Select Board delays Lincoln 2021 town meeting to May 15 amid pandemic

LINCOLN -- December 14, 2020, Lincoln delays its 2021 annual town meeting from late March to Saturday, May 15. The Select Board voted 3-0 to postpone under MGL Chapter 39, Section 9, keeping the customary 9:30 a.m. start and outdoor Ballfield Road campus location, while the town election proceeds in late March. Town Administrator Tim Higgins said the FY22 base budget meets the Finance Committee's 2.5 percent growth guideline and maintains current services, with two "preferred" asks above the base: $10,000 to seed the board's diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism work and $60,000 for a comprehensive South Lincoln septic analysis against a $75,000 to $90,000 consultant estimate. Town Nurse Trish McGeehan reported 14 new December COVID-19 cases, 13 cases and one death at The Commons, and four Lincoln School classrooms under quarantine. The board also appointed Paula Vaughn-McKenzie as Planning and Land Use Director and approved Eversource's grant of location for school-campus electrical upgrades.