Pepperell Selectmen Authorize $152,000 Green Communities Grant Application

PEPPERELL — January 11, 2016 — Pepperell selectmen unanimously approved a $152,000 state Green Communities grant application at their January 11 meeting, setting in motion lighting upgrades at Nissitissit Middle School and Vaughan Brook School with projected payback periods as short as two and a half years. Town Administrator Mark Acciavatti told the board the recommended project set averages a 10.8-year payback, beating the full portfolio average of 11.8 years, and said he plans to draw $7,645 in administrative costs from the grant to cover required quarterly reporting. A January 22 state pipeline deadline drove the urgency. The board also approved a National Grid pole petition for Nissitissit Lane conditioned on drainage requirements set by Highway Superintendent Peter Shattuck, directed Acciavatti and DPW Director Ken Kalinowski to meet with a homeowner who built a 30-to-50-foot dry-stone wall inside a town right-of-way at 79 Oak Hill Road without a permit, and approved a $10,000 reserve fund transfer to cover town counsel fees tied to ongoing union negotiations.