Boxborough Select Board Makes Dozens of Annual Appointments, Approves Fire Chief Contract

BOXBOROUGH -- June 24, 2024, Boxborough Select Board completes annual appointment-a-thon and votes to pursue Nashoba Valley Tech membership. The board made more than 50 appointments at its June 24 meeting, reappointing Police Chief John Shefchik for a term ending June 30, 2025, and approving a contract for an incoming fire chief with a July 15 start date. The board voted unanimously to draft a notice of intention to Nashoba Valley Technical High School, beginning what Assistant Town Administrator Rajon Hudson described as a two-year process requiring votes from all existing member communities and a Boxborough Town Meeting vote, a step driven partly by an unbudgeted Minuteman Tech enrollment that school business administrator Maria Nealon said could cost more than $30,000 in tuition plus comparable transportation. The board also entered into the Renewable Energy Trust Fund Membership Agreement, affirming a 2023 Town Meeting vote that places a surcharge of approximately $5.04 per household per year on electrical bills as a step toward green community designation. Housing Board member Al Murphy, reappointed for a term through 2027, warned the board that Boxborough's aging ownership-based affordable housing units face expensive rehabilitation needs and that losing even a few units "could easily cost us our 10 percent" on the state affordable housing calculation.