Lincoln Select Board approves new 10-year Comcast cable license, buys streetlights for $1

LINCOLN -- July 28, 2014, Lincoln triples Comcast cable fee and takes over streetlights as state water rules loom. The Select Board unanimously approved a 10-year Comcast license effective Aug. 1, raising the operating fee from 1 percent to 3.5 percent of gross annual revenue, roughly $35,000 a year, up from $10,000, plus a $120,000 capital payment over 10 years and a third PEG channel. Member Noah Eckhouse produced a dollar bill to execute the NStar streetlight purchase, combined with a $249,000 Green Communities grant for LED conversion. Water Superintendent Greg Woods warned Lincoln is over both its 0.50 mgd permit allocation and a proposed 0.53 mgd state baseline under SWMI, calling unaccounted-for water at 20 percent "a tough number" to halve. DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo reported $137-per-resident highway spending against a 15-town average of $342, and a 39.1 percent recycling rate. The board also bid farewell to administrative assistant Debra Parkers after 19 years.