Enough talk about the Bert’s eyesore. It’s past time for the town to act.

I am writing to once again urge the town to take action to remove the [former] Bert’s Restaurant eyesore:

1. The Select Board (SB) should place an agenda item for an upcoming meeting (with notice to the owners) for the purpose of voting on whether to arrange for a full inspection of the property.
2. A full documentary and photographic report of the existing condition of the property should then be assembled.
3.  The SB should then place an agenda item for an upcoming meeting (with notice to the owners) for the purpose of voting on whether, based on the report, the property constitutes a public nuisance
4. The SB should then include a Warrant Article in the Spring ATM (Annual Town Meeting) seeking to appropriate a sum sufficient to demolish the structure. MGL c. 139, s. 3-3A and MGL c. 123-125 authorize the SB to do so. No additional bylaw is needed for this purpose.
5. If Town Meeting votes to appropriate this sum, a request for proposals (RFP) should then issue for the purpose of hiring a contractor to demolish the structure.
6. The cost of demolition would then, by virtue of these statutes, be added to the tax bill for the property.

The time for further negotiations with the owners of this property has long since passed. Nothing concentrates the mind better than the adoption of an action agenda and the commitment to carry it out in a timely manner.

– Richard M. Serkey

Serkey is a Precinct 2 Town Meeting member.

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