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Athol Finance Committee recommends passing 30 of 34 Town Meeting articles – Athol Daily News

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Athol Finance Committee recommends passing 30 of 34 Town Meeting articles – Athol Daily News

Overview:

The Athol Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee recommended passing 30 of the 34 Town Meeting articles, with two recommended against and two held until the next meeting. The two articles that were not recommended for passage dealt with the town’s responsibility for maintenance of private roadways. Article 29 would amend the town’s bylaws to allow temporary repairs to be made to private ways, while Article 34 would require the town to minimally maintain all asphalt private roads. The committee decided to delay action on Articles 7 and 21 until the Selectboard addresses the issue at its meeting on Tuesday.

ATHOL – A recent meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee saw a recommendation to pass 30 of the 34 Town Meeting articles, with two recommended against and the two more held until the next meeting.

In light of the uncertainty over the details of Article 29 and concerns regarding Article 34, a citizen’s petition, the committee voted unanimously not to recommend passage. The two articles each have to do with the town’s responsibility relative to maintenance of private roadways, including temporary repairs and plowing.

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Article 29 would amend Chapter V, Section 33 of the town’s bylaws by removing the wording of Section 33 in its entirety and replacing it with new language. This section of the bylaw deals with the maintenance of private ways.

The new wording describes temporary repairs as including “grading and/or the filling of holes or depressions, as the superintendent of public works may deem suitable…[I]n no event shall such temporary repairs include extensive construction, reconstruction or installation of drainage.” The work would be done at the discretion of the highway superintendent.

The article also states that a petition from three-fourths of the abutters on a private way asking for temporary repairs can be presented to the Selectboard and forwarded to the Department of Public Works director. It will be up to the director to determine whether the requested repairs constitute a “public necessity.” The Selectboard will then vote to either approve or deny the petition following a public hearing.

Committee Chair Ken Duffy pointed out the existing bylaw requires petitions to be signed by all of the abutters. DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. added that, while the property of abutters on most private ways extends to the middle of the road, King Road is different.

“That one whole road is owned by one person on the end,” Raskevitz said at the committee’s meeting on May 12.

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Article 29 also states that, if a petition is approved, the town manager must then determine if funds are available to do the work, “whether the financing…requires an appropriation, or borrowing.” If approved, the Selectboard must also determine if abutters will be assessed betterment charges and whether they will be required to put down a cash deposit for the work.

Article 34, submitted as a citizen’s petition from residents of King Road and other private ways, would maintain the wording of Chapter V, Section 33, relative to private roads. It also calls for the town to “minimally maintain all asphalt private roads” in the town. Such maintenance would include annual filling of potholes “with use of only asphalt or asphalt-based materials” and “minimal repairs of road drainage issues,” such as repairs to culverts.

“I was out on King Road Sunday,” said committee Chair Ken Duffy. “That first quarter mile is a bomb field. I know nothing about roads, but to me, we don’t have enough patch in this town for that section. That first two-tenths of a mile has got to be right down to the ground, to the dirt.”

“The problem is the lowest part,” said DPW Director Paul Raskevitz. “After it rains, it’s covered in standing water everywhere.”

Regarding the articles, said Duffy, “I think we have to think long and hard about what we’re getting into. After Article 29, the petition article says all the town roads are to be maintained, including that potholes be filled.”

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Raskevitz said there are currently 33 private roads in Athol totaling about three miles in length. Of that number, only seven are plowed by the town in winter, through a memorandum of understanding approved by the Selectboard.

“Plowing it is one thing,” said Duffy. “Maintaining is a whole different ballgame.”

Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said the current wording for Article 29 is “just a placeholder,” adding that the Selectboard will look at a shorter version at its meeting on Tuesday, May 19.

“It’s a little too close to Town Meeting to change it,” Suhoski said. “I think we’re going to need a fall meeting this year.”

The articles on which the committee decided to delay action were Articles 7 and 21, both of which will be taken up by the Selectboard at its meeting on Tuesday. Article 7 deals with the proposed town budget for FY 27, while Article 21 asks for a transfer of $100,000 from free cash to the account set aside for “demolishing or securing unsafe structures.”

