Slow Going

It’s that magical time of year when we all argue on social media about the correct way to pass a cyclist on a public road because there’s absolutely nothing else going on.

Slow or not, there’s still important and consequential stuff happening all around Sudbury, and we have it covered.

Here’s what we have for you this week:

1. SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

2. Dude, Where Are My Policies?

3. Chase Bank Designs Advance

4. Take the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Survey

5. The Sudbury Weekly Review of the Presidential Debate

Let’s get into!

SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

Dude, Where Are My Policies?

By Kevin LaHaise

The Select Board spent much of it’s June 25 meeting discussing policy. From possible new policies pertaining to town-wide sustainability to existing policies relating to project tracking and reporting; the Town’s chief policy-setting board explored ways that new and updated policies could move the Town forward in any number of ways.

There’s just one problem. The Select Board doesn’t know what policies it approved over the last 25 years.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Select Board’s Policy and Procedures Subcommittee discussed, at length, how there is no definitive record of policies approved by the Select Board. Members Lisa Kouchakdjian and Dan Carty agreed that it was embarrassing for the Select Board that nobody has been keeping track of their policies.

The subcommittee tasked itself with fixing the problem, but the fix isn’t going to be fun. They agreed to review 25 years of Select Board agendas and meeting minutes to identify every policy that has been voted by the board during that time.

The subcommittee asked Town Manager Andy Sheehan to work with staff to determine the best way to present the compiled policies on the website for the public. It won’t take much effort to find ideas or inspiration. Nearby towns make Select Board policies available in a variety of convenient ways. Wellesley lists them as links in a clear set of categories here. Shrewsbury offers a numbered list here. Weston links directly to Select Board policies on their Select Board page here, but also offers a dedicated page for bylaws and regulations here.

The closest thing to a definitive list of Sudbury’s Select Board policies is a PDF document that was uploaded to the Town website in 2016 and has a watermark indicating that it is “CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED.” However, that document doesn’t include a number of policies that have been formulated, updated or approved since 2016. Some examples of those can be found on the “Information & Services” section at the bottom of the main Select Board page here.

Since 2016, Sudbury has had three different Town Managers, but fairly modest levels of turnover on the Select Board. With the exception of Pat Brown in 2020, all candidates for re-election have been reelected. With that much continuity and institutional knowledge on the board, it may be difficult to understand how policies can just go missing. However, in addition to policy-setting, the Select Board is responsible for hiring town managers and for overseeing litigation.

Since 2016 the board has overseen significant litigation regarding the Eversource transmission line project, two town manager searches, and several land acquisitions. Today, the litigation has been put to bed, Town Manager Sheehan’s contract has been extended, and there’s no indication of an imminent land acquisition.

In that context, the renewed focus on policy-setting responsibilities seems logical, if not inevitable. But one big question looms large: what antiquated policies will the subcommittee turn up in their research, and could the discovery of those policies impact any of the business before the Select Board today?

Chase Bank Designs Advance

By Kevin LaHaise

Sudbury Weekly has previously covered a proposed Chase Bank in the Shaw’s Plaza on Boston Post Road. On Wednesday, their representatives went before the Sudbury Planning Board with revised designs based upon prior Planning Board feedback. The changes were relatively modest, and focused on building aesthetics, landscaping, and small reductions in impervious surfaces. Here are the updated renderings shared during the meeting:

The bank representatives received additional feedback on Wednesday, primarily regarding traffic flows in the parking lot. The project does not have the official green light just yet, but it appears to be moving briskly along towards approval.

Take the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Survey

[Submitted by the Sudbury Citizen MVP Team]

Extreme weather events like heat waves, flooding, and storms are increasing due to climate change. To better protect and support our community, the Town of Sudbury has been participating in the pilot Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) 2.0 program. The MVP 2.0 program is a State grant program provided by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). Through this program, the Town has convened a community team to lead equitable climate resilience work. A Core Team has been meeting over the months of April, May, and June to complete training on different strategies for building resilience, equity, and climate justice. Over the next few months, the Core Team will be revisiting and resetting Sudbury’s resilience priorities with the involvement of the wider community. The Core Team will then be developing and implementing a project utilizing the feedback that they gather from the community.

The first engagement opportunity that the Core Team is launching to begin these discussions is a Climate Conversations Survey. The Town of Sudbury wants to better understand your experience and perspectives on extreme weather events and their impacts in our community. The information you share will help identify local action that the Town of Sudbury can take to make our community healthy and strong in the face of climate change. You can take the survey virtually at this link: https://mapc.ma/ClimateConversations.

The Sudbury Weekly Review of the Presidential Debate

By Kevin LaHaise

Parting Thoughts

Get ready for the 4th of July Parade! That’ll be next week, and you can get all the details from the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce here. According to the Chamber, the parade dates back to at least 1939. That’s one heck of a long-standing tradition. That’s made possible by the Chamber, who took it over in the late 1980’s, but some residents may not know that it’s also supported by donations from the community. It’s a true community effort, and there are few parades quite like it. More details on donations here.

Onward!