Capital Planning Committee: November 10, 2026

The Chelmsford Capital Planning Committee held a capital-budget hearing on November 10, 2026, to review requests for the FY28 capital plan. The town manager’s proposed capital target is $6 million against 31 project requests totaling $8.24 million, so the committee emphasized that it must prioritize rather than fund every request. The meeting was a review of proposals; no votes or awards were reported. The town clerk revisited the ongoing records-digitization project, noting prior funding of $300,000 from Town Meeting and a $100,000 Compact IT grant, with about $275,000 remaining from the appropriation. The town aims to launch a public-facing records portal and continue scanning and storage work; the clerk said existing funds should cover FY27, with continued funding needed afterward.

Facilities and technology proposals included senior-center restroom design (the presentation cited $65,000 while the spreadsheet showed $60,000); Adams Library roof planning and a critical HVAC replacement, for which $400,000 was requested toward a project estimated at about $2.2 million; and $650,000 toward design and planning for fire-station HVAC improvements, with construction potentially costing $1 million–$2 million. The police chief sought $66,000 for an integrated, cloud-based computer-aided dispatch and records-management system from ARMS, including migration of historical data; other quotes were cited at roughly $281,000 and $400,000–$500,000. The fire chief presented a $234,340 replacement for the end-of-life fire alerting system, with a federal grant application unsuccessful, and requested replacement of an aging fire vehicle. DPW also reviewed fleet replacement needs, including equipment for snow and ice operations; one vehicle request was withdrawn during discussion. The proposals reflect priorities for aging facilities, public-safety communications, and fleet reliability, but remain subject to the committee’s budget prioritization.