Select Board signs onto state aggregation reform letter, with chair criticizing process

LINCOLN — September 26, 2023 — Lincoln Select Board signs onto state community aggregation reform letter under chair's process protest. The board voted 3-0 Tuesday to sign onto a letter supporting Massachusetts House Bill 3852, which would split Department of Public Utilities approval of municipal aggregation programs between utilities and consultants to clear approval backlogs. Chair Jim Hutchinson said he supported the substance but objected that the request had come from Green Energy Committee Chair Paul Shore alone rather than from a committee vote: "I would like in the future for these recommendations to come from the committee and not from a single member." The board also heard a pitch from Friends of Minute Man National Park Executive Director Anne Coughlin for roughly $150,000 in Community Preservation Act funds toward the Elm Brook Hill archaeology project, against an unreserved CPA balance Town Administrator Tim Higgins put "north of $2 million." Conservation Commissioner Richard Selber resigned effective immediately.