Pepperell Select Board approves rewritten Fitzpatrick Collaborative lease, cutting town costs

PEPPERELL -- August 27, 2025, Pepperell Select Board unanimously approves rewritten Fitzpatrick Collaborative lease, slashing town's annual cost from roughly $107,000 to $25,000. The board voted 4-0 with one abstention Wednesday night to adopt the amended lease agreement, with an effective date of July 1, 2025, after a two-year renegotiation led by Town Administrator Andrew and Chair Mark. Under the new terms, all daily operating costs, including utilities that had been the largest variable expense, transfer to the Fitzpatrick Collaborative, which will now pay the town 5 percent of gross revenues with a minimum of $10,000 per year; lease renewal authority shifts from performance-metric triggers to a direct annual Select Board vote. Member Tony abstained after raising four concerns he said were unaddressed in the contract, including a deadline for reopening the grant-funded commercial kitchen, which requires an estimated $150,000 in remaining construction work. The board also ratified a three-year AFSCME Local 1733 DPW collective bargaining agreement with 3 percent, 2.5 percent, and 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustments and the first longevity pay increase in roughly 21 years, and voted unanimously to proclaim August 28 as Chief Brian Borman Day as the six-year fire chief heads into retirement.