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Several committee members, including Mike Butler and Vice Chair Ben Feldman said that, at this juncture, they opposed such a transfer. Both decided to wait until the committee’s meeting next Wednesday to see how the Selectboard addresses the issue at its Tuesday meeting before entertaining a motion to not recommend Article 21.

The Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, May 19, begins at 7 p.m. in Room 21 at Town Hall. The May 20 meeting of the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee starts at 5:30 p.m., also in Room 21. Town Meeting takes place on June 8.

Finance

SixCap Healthcare Finance Appoints Carroll as Senior Relationship Manager

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SixCap Healthcare Finance Appoints Carroll as Senior Relationship Manager

SixCap Healthcare Finance added Dan Carroll as senior relationship manager, reporting to the company’s co-founder and chief investment officer, Dan Whitwer.

Carroll brings more than 20 years of commercial finance, portfolio management and healthcare asset-based lending experience to SixCap. Throughout his career, he has managed complex healthcare lending relationships, led portfolio management teams, overseen loan closings and partnered closely with borrowers to support growth while maintaining disciplined credit management.

Most recently, Carroll held leadership positions at Siena, CNH Finance and Triumph Healthcare Finance, building extensive expertise in healthcare lending, credit analysis, loan structuring, risk management and client relationship management.

In his new role, Carroll will oversee borrower relationships across SixCap’s growing healthcare portfolio, working closely with clients to provide proactive portfolio management, responsive service and financing solutions that evolve alongside their businesses.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dan to the SixCap team,” Whitwer said. “I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Dan and have seen firsthand the integrity, experience and thoughtful approach he brings to every client relationship. He understands healthcare, he understands asset-based lending and, most importantly, he understands the value of building lasting partnerships. As our portfolio continues to grow, Dan’s leadership and commitment to exceptional client service make him a tremendous addition to our team.”

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Big financing steps forward for The 78, Foundry Park projects

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Big financing steps forward for The 78, Foundry Park projects

Two of Chicago’s most pivotal but challenging undeveloped sites — Foundry Park on the North Side and the vacant South Loop parcel known as The 78 — moved forward in a big way Wednesday before the City Council adjourned for a summer recess.

Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced a $201.6 million tax increment financing subsidy for JDL Development’s scaled back vision for North Side industrial land along the Chicago River that once was supposed to be home to the Lincoln Yards megaproject.

And despite a slew of concerns from Council members, the full Council approved a $425 million TIF for The 78, a reference to Chicago’s unofficial 78th community area. The subsidy will bankroll public improvements needed for the South Loop development, anchored by a $750 million soccer stadium privately financed by Chicago Fire billionaire owner Joe Mansueto.

Downtown Ald. Bill Conway (34th), whose adjacent TIF is being raided to help The 78, again refused to go along with the $250.1 million piece of the infrastructure package that will primarily be used to build a 1,200-space parking garage. The $216 million garage will serve as the “podium” for an open-air plaza and future high-rise development on the air rights above the garage.

Referring to the Bears’ long-running stadium saga, Conway said Wednesday he appreciates the Fire “not trying to move to Hammond, Indiana, and become the Hammond Sparks.” But he said he “cannot look the taxpayers in the eye and tell them” he supported spending “$250 million to build a stadium parking garage and plaza.”

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Finance Chair Pat Dowell, whose 3rd Ward includes The 78, has argued that the podium “brings the site to grade at Roosevelt Road” and is the key to “unlocking the site from the isolation that has stalled every previous development proposal.”

Deputy Planning Commissioner Jeff Cohen made that same point Wednesday, with a new wrinkle.

“The idea here is to incorporate that garage into the podium,” Cohen said. “It’s addressing a design and development plan that allows for all of the land within The 78 to be open for investment, rather than having to have either temporary or permanent surface parking lots to accommodate the car traffic.”

An artist’s rendering of the planned Chicago Fire soccer stadium at The 78 in the South Loop.

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The $201.6 million subsidy proposed for Foundry Park pales by comparison to the $1.3 billion that former Mayor Rahm Emanuel once proposed for Lincoln Yards. That massive subsidy became a political lightning rod, with the avalanche of criticism led by the Chicago Teachers Union and then-union organizer Brandon Johnson.

The $201.6 million subsidy that Johnson introduced at Wednesday’s Council meeting is more likely to be criticized for being too little.

