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.