Pepperell Selectmen unanimously adopt town's first updated emergency management plan since 1996

PEPPERELL — July 22, 2019 — Pepperell selectmen adopt new emergency management plan and approve two fall event liquor licenses. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously July 22 to adopt an 84-page comprehensive emergency management plan prepared by volunteer Emergency Management Director Dave Curzay and the Local Emergency Planning Committee, the town's first fully updated plan since 1996. The plan establishes standard operating procedures for police, fire, ambulance, and the Department of Public Works, and activates the statewide mutual aid agreement signed in 2018. Resident Deb Fountain, citing a federal emergency-planning background, urged the board to follow up with a separate continuity-of-operations plan, noting that most historic paper property records would be lost in a building fire; Town Administrator Andrew McLean acknowledged the gap. The board also approved one-day liquor licenses for the Friends of the Lawrence Library's 11th annual charity wine pour on October 19 and the Pepperell Business and Professional Association's fifth annual fall festival on September 14, and received a formal debrief from Fire Chief Borneman on a June 9 live-fire training exercise in which three firefighters were injured when hidden flammable ceiling tiles caused a rapid rollover.