Lincoln Select Board appoints Stephen Olson DPW superintendent, opens March warrant

LINCOLN -- January 6, 2025, Lincoln Select Board hires Wellesley water chief Stephen Olson to lead DPW. The board voted 3-0 Monday to appoint Olson, who has run a 27-employee, roughly $29 million Wellesley water department, as Department of Public Works superintendent effective Jan. 21, replacing the retiring Chris Bibbo. Town Administrator Tim Higgins also previewed a fiscal 2026 budget with $44,000 in restorations and $196,706 in preferred items, the largest of which is $104,000 for a 14th police officer, the department's first headcount increase since 2000. Police Chief Sean Kennedy told the board the case rests on changed work, not population, citing 50 to 60 Hanscom cases a year and "limited resilience to deal with a hiccup" in the current 13-officer roster. Member Jim Hutchinson, anticipating Finance Committee pushback that a 14th officer would tie Weston at 2.14 officers per 1,000 residents, asked Higgins to revise the comparison table to include Hanscom population. The board also appointed Naila Paramali to the IDEA committee and Joseph Machado as a call firefighter, opened the March 29 town meeting warrant, and heard a resident complaint about a Board of Health COVID vaccination clinic.