Boxborough cancels March special town meeting, shifts fire station vote to May annual

BOXBOROUGH -- January 27, 2025, Boxborough Select Board scraps March special town meeting and moves fire station vote to May. The board voted unanimously Monday to cancel the March 18 special town meeting and fold a fire station design-funding vote into the annual town meeting on May 12, after Fire Station Building Committee Chair Mary Brolin reported the committee cannot choose between the two candidate sites, 502 Stow Road and the existing fire station footprint, in time. A newly discovered gap in the town's zoning use table, flagged by Building Commissioner Ed Cataldo, found that the word "governmental" has been dropped from the table, meaning no parcel in town is currently zoned to allow construction of a fire station, police station, or any other government building. The board also unanimously accepted a $15,236.74 state firefighter safety equipment grant for ballistic vests, helmets, and an electric vehicle emergency plug, and heard Police Chief Sheski confirm that the town's 2017 policy of not detaining individuals solely on the basis of federal ICE detainers remains in effect despite a new Department of Justice memorandum circulated that day.