It will support just over 25% of the $800 million worth of roads, bridges, utilities and mass transit improvements that 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins has said were mandated as part of the Lincoln Yards plan.

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Foundry Park developer Jim Letchinger acknowledged that there is “other infrastructure that the neighborhood would like to see done that is not possible right now.”

But Letchinger added it’s a start that includes the long-promised extension of the popular 606 Trail. “If you don’t start with something that’s achievable, you can’t achieve anything.”

“We have a plan to actually start building and creating revenue right away in conjunction with building our infrastructure … A lot of parks. Massive riverwalk. Ten acres of public open space. Very usable, very engaging,” Letchinger said Wednesday.

“As we continue to build, since we’re not using anywhere near all the increment that we’re creating, the other increment can go toward other projects that the neighborhood would like to see — whether it’s to build a bridge or fixing Elston Avenue, or anything else that they’re anxious about,” he said.

Public improvements promised to residents, but not covered by the $201.6 million subsidy, include another bridge crossing the Chicago River and a realignment of Elston Avenue, which Letchinger called a positive move in the long run, but a “massive undertaking” complicated by cost and property control.

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“No private developer can realign Elston. It’s impossible. The city is the only one that can do that, and they’re working on it. There’s plans for it. But it will take a very long time,” Lechtinger said.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said there is “one bridge that a lot of people still want,” but it goes through private properties owned by Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete and several other owners.

“The city would have to do it as a taking [of property], and that would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. So they took that off the table because … that bridge wasn’t necessary at this time,” Waguespack told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Letchinger’s plan for roughly 34 vacant acres of the site calls for up to 3,737 residences, 20% of them designated as affordable to comply with the city’s set-aside rules. The new design includes low- to mid-rise buildings, some for offices, grouped near open space and riverfront access. Buildings would get ground-floor retail, and one is slated as a boutique hotel.

The project’s reduced density has drawn praise from residents. And Waguespack said he’s satisfied with the reduced public subsidy.

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“In the future if there’s more needed, we could go back and do it. But this is much more grounded in a realistic infrastructure project that will still satisfy all the needs of connecting the neighborhoods,” Waguespack said.

Hopkins said he views the scaled-down subsidy and the infrastructure projects as “wholly inadequate” and a broken promise to Lincoln Park and Bucktown residents.

“Lincoln Yards provided for two bridges with the possibility of a third. Foundry Park has zero,” Hopkins said. “I don’t want to move on a vague verbal promise that we might consider adding a bridge later. The time to add it is now while the redevelopment agreement is still pending. And the fact that it was omitted is tragic. Also, the [Elston-Armitage] intersection redesign and the new Metra station seems to have fallen by the wayside.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Johnson proposed a tax break for Chicago’s booming film and television industries — by reducing the 15% personal property lease transaction tax to 11%.

The tax has been raised twice in recent years and was the biggest piece of the revenue package that helped balance the $16.7 billion budget for 2026. It has exceeded revenue projections by $40.3 million through June 30, allowing Johnson to offer the break in hopes of attracting more film and TV productions to Chicago.

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The City Council also followed a trail blazed by Gov. JB Pritzker and his counterparts in six other states by prohibiting present and former city employees — and elected officials — from using insider information to bet on prediction markets. Apps including Kalshi and Polymarket are used to place bets on everything from election winners and the number of candidates entering a specific race for office, to budgetary and foreign policy decisions by elected officials.

Championed by Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd), the ordinance prohibits current or former city officials, appointees and employees from using “confidential information or any non-public information, including the identity of the subject of an investigation” to either participate in prediction markets or “assist any other person” placing those bets.

The Council also confirmed Johnson’s appointment of Dr. Garth Walker as the city’s public health commissioner.

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Finance

The average cost of fertility treatments and how to plan for them

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The average cost of fertility treatments and how to plan for them

Covering the cost of fertility treatment can feel like yet another hurdle in a process that is already physically and emotionally draining. Not only do you have to go through the testing and medical procedures involved, you can also end up paying tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For families who want to have kids or women who want to afford themselves a little more time, though, this can feel like a price well worth paying. But the process may necessitate some financial planning. Research can also go a long way, as insurance companies increasingly offer coverage.

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