Pepperell Selectmen Approve New Voting Machines, Join Regional Hazardous Waste Collaborative

PEPPERELL — August 15, 2016 — Pepperell selectmen approved new voting machines and joined a regional hazardous waste collaborative at their August 15 meeting, while North Middlesex Regional School District Superintendent Joy Landers announced the district had received a rare triple invitation from the Massachusetts School Building Authority for accelerated repair funding. The board voted unanimously to purchase three ImageCast tabulators from LHS Associates for $17,500 — down from an initial $19,500 quote after Town Clerk Lisa negotiated a competing bid from ES&S — with new machines targeted for the April 2017 town election. The board also voted unanimously to join the Devens Regional Household Hazardous Products Collection Center Collaborative at a one-time joining cost of $14,000 spread over four payments, with an annual membership fee of roughly $37.40, projecting a break-even against current costs in about three years. Landers told the board that all three of the district's statements of interest — roof and windows at Varnum Brook (estimated $3.7 million), windows and doors at Hawthorne Brook (estimated $1.5 million), and a roof at Squannacook Early Childhood Center (estimated $690,000 above a $750,000 insurance claim) — had been accepted into the MSBA accelerated repair program, which typically reimburses roughly 50 percent of project costs off-budget through state sales tax revenue. "It's really unheard of," she said of receiving three invitations at once.