Lincoln Select Board signs $325,000 community center design warrant for Nov. 30 town meeting

LINCOLN -- November 7, 2022, Lincoln Select Board signs warrant for $325,000 community center design vote on Nov. 30. The board unanimously sent the single-issue special town meeting article forward, with Town Administrator Tim Higgins saying the money would fund schematic-level design and cost estimating for a project most recently estimated near $26 million in today's dollars. The same meeting also produced a 3-0 award of a $100,000 ARPA-funded diversity, equity and inclusion contract to Elite Research and the Racial Equity Group, selected from 17 RFP responses and five finalist interviews, and a 30-year cell-tower lease with incumbent Crown Castle at $80,000 base rent, escalating 2.5 percent annually plus 25 percent of co-location revenue, for an estimated $100,000 in annual income. The board also unanimously renewed Higgins's contract; Chair Jennifer Glass quipped, "the answer to any other town is no." Police Chief Kevin Kennedy reported the department has achieved state accreditation, meeting 257 mandatory standards.