Remembrance

Welcome back!

Talk about a lot of rain. A bit much honestly, but hey, we’re out of the drought! That’s good news for everyone except the springtime ants, perhaps, as they’ve moved up to the second story of homes around Sudbury following the ground-saturating storms. Dry land is not a myth, little ants!

Here’s what we have for you this week:

1. SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

2. Sheldon Wins Water District Race

3. Committee Roundup

4. Parting Thoughts

Let’s get into it!

SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

Sheldon Wins Water District Race

By Nancy Brumback

Robert Sheldon, the incumbent, roundly defeated challenger Robert Crane by a vote of 149 to 34 for a three-year term on the Board of Water Commissioners, the governing body of the Sudbury Water District.

The other Water District officials on the ballot in the May 20 election won re-election in uncontested races. Those candidates and their vote totals were:  Craig Blake, moderator, 147 votes with 36 blanks;  Thomas Travers, treasurer, 155 votes with 27 blanks and one write-in; and Susan O’Connor, clerk, 149 votes with 34 blanks.  

The election, held from 3 to 7 p.m., drew 183 voters, who had to be both registered voters in Sudbury and customers of the Water District.  The district does not have a count of the total number of registered voters who are also its customers.  Sudbury had 14,214 registered voters when the town election was held March 31, but not all are Water District customers.

The Sudbury Water District held its annual meeting after the election, at 7 p.m.  All of the articles on the annual meeting warrant, as well as on the warrant for the special meeting embedded within the annual meeting, passed unanimously.

Among the provisions on the annual meeting warrant were approval of the district’s $3,988,455 budget.  Other articles included equipment purchases, water main repair and replacement, and maintenance expenses.

The special meeting warrant articles included the creation of a Capital Projects Stabilization Fund Account. Any claim settlement disbursements related to PFAS “forever chemicals” lawsuits the Water District has brought with other plaintiffs will be credited to this account.  A separate article transferred $525,000 to that account.

Nancy Brumback is a freelance reporter living in Sudbury.

Committee Roundup

By Kevin LaHaise

Select Board

• Route 20 Corridor Study: Nothing earth shattering here. They heard the same presentation that the Planning Board heard. The board seemed appreciative and supportive of the general direction of the recommendations. You can read about those here.

• Housing Production Plan: They had some discussion after agreeing to punt the vote until their next meeting. It appeared the board may be headed towards a split vote based on the discussion. (2:13:00)

• Reorganization: Lisa Kouchakdjian was voted Chair, and Janie Dretler was voted Vice Chair.

• Town Manager Goals: Town Manager Andy Sheehan presented a progress update on his goals. The board was broadly supportive and enthusiastic about his progress. Sheehan made a point to give credit to Town staff whom he said play a key role in advancing these goals. “As is always the case, progress on goals is not a one-person endeavor. I am grateful to staff throughout the organization for helping achieve progress across this broad set of goals.” (Page 234)

Sudbury Public Schools School Committee

• They reorganized. Karyn Jones is now Chair, and Jessica McCready is now Vice Chair. They will now be the two members of the Negotiations Subcommittee, which is actively negotiating the teacher contract.

• They are going to move ahead with a Transgender Policy that was put on ice earlier this year. It will likely be dealt with by the full committee rather than the Policy Subcommittee. Chair Karyn Jones and member Nicole Burnard are now on the Policy Subcommittee.

Rail Trails Advisory Committee

• Their meeting was largely focused on interviewing four candidates for two open positions on the committee, but there were two noteworthy developments that attendees learned about during other portions of the meeting.

• First, paving of the Mass Central Rail Trail is plugging along, but it does look like some of the paving in Sudbury will have to wait until the fall for completion. That’s not a radical change, and still fits within the overall construction timeline. It’s just a shift of some of the paving work to the fall.

• Second, the committee appears to be increasing it’s focus on rail trail connections. That may include recommendations to the Select Board about sidewalks that get users to the rail trails or local businesses, or trails to conservation land, or even trails between the rail trails and neighborhoods.

  • Member Laurie Eliason pointed out how much discussion there was at Annual Town Meeting about walkways and rail trail connections, as well as public safety. Several of the candidates they interview also brought up trail connections and public safety.

Permanent Building Committee

• They had a brief meeting this week, primarily to interview a candidate to fill the vacant Sudbury Public Schools School Committee seat on the Permanent Building Committee.

• However, viewers did learn that all systems are “go” on the Atkinson Pool and roof projects. The roof work will start on September 1 and it will take four weeks. As for the pool, the bids came in, the Town has enough budget to proceed, and it’s happening. They will start pool work on August 16 and continue until the middle or end of November. (21:20)

• The ugly “grass” in front of the Fairbank Community Center is going to get re-seeded imminently. The drainage issues appear to have been solved according to comments during the meeting.

• June 9 is the start date for the repairs for the “acoustic” issues inside the community center. They’ll start with the Park and Recreation section of the building then move on to the Sudbury Public Schools section of the building in July.

Parting Thoughts

Onward!