Pepperell Selectmen Vote Unanimously to Become a Purple Heart Town

PEPPERELL — October 15, 2013 — Pepperell selectmen unanimously designated the town a Purple Heart community and heard a sweeping IT overhaul report at their October 15 meeting. The board voted to adopt a proclamation joining Clinton, Lancaster, Berlin, and Westboro among Massachusetts Purple Heart towns, at no cost to the municipality, after receiving a written request from Commander David Agnew of the Department of Massachusetts Military Order of the Purple Heart. IT Administrator Martin Keita, eight and a half months into the role, reported completing a full Town Hall network rewiring funded by a $20,000 fiscal year 2011 article, replacing roughly 12 to 15 unmanaged daisy-chained switches with two managed HP units, and migrating the Highway Department and Park Street fire station from an unreliable wireless connection to wired links. Keita identified the town's email system — routed through two outside vendors and stored locally on individual machines — as the top remaining concern, estimating a migration to Microsoft Exchange at more than $20,000, which he said he would bring to the spring Town Meeting. The board also approved the appointment of Chuck Wachowicz, a finance professional, to the Economic Development Advisory Committee, and the town administrator reported a projected fiscal year 2015 budget shortfall of $225,000, compounded by a 25-student enrollment increase at Nashoba Valley Technical High School that is expected to raise the town's regional assessment.