A diminished Select Board met Monday, February 3 as Board member Dean Charter attended to personal business and recovering Board member Alissa Nicol joined remotely.
Opening remarks: A now-familiar plea for Forest Road sidewalks was made. Town Manager John Mangiaratti highlighted last week’s closing on the McManus Manor senior housing property and Acton Food Pantry’s signing of the 19-21 Maple St.property lease. Ms. Nicol reported that Mr. Mangiaratti advised the Board that Acton’s subsidized housing inventory is now above 10%, potentially unburdening the town from Chapter 40B requirements.
Dog Park Committee celebrates progress: Mr. Tom Gillispie of the Dog Park Committee addressed the Board, saying that issues with the sewer extension were resolved, that funding had been secured from the Stanton Foundation and earlier from the Community Preservation Act, and a construction contract had been signed. Following his brief remarks, members of the Dog Park Committee joined Select Board members and Assistant Town Manager Thom Begin for a photo opportunity. (The Acton Exchange has previously reported on planning for the dog park: Community Dog Park Project Pads Closer to Construction).
Finance, budgets, and guidance: Mr. Mangiaratti updated the Board on the health insurance increase that he mentioned at the January 27 Board meeting, saying that current budgeting anticipated an 8% to 10% increase in health insurance costs, but that the increase could be greater – to a maximum of 14.8%. He said that the actual cost would not be known until later this month and outlined a variety of options that the Town might use to adapt to the higher cost.
DPW Building: Assistant Town Manager Thom Begin noted a Jan. 29 DPW building presentation at the Council on Aging facility and described an illustration (not included in the linked presentation) of the proposed DPW building’s capacity for the current fleet. The presentation includes a life cycle energy cost comparison for the DPW building, showing lower costs (but higher CO2 emissions) for a natural gas-powered system over air-source or geothermal heat-pump systems.
Briefly noted
- Mr. Mangiaratti noted, and the Board briefly discussed, the upcoming Fire Station Deployment Pilot Program that will begin February 10.
- The Board held another in its series of discussions of a Draft Leaf Blower Control Bylaw; the present meeting’s deliberations concerned enactment dates and blower use dates.
- Mr. Begin noted updates to the Schedule for April 29 Annual Town Election and May 5 Annual Town Meeting, and called attention to the 2025 Political Calendar made available by Town Clerk Leo Mercado that lists deadline dates for nomination papers and voter registration.
- Mr. Mangiaratti presented, and the Board approved, an Inter‐Municipal Agreement between Acton and Littleton for a full-time public health nurse, with costs and duties to be shared between the towns.
Hearings
Another in a series of hearings for a Site Plan Special Permit for 358 Great Road resolved one of the remaining issues for that property; the Board agreed on preparation of a list of conditions that would be required for approval of the permit. A Use Special Permit was granted for Open Door Education, conditioned on submission of a water service contract.
Tom Beals is the Select Board beat reporter for the Acton Exchange as well as on our tech team.