Pepperell Selectmen Approve Ambulance Ballot Question, Set June 19 Special Town Meeting

PEPPERELL — May 15, 2017 — Pepperell selectmen set a June 19 special town meeting and placed a $289,592 ambulance debt exclusion on the June 12 school ballot at a packed May 15 meeting chaired for the first time by Melissa Zinedakis. The board unanimously adopted Town Counsel's opinion finding no merit in three open meeting law complaints filed over the April 10 vote to regionalize emergency dispatch through the North Middlesex RECC, forwarding all three — from Grover Pillsbury, Carolyn Adab, and Amanda Raymond — to the Attorney General for final resolution; Town Counsel stated that even if the complaints succeeded, "the remedy would be to re-vote," not a contract reversal. The board also unanimously authorized the Pepperell Historical Commission to open a town-managed gift account to raise an estimated $45,000 toward a life-size bronze statue of Colonel William Prescott near the Bunker Hill Memorial, and appointed two new members — Michael Kingsbury and Taya Dixon-Mullane — to the Capital Program Committee. Residents were told they have until May 30 at 4:30 p.m. to submit their own warrant articles with 100 verified signatures, including a free-cash alternative to the debt exclusion that Town Counsel described as "a votable article" when read aloud from the floor.