September 23rd, 2024 Select Board Meeting

Fire Department

• Steele McCurdy from the fire department gave an update on the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. 

• Due to the closure, there is an increased volume of emergency calls from Nashoba. 

• Mr. Steele explained that the fire department was increasing their personnel to meet the needs of the community, and that the surrounding towns were doing this as well.

• The Select Board approved the appointment of Steele McCurdy as the fire chief of the Littleton Fire Department. 

• The Finance Committee joined the Select Board.

Parks and Rec

• Rotation of fields is important. Having the ability to “rest” fields on a regular schedule can save on maintenance costs and keep the fields in better shape.

• The two new fields that were added recently are having trouble with wetness.

• The article in the warrant is asking for an additional $300,000 for fields.

• There had been a question about whether an access road could be built between Indian Hill and Littleton High School. Parks and Rec did look into that but it can not fit in the current design.

• Carolyn from CPC said that all of the project is considered under one article. She would have liked to see them split into two separate articles. Tim said that packaging it together was less expensive than if they had two separate projects.

• CPC will meet on the third Wednesday.

• They asked for an increase in their spending cap from $1,500,000 to $1,800,000. This is needed because they had an increased number of program participants so they had to buy more supplies. Also, prices of supplies have gone up in recent years. The costs associated with their field trips, such as entrance fees, have also gone up recently. When asked about whether they had reviewed their participation fees, they said they continuously reviewed them. Their fees have kept up with the increase in program expenses, however, they want to keep fees as low as possible for participants.

• The Select Board approved the appointment of Giuliana Castellanos to the Cultural Council.

• The Select Board approved the appointment of Marianne Heer to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board of Trustees.

• The Select Board approved the request by the town clerk to shorten the hours of early voting on one of the days so that their office would have time to prepare for the upcoming town meeting.

Town Warrant Articles

• • The Select Board reviewed each of the articles in the draft of the town warrant to determine whether they should be on the final warrant.

  • Article on Nagog Orchard cleaning.

  • Article on the tennis court and Whitcomb field renovation. The Select Board wants to recommend this article, but it is dependent upon the CPC vote for the additional funding and other outstanding information.

  • Article on Schedule D part-time employees, such as firefighters on call.

  • Article on reallocating funds on the Indian Hill purchase. This is essentially a housekeeping item that asks for approval to allow funding that was saved on architectural costs to be used for construction costs.

  • Article on transferring funds for capital projects. Want to be able to set aside funds for emergency uses so that they can spend it without having to get approval from other committees

  • Article on setting aside $6,000 of the $12,000 for zoning work.

  • Article on the $50,000 that had been set aside for Nagog.

  • Article on Conservation Commission wanting to charge the responsible party for a portion of a property they now control. They have already done a survey of the land. It is filled with invasive weeds. Board members wanted to research this a little bit more.

  • Article that would allow the town clerk to make changes such as renumbering the bylaws or similar types of adjustments.

  • The Board voted to move the article on the marijuana facility up to number 5 since it is likely to have a lot of questions and discussions at town meetings.

The Board voted to adjourn the meeting.