Pepperell Selectmen Approve Voluntary Exit Incentive Program to Avert Layoffs

PEPPERELL — April 29, 2014 — Pepperell Selectmen approve exit incentives and brace for Kinder Morgan pipeline forum. The newly reorganized Board of Selectmen, seating Michael Green as Chair, voted unanimously Tuesday to launch a voluntary exit incentive program offering $8,000 one-time payments to full-time town employees aged 59 or older with at least 15 years of service, and $4,000 for eligible part-time workers. Nine employees meet the criteria; the town administrator said he expects only two full-time and one part-time worker to take the offer, at an estimated cost of $20,000 drawn from unused health insurance appropriations. The program runs through an August 1 exit deadline and was approved by the town's labor attorney. The board also heard that Pepperell's minimum contribution to Nashoba Valley Technical High School will rise from $899,696 to $1,137,000 in fiscal 2015 — driven by a jump from 116 to 140 enrolled district students — as the town prepares a $1.1 million Proposition 2 1/2 override vote at its May 5 Town Meeting. A community informational meeting with Kinder Morgan on a proposed 36-inch natural gas pipeline through town is set for May 12 at Nissitissit Middle School.