Boxborough Select Board Redirects $35,000 in ARPA Funds for Fire Station Design

BOXBOROUGH — February 12, 2024 — Boxborough Select Board approves ARPA redirect and 3 percent pay raise at February meeting. The board voted unanimously Monday to move $35,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the fire department's cistern inspection line to site analysis and conceptual design work for a planned fire station replacement, supplementing an existing $20,000 appropriation and advancing a project for which the Boxborough Building Committee voted 9 to 3 last month to pursue the Stowe Road site. Town Administrator Mike Guzinski warned the town faces a $120,000 shortfall on a $400,000 DPW fuel tank replacement and an estimated $500,000 culvert repair at Liberty Square Road, with all ARPA funds required to be appropriated by December 2024. The board also unanimously approved a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for non-union, non-contract employees in FY25, totaling just under $49,000, up from 2.9 percent the prior year, and accepted a $5,986.17 state firefighter safety equipment grant. Mark Crory, executive director of Littleton Community TV, won board approval for a sliding two-year public-access retention policy for BXB TV video content as the station moves to a new cloud platform.