We're on to Town Meeting

April 03, 2026

Welcome back!

It was another historic week in a historic town. A razor thin final margin in a heated school committee race could potentially lead to a recount. Meanwhile, the road to Annual Town Meeting is getting shorter, but appears to have as many potholes as the stretch of road heading over to Market Basket in Maynard.

Truck Fail GIF by Discovery Canada

Here’s what we have for you this week:

April 3, 2026 Edition

Let’s get into it!

Select Board’s Office Issues Statement Clarifying Vote Counting Procedure

NEWS
By Nancy Brumback

The Select Board’s Office issued a statement Wednesday, two days after the town election, explaining the vote counting process.

“We understand there is a lot of interest in the results of the March 30, 2026 Annual Town Election,” the statement said. 

Julie Durgin and Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco were elected to the two seats, despite a strong showing by write-in candidate Jonathan Sullivan. Unofficial results showed Lederer-DeFrancesco edging Sullivan by 15 votes, 1,452 to 1,437. Durgin topped the Sudbury School Committee (SPS) vote total with 1,566 votes.

Andrew Sheehan, town manager, said the town decided to post the statement because “there was a lot of chatter around the election, and we were trying to get information out to clarify the process. We have no reason to be concerned about the steps that were taken as the votes were counted Monday night. We have full faith that the election ran in the way it was supposed to be run, and there were no anomalies.”

Durgin, Lederer-DeFrancesco Win SPS Seats, Unknown if Sullivan Will Seek Recount

NEWS
By Nancy Brumback

Julie Durgin and Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco were elected to the two open seats on the Sudbury School Committee, despite a strong showing by write-in candidate Jonathan Sullivan.

Unofficial results from the March 30 election showed Lederer-DeFrancesco edging Sullivan by 15 votes, 1,452 to 1,437. Durgin topped the Sudbury School Committee vote total with 1,566 votes. The Sudbury School Committee oversees Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) Pre-K to eighth grade district.

We Made It!

FEATURES
By John Palmieri 

Well Sudbury, yes, we made it through the Winter. Certainly more notable than the last few years. Sustained cold with snow on the ground most of the time from early December. Miraculously it all went away and rather quickly. Now we are on to April showers. Some notable stats include:

Monthly Rainfall: 3.81 inches
Year to Date Rainfall: 8.54 inches
2025 Rainfall thru March: 9.77
2024 Rainfall thru March: 17.15
2023 Rainfall thru March: 12.69

Season Snow 25-26: 64 inches
Season Snow 24-25: 28 inches
Season Snow 23-24: 18 inches

The high temperature for the month of March was 74 degrees and the low temperature was 7 degrees.

Generally we can expect about 4 inches of rain for the month of April and maybe a touch of snow. But yes, we made it to Spring!

Select Board Votes to Support FY27 Operating and Capital Budgets After Tense Exchange

NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise

The Sudbury Select Board voted 4-1 to support the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Operating Budget during their Tuesday, March 31 meeting. The Board also voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the Capital Budget. The Operating Budget and the Capital Budget are articles three and four respectively on the Annual Town Meeting warrant. Both articles can be viewed in the meeting packet here. The preliminary FY27 budget can be reviewed in full here.

Member Dan Carty voted against Article 3 (the operating budget for the Town, Sudbury Public Schools, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School) indicating that he will not support the article until he knows what was discussed at a September 2025 meeting between Town Manager Andy Sheehan, Select Board Chair Lisa Kouchakdjian, and Sudbury School Committee Chair Karyn Jones.

Park and Rec Pushes Back On Solar Canopy Process

NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise

Article 34 at Sudbury’s Annual Town Meeting in May will ask voters a simple question, but the circumstances surrounding the article are more complicated.

This warrant article asks voters to allow the Select Board to lease Haskell Field parking lot land (on Fairbank Road) for new solar canopies. If approved, the town will be authorized to enter into a minimum 20-year agreement to buy the generated power, aiming to lower the town’s electricity bills without spending any municipal funds on construction. The result would be a covered parking lot that creates significant cash savings on electricity over the life of the agreement.

There are two other solar canopy projects on the draft warrant for Town Meeting, including one at the police station and one at Ephraim Curtis Middle School. However, the Haskell Field canopy is more complicated due to open questions about land use, jurisdiction, and purview.

Sudbury Residents Turn Out For No Kings Rally

NEWS
By Nancy Brumback

A crowd estimated at about 600 people lined Route 20 Saturday for the third No Kings protest rally. Holding flags and handmade signs, the protestors braved a chilly day to stand for two hours at the intersection of Route 20 and the road into the Whole Foods shopping plaza.

Older protestors recalled their days demonstrating against the Vietnam War, while on the younger side, Sara Moussa, her son Emmett, and her daughter, Kate, showed up with Kate in a monarch butterfly costume, carrying a sign that read “no monarch but me.”

Lincoln Town Meeting Approves Update to Regional Agreement

NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise

The Town of Lincoln held its Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 28. Article 33 called for an update to the regional agreement that governs Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (L-S). The article passed unanimously according to results posted by Lincoln Town Clerk, Valerie Fox. The agreement needs to be passed by Sudbury’s Annual Town Meeting next, then the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (DESE)

The L-S School Committee has been working through largely “non-substantive” changes that will bring the agreement into compliance with current laws and regulations, with a focus on newer requirements from DESE that came after the agreement was last updated decades ago.

Leveling Up: How Code Ninjas Is Building A Tech-Savvy Community In Sudbury

FEATURES
By Kevin LaHaise

When Code Ninjas first opened its doors in the Whole Foods Plaza in 2020, owner Victor Lee had a singular mission: to teach kids how to code. Fast forward six years, and the Sudbury location is not just surviving; it is thriving. Ranked among the top 10 best-performing centers out of 400 worldwide, Code Ninjas Sudbury has become a staple of local STEM education.

Recently, the popular program upgraded its headquarters, moving into a larger space in the Sudbury Farms Plaza. Through a combination of tailored curriculum, strong community ties, and a vision for the future, Lee and his team are helping local students navigate the digital world, and building their confidence along the way.

For its first five years, Code Ninjas operated out of a single, bustling room. While the space was beautiful, it presented a unique logistical challenge: teaching kids ranging from 5 to 17 years old all in the same area.

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