Pepperell Selectmen Unanimously Hire New Administrative Assistant, Fill Housing Authority Vacancy

PEPPERELL — March 12, 2018 — Pepperell selectmen fill two town posts and flag a looming school budget crunch at March 12 meeting. The Board of Selectmen unanimously appointed Tracy Looney, health agent for the Tyngsborough Board of Health, as administrative assistant to the board and Green Communities Coordinator, effective April 2; the board also unanimously appointed Irene Leddy of 54 Lowell Road to a vacant Pepperell Housing Authority seat running through the April 2021 town election. Town Administrator Mark Hanson warned that the North Middlesex Regional School District's initial fiscal 2019 budget request is roughly $900,000 above last year's figure — nearly twice the approximately $476,000 Pepperell's Proposition 2 1/2 levy increase can produce — and that the town, paying 48 percent of the regional assessment, cannot block the budget if Ashby and Townsend approve it. "It's going to significantly impact the operational part of our budget," Hanson said. Hanson also announced that 1A Auto has opened a 15,000-square-foot R&D facility at Pepper Place, generating an estimated 20 new jobs and $4,675 in building permit revenue.