Pepperell Selectmen Approve Warrant, Chipper Purchase, and Fire Engineer Reappointments

PEPPERELL — April 1, 2013 — Pepperell selectmen approved a $42,231.70 wood chipper purchase and a 27-article annual town meeting warrant at their April 1 meeting, as Town Administrator John Moak warned the board that combined FY2013 shortfalls and capital requests are projected to require $500,000 to $600,000 in free cash appropriations — a figure he called reminiscent of the town's 2010 fiscal crisis. The warrant covers closeout articles for police overtime, veterans benefits (running roughly $150,000 for the year against an underfunded budget), fire overtime, and up to $70,000 in snow and ice overruns, plus FY2014 capital items including a payroll system startup, firefighter protective gear, and a police cruiser. The board voted unanimously to write to the Planning Board requesting that medical marijuana treatment center special permit authority be transferred from the selectmen to the Planning Board, and directed Moak to investigate whether a contested neighborhood business zoning article could be split to protect the Peter Fitzpatrick parcel rezoning from failing by association. All four members of the Board of Fire Engineers — Peter Shattuck, John Rose, Toby Tyler, and Milty (last name inaudible) — were reappointed after each affirmed support for a charter-driven four-year transition to a fire chief model. The board also recommended a $1,500 tree warden stipend be added to the tree care budget, four years after the original $1,200 stipend was eliminated.