Pepperell Select Board Votes 2-1 to Back Town Reorganization at Special Town Meeting

PEPPERELL -- October 22, 2025, Pepperell Select Board votes 2-1 to recommend a municipal reorganization article for its upcoming Special Town Meeting. Town Administrator Andrew Rochon presented a plan to create a finance director, land use coordinator, and assistant town administrator beneath a currently flat structure in which all 22 town departments report directly to him, more than three times the span of control considered standard management practice. The board also voted unanimously to send four additional articles to town meeting, including a $60,000 appropriation from general stabilization funds to remove an abandoned underground oil tank at the Fitzpatrick building and articles authorizing municipal charge liens for unpaid wastewater and stormwater fees, the latter prompted by a wastewater delinquency balance that recently topped $700,000. Member Tony Beattie cast the lone dissenting vote on the reorganization article, saying the proposal "has not really gotten back to us until two weeks ago" and deserves more public review time. In separate action, the board unanimously approved assigning the town's landfill solar contract from Citizens Energy Corp to Cursarge Pepperell LLC of Allston, which pre-purchased tariff-free solar components in anticipation of federal trade policy changes. The town also learned it will receive $360,000 in state earmarks, including $250,000 for the Pepperell Food Hub.