Boxborough Select Board authorizes March 17 firehouse debt-exclusion ballot questions

BOXBOROUGH -- February 9, 2026, Boxborough Select Board unanimously approves firehouse ballot, new officer hire, and $900 fitness grant. The four-member board, chaired by Clerk Robert Stemple in the absence of Chair Kristin Hilberg, voted 4-0 Monday to authorize a Special Town Election Warrant for March 17 containing two Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion questions, one for acquiring three contiguous parcels totaling 4.205 acres at and near 984 Massachusetts Avenue for a new firehouse, and one for firehouse design and bidding costs. The board also appointed returning officer Christopher Lowney, last on the force from 2019 to 2023, effective February 17, and accepted a $900 Acton Boxborough Cultural Council grant for the town's Movement Series fitness program, which coordinator Wendy Trinks said has drawn its highest attendance in two years with a waiting list. Member Samuel Anderson broke with the administration over a five-week pilot of Friday town hall hours, stating flatly, "I think it shows a mistrust of staff, and it's a solution in search of a problem," and requesting a formal board vote on the program. The board also removed a warrant article that would have used free cash for October 2025 town meeting costs, after the town auditor advised against retroactive appropriation, and set key Annual Town Meeting planning dates for March 16 and March 30.