Selectmen unanimously approve new three-year contract for Town Administrator Higgins

LINCOLN — July 1, 2013 — Lincoln Selectmen approve new three-year contract for Town Administrator Tim Higgins after multi-board performance review. The board voted unanimously Monday to authorize Chairman Peter Braun to sign the deal covering fiscal years 2014 through 2016, after Selectman Noah Eckhaus led a review drawing input from "well over 10, I think close to 14 different boards and committees" and benchmarked Higgins's total compensation against seven peer towns. Eckhaus said the adjustments kept the package "sort of mid-pack." The board also retained acoustical firm Kavanagh Tocci to evaluate Route 2 noise mitigation after MassDOT signaled it is "disinclined" toward noise walls sought by Brooks Road residents. Selectmen appointed Jim Hutchinson as the Finance Committee's Housing Trust trustee, replacing Ellen Meyer Schorr. Bemis painting restoration was pegged at $8,000 to $15,000, with CPA funding unlikely.