Writing about Lancaster, Massachusetts

  Photo by  Agê Barros  on  Unsplash Council on Aging Director Alix Turners last day will be tomorrow, July 1st, unless the town acts quickly.  But the good news is: on Monday the Council on Aging asked her to stay on, and she's willing to do so -- to transition, or whatever is needed.  As of last night, though, the town has not taken her up on that. The Council on Aging met on Monday, and voted to ask Alix to stay on.  Alix said that she would make herself available for whatever they need: be it to transition or otherwise.   I exchanged some emails with Steve Kerrigan yesterday.  I asked " Did she offer to withdraw her resignation?" and Steve Kerrigan replied " No. She did not." I asked " As I understand it, the COA voted on Monday to ask her to stay, and she's willing to do so.  What's needed now to make that happen?" I have not heard back from him regarding that last question -- but it needs to happen soon, as Alix's resignation would be

Photo by Ashley Jurius on Unsplash A concern about appointed boards is that they're susceptible to coercion: the members aren't independently elected and aren't free to act -- they can be removed and replaced. Will the Select Board prove the case by removing Economic Development Committee members before their term ends tonight? The Economic Development Committee presently has seven members; three have terms that will end at the end of June.   The EDC is presently an ad-hoc committee created by the Select Board.   At town meeting in May the town adopted a bylaw to make in a permanent five-member committee.    That new bylaw is still being reviewed by the Attorney General's office, who may not approve it until well into August -- there's no need to alter this committee until then. The Select Board discussed how to handle reappointments on June 6th, and will discuss it again tonight.    Here's the video from June 6th. Jason Allison noted that he has personal diffe

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash On Monday,  June 13 2022, at 10AM in the Prescott Building the Lancaster Select Board met to discuss charges made against the Lancaster Council on Aging Director, Alix Turner, by Town Administrator Michael Hanson and Town Administrator Kate Hodges. The law allows anyone who is facing a complaint to request that the hearing be held in open session, which Alix did, and many residents attended to support Alix.  The overflow crowd was accommodated in the hall outside the Nashaway Meeting Room.   (You can watch the meeting here:  MEETING LINK ) This is the notice Alix received on 6/8/022:      NOTICE "On behalf of the Select Board, you are hereby notified that a hearing will be held before the Select Board on Monday, June 13, 2022 at 10:00 am in the Nashaway Meeting Room, Prescott Building, 2nd Floor. The purpose of this hearing is to discuss: 1) your submitting a receipt to the Finance Director for reimbursement of an alcoholic beverage that you

Still slow progress on putting together this payroll data.   Back in April, Worcester published what was paid to employees in base salary and overtime in the previous year.  I tried to assemble the same for Lancaster.   I requested the data on April 22nd. On May 11th I appealed the town's denial -- then the town provided a new denial and I had to start the appeal process again.   The state responded on Tuesday supporting my appeal this past week and gave the town  10 days to respond -- maybe I'll have something to share the week of June 21st.

Tonight, Wednesday June 8th, at 7PM the Planning Board will host the "zoning bylaw public hearing" for the 40R District bylaw that the Affordable Housing Trust is proposing.   Criticism that the Planning Board was somehow delaying consideration of this bylaw proved inaccurate, as DHCD did  require edits to the bylaw submitted for determination of eligibility -- the housing trust adopted amendments as recently as 6/2, and the town received DHCD's "eligibility" letter on Monday.  Ultimately DHCD declined to fully certify the town's proposed district: it received only a conditional letter of eligibility, and the town will not receive incentive payments for adopting the district.  (If subsequent projects in the district do achieve  the criteria, the town could be eligible for some prorated payments.) Here's a few notes on what you can expect at the "zoning bylaw public hearing" tonight and questions you might seek answers on. How can I attend the h