government

(Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 26.)

When it finally came down to a vote on Oct. 24, the ground-source heat pump (GSHP) option for replacing the library HVAC system went down to defeat. Even though it passed by a majority (193 to 152, or 56% in favor), a two-thirds majority was needed because the measure involved borrowing. 

The geothermal system would have had a net cost to the town of $3.7 million after a state grant and tax incentives were factored in. To meet that amount, town officials proposed that the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) borrow $2.47 million, with another $1.23 million coming from the town’s general fund.

The alternative, which passed by a vote of 224 to 102, was appropriating $330,000 to install a new gas boiler, with the understanding that the town will have to spend a total of $3.24 million over an undetermined period of time to be determined to replace the entire HVAC system, the cost of which was included in the GSHP estimate. Yet to be determined is exactly when  and how the town will need to spend on those separate components once inflation is factored in.

While the GSHP option is more expensive, it is “comprehensive and aligned with the town’s carbon goals,” Finance Committee Chair Paul Blanchfield acknowledged. But he also noted that “funds committed to [CPC] debt service reduce our flexibility to fund future projects without a tax increase and reduce the likelihood of potential tax relief in the future, and we do have future projects,” currently estimated at  $48 million over the next eight years. “The Finance Committee wants residents to make their vote with their eyes open as to what’s coming,” he said.

The committees and officials who studied options for the library determined earlier this year that the best decarbonization option for the library in terms of financial incentives and operational outcomes was a GSHP system. The town received a guaranteed $1 million state grant to help pay for that option, and it could reapply in the future (with no guarantees of approval) for a different set of town projects utilizing non-fossil fuel technologies. 

At Saturday’s meeting, Peter Braun, a member of the Pierce House Committee, said the historic town-owned house “is a climate disaster — it’s a sieve” with insufficient insulation and no air conditioning. “We’d love to be a climate leader; we’d love to see some of these incentives and grants thrown at the Pierce House,” he said. “Why can’t we step back and consider this building for ground-source?”

Sarah Postlethwait objected to what she described as a noncompetitive process in selecting one of the organizations involved in the planning. While PowerOptions (a nonprofit energy buying consortium that helps public entities procure clean energy and infrastructure efficiently) was selected on a competitive basis as the town’s energy manager, that firm in turn did not have a competitive basis for selecting Energy Systems Group to perform detailed technical studies, cost-driven analyses, system design.

ESG is using a competitive process for selecting a well driller and other contractors, Select Board member Jim Hutchinson. “The idea that [the process] is not competitive is not accurate.”

Climate imperative

Several residents spoke fervently in favor of the GSHP proposal. “I trust our leaders to do something about climate change,” said Diana Jong. “Growing up, I watched as our cars got bigger and less efficient, but the green choices were always too expensive… This is exactly how I want out town money spent [to] mitigate the disaster coming our way. I think this is the least we can do to help ourselves.”

“It’s imperative that we reduce our emissions in every way possible as soon as possible,” said Laura Sullivan, a member of the Green Energy Committee. “Climate change isn’t coming any more — it’s here… people in my generation are terrified about what comes next for ourselves and our children. The most impactful climate strategy is widespread effort across the board [and] this is still low-hanging fruit.”

Bob Domnitz worried that the project and its attendant disruption would harm the appearance or health of the grounds or the library itself, which he called an “architectural gem.” But the town’s consulting engineer on the project assured that no harm would be done. Andrew Glass, chair of the Historic District Commission, added that while the group didn’t adopt a formal position, they were “favorably impressed by this plan” as having the “least impact on historical and cultural aspects of the library.”

But others felt that this approach was not the best in terms of the overall goal of “greening” Lincoln. “I’m troubled by the comments that frame this vote as pro or con on decarbonization,” said Paul Shulman. “The difference in reduction of the carbon footprint between the two choices is de minimus when you consider all the carbon contributions in Lincoln. I think the way out of this mess is to fix the immediate problem, which is Article 2, and then refocus on the best possible solutions in town for reducing our carbon footprint. We can spend a little money now to buy the time to make a bigger impact on decarbonization.”

Now that the gas boiler has been approved, the replacement can begin almost right away, saving some money that would have to be spent on temporarily winterizing an unheated building if work had to be done in colder weather, Assistant Town Administrator Dan Pereira said.

The State of the Town/Special Town Meeting is this Saturday, Oct. 24. The best resource is the Special Town Meeting web page, where you can lots of information including but not limited to:

• FAQ sheet for the library HVAC proposal
• Agenda
• Warrant
• Motions

Agenda

• 8:00am — Doors open for voters to check in and receive their voting clickers.
• 9:00am — State of the Town meeting. The agenda for the first 45 minutes will include updates from or about:
  • The open space planning process
  • Communications
  • The CCBC and the community center, including the Bemis Hall reuse plan
  • The Finance Committee
  • The Lincoln and Lincoln-Sudbury School Committees
  • The water main replacement project
  • The town’s pavement improvement plans
• 9:45am — Library HVAC system replacement project informational session
• 10:30am — Special Town meeting to vote on the library HVAC system replacement project, with two options: a ground source heat pump system or a high-efficiency gas system.

