Select Board accepts $1.385 million in private gifts for Lincoln community center

LINCOLN — May 11, 2026 — Lincoln Select Board accepts $1.385 million in private gifts for community center. The board voted 3-0 to accept a $1,345,000 contribution from the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging and a separate $40,000 gift from the von Mertens family to restore a rain garden cut from the design. Friends president Rhonda Swain said the contribution combined a $1 million pledge made at the authorizing town meeting with $345,000 in matching donations, calling out the Pasco, Perth, Speart, Desai, Hammett Ory and Tingley families. Town Administrator Tim Higgins also previewed a six-month shared building commissioner pilot with Carlisle that would pay Lincoln $55,000 annually for up to 10 weekly hours of supervisory support, and told the board the town has until October 1 to stand up procedures under new state solar siting rules imposing a 12-month municipal permitting clock.