Boxborough Select Board Appoints Three Members to Newly Reconstituted Board of Assessors

BOXBOROUGH -- January 26, 2026, Boxborough Select Board seats three new assessors and advances police restructuring discussion. The board voted 3-2 to extend the Board of Assessors' initial appointment term from six months to 18 months, over objections from members Wesley Fowlks and Samuel Anderson, who argued shorter terms kept the board more accessible to interested residents, before unanimously appointing Jennifer Jones (term through June 2027), Jennifer Barrett (June 2028), and James Howie (June 2029). Police Chief John Szewczyk presented a proposal to restructure the department from a 1-1-3-8 to a 1-2-3-7 command chart by promoting an internal sergeant to a second lieutenant position, projecting a roughly $2,000 salary increase offset by backfill savings of $5,500 to $7,700 per instance; Finance Committee member Antony Newton requested a written side-by-side financial analysis before the change proceeds, noting it appeared inconsistent with the board's own no-new-positions budget guidance. The board also closed the Special Town Meeting warrant, approved a $20,000 free-cash appropriation for firehouse land-acquisition closing costs, and opened the Annual Town Meeting warrant, while learning that Boxborough's Acton-Boxborough Regional School District assessment will rise 5.57 percent to $17,734,103 under the district's newly adopted AB Forward reorganization plan.