MEETING MATTERS
BOARD OF SELECTMEN JULY 23, 2007
Compiled by Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

Top Story:

Selectmen signed an offer of $300,000 to purchase 60 acres of the Schenck farm off Batherick Road and announced the state's intention to place an agricultural restriction on an adjacent 61.4 acres.

The offer to buy the land is being issued in conjunction with a state grant application to reimburse the town 62 percent of the cost of the land. Voters will be asked to approve the purchase of the land at a fall town meeting, but Selectmen said the article will include the contingency that the state grants the money.

The Mid-State Trail runs through the property and would still be accessible. The town plans to purchase the land for passive recreation and it would be under the care and custody of the Conservation Commission.

The parcel is also adjacent to a 46-acre parcel of land on which the state is attempting to purchase an agricultural restriction. There is a party interested in purchasing the land to keep it as a working farm.

The land has been the market for three years and Town Planner Alicia Altieri, at a previous meeting, said that there has been an offer for the property and the land can host septic systems.

In Other News:

• Town Clerk Denise MacAloney swore in Westminster resident Daniel Donahue as the Police Department's newest officer at the beginning of the meeting. Donahue will start his 15-week training at the Massachusetts Police Academy on Monday.

• The selectmen voted to appoint LauraLee St. John to the Council on Aging after first interviewing her on June 18. St. John has since attended two meetings of the COA and received the endorsement of the group.

Darlene Boucher was also considered for the vacant seat on the committee. She met with the COA and it was determined she'd serve as a non-voting member of the group and would be recommended for an appointment if another seat becomes available.

• Selectmen approved the bids for a series of projects such as $9,100 for electrical work on the Crocker Pond Recreation Area bathhouse and $9,999 for the arrogation system in front of Town Hall.