Boxborough Select Board Adopts Financial Policies, Capital Budget Charter in Joint Session

BOXBOROUGH -- June 26, 2023, Boxborough Select Board adopts financial policies and a capital budget committee charter, and seats eleven new and returning board members. Meeting jointly with the Finance Committee on June 26, the board voted 4-0 to adopt a set of written financial policies, the first of their kind despite the town holding a AAA bond rating, and a charter creating a five-member Capital Budget Committee, known as CapCom, that raises the capital-item threshold from $5,000 to $10,000 and sets a minimum useful-life requirement of five years. Town Administrator Michael Goughlin noted "it is impressive that the town got to a AAA bond rating without having financial policies, because most towns that's the last step on the road" from AA ratings. The board also voted to authorize the town administrator to respond to an open meeting law complaint stemming from a prior joint meeting that had not been posted as such, with Chair Kristen Hilberg accepting personal responsibility from the dais. Police Chief John Shepshuk introduced Department of Justice conciliation specialists Carl Jagaris and Derek Dean, who presented the agency's Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships program; no vote was taken, but the board signaled interest in moving to a planning phase. Among those appointed: John Markowitz to the Water Resources Committee, Andrew Tavallacci and Sam Anderson to the Conservation Commission, and Gary Kushner to the Cable Television License Renewal Advisory Committee, where Kushner warned that declining cable subscriptions will eventually require the town to fund public-access television infrastructure from the operating budget.