Lincoln Select Board approves AT&T Tower Road antenna and $24M bond sale

LINCOLN -- December 8, 2025, Lincoln Select Board approves AT&T small cell, $24M bond sale, and pivots landfill solar revenue. The board unanimously granted AT&T a utility location for a small cell antenna on a replacement pole near 188 Tower Road, with attorney Edward Parry of Brown Rudnick citing coverage gains of a quarter to a third of a mile in a weak-signal area. Town Administrator Tim Higgins reported S&P Global affirmed Lincoln's AAA rating on Nov. 24, and the Dec. 3 bond sale priced at 3.844 percent with Piper Sandler and Company on a $24.07 million issuance offset by $906,000 in premium. Select Board member Jim Hutchinson said the Green Energy Committee will stop recommending renewable energy credit purchases, saving roughly $45,000 annually, because federal policy shifts mean RECs "are no longer helping us get projects done." The board redirected landfill solar PILOT and lease payments, projected at $35,000 to $40,000 per year, to a new green-energy project fund. Higgins previewed a 4.2 percent FY27 budget driven largely by $148,000 for community center maintenance.