cost for the projects will be $750,000, to be funded through a combination of the Winter Recovery Assistance Program (WRAP), Special Project Appropriation and Wastewater Enterprise funding.

Erving has also received a technical assistant grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to pay for a Swamp Road Bridge feasibility study, Kurtz said.

“This was a bridge that was damaged severely in the storms several years ago when we had flooding on Keyup Brook,” Kurtz explained. “The bridge was damaged beyond repair and so it was removed.”

The purpose of this study, she said, is to work with a consultant to consider a replacement bridge.