Select Board promotes Kennedy to police chief, defers vote on gas main

LINCOLN -- May 19, 2014, Lincoln Select Board promotes Lt. Kevin Kennedy to police chief and pauses gas main hearing over easement question. The board voted unanimously to appoint Kennedy effective July 1 subject to a six-month probationary period, citing continuity following recent local homicides and the marathon-bombing manhunt; a swearing-in is set for June 9. National Grid's request to install roughly 870 feet of two-inch gas main in Meadow Dam Road was continued after abutter Penny Billings asked why the line was not run down the existing driveway from Todd Pond Road; an attorney read deed language granting access "on foot or with vehicles" only, which board members said may bar utility use. The board also adopted a charge for a new Community Center Study Committee and appointed Penny Billings, Steve Gladstone and Nancy Marshall, named Dorothy Blakely Assessor's Administrator, and heard that Senate budget figures could deliver Lincoln $100,000 to $150,000 more in state aid than forecast.