Other information

• The Ballfield Road parking map highlights available parking locations as well as the entrance to Town Meeting, so you can plan accordingly.  
• The auditorium seating map gives an overview of the room layout, handicap seating, the location of assisted listening devices, as well as public microphone locations. Microphones can also be brought to your seat if you are unable to get to one.
• Voting clickers: the moderator will review instructions on how to use clickers. You may not pass your clicker to someone else to vote on your behalf, or take the clicker out of the building; you must be present in the room to vote. If you want to leave and return later, return your clicker to an attendant and they’ll provide you with a “clicker card,” which will allow you to get a new clicker when you return.  
• Refreshments: coffee will not be served, but there will be free snacks.
• Assisted listening devices are available; approach the AV personnel at the console in the middle of the auditorium and they’ll assist you.
• The meeting will be broadcast in the gym for viewing only, but you will still need to come to the auditorium to comment or vote.
• The meeting will be broadcast via cable TV (Comcast channel 8/Verizon channel 33) as well as on the town TV website.

Lincoln Squirrel stories on library project

• My Turn: Resident questions library HVAC information (October 11, 2026)
• Select Board offers more answers and hears comments on library HVAC (October 8, 2026)
• More information — and questions — about strategies for library HVAC (September 30, 2026)
• Cost estimate for ‘green’ library HVAC system rises (September 15, 2026)
• Options clarified on library HVAC system (July 22, 2026)
• Town gets grant for climate-friendly library HVAC system (June 29, 2026)
• Library HVAC project postponed; 0% tax increase in FY27 (March 13, 2026)
• Bemis Hall closed due to boiler failure; library also needs new HVAC (February 11, 2026)

Based on data collected earlier this year on the condition of Lincoln’s roads, a consultant has recommended a five-year repaving and repair project costing about $20 million, in addition to money already allocated for repairing Bedford Road and Lincoln Road after the water main and drainage projects.

Town Administrator Tim Higgins and Department of Public Works Superintendent Stephen Olson reported the figure in a Sept. 30 memo to the Capital Planning Committee (CapCom). 

A town-wide road-by-road sequence hasn’t been discussed yet, but the first two years of work would involve mostly main roads along with a few neighborhood roads, Higgins told the Select Board on Oct. 18. He was relaying information presented by John Vancor of IMEG, who met with the Lincoln Transportation Coalition on Oct. 15.

The actual estimate was $18.6 million but officials are already assuming $20 million, given the uncertainties over the cost of field that’s used to make asphalt, he said.

The town’s last major pavement improvement program was undertaken in 2010 at a cost of approximately $5.5 million and concentrated on main roads, according to the memo. “At the time, it was determined that the neighborhood road network could continue to be maintained reasonably through routine annual maintenance.” Sixteen years later, the main roads are again in need of repaving, “and many neighborhood roads — which generally did not benefit from the 2010 program — have not been substantially repaved in 30 to 40 years.”

According to Higgins, Vancor said that 9% of Lincoln’s roads need little or no attention, more than 50% need “milling overlay or deeper reconstruction,” and about 17% are somewhere in between. The next step is deciding priorities and timeline in terms of what the town is willing to spend and when. Also to be considered: whether to defer some of the work and substitute “more aggressive maintenance” for some secondary roads, Higgins said.

The town was originally planning to seek funds at the Annual Town Meeting in March so as to begin work in spring 2027, but Higgins said that may no longer be feasible. The Select Board plans to discuss the issue in more detail at their next meeting, but even at this early stage, board member Jim Hutchinson said he would like to see at least two “price points” to present as options for requests to the Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee (CapCom).

The town has recently been “hoarding” much of its annual Chapter 90 state road maintenance grants to fund the Bedford and Lincoln road work starting next spring, Higgins said. In other years, some of those funds have gone to projects not directly related to road surfaces such as crosswalks and cycling and safety improvements, so future Chapter 90 funds might have to go exclusively toward roadway resurfacing and preventive maintenance, he said.

The good news is that the Water Department has money allocated to offset some of the Lincoln and Bedford Road repairs. In addition, National Grid has offered to pay for some of the Lincoln Road resurfacing work after they do their own gas pipeline replacement project. They have identified Lincoln Road between the library and Ballfield Road as their “top priority” and plan to start work as soon as the water main project is completed in November or early December, working over the winter and finishing by May 2027.

“We can sync up our paving plan with what the gas company may be thinking… so the timing is fortuitous,” Higgins said. 

Meanwhile, the CapCom will be asked to approve a recommendation of $2.03 million for a March town vote for a Ballfield Road/school campus project, which would include not just repaving but also drainage improvements; new crosswalks, sidewalks, and signage; an improved roadside path; removal of the one-way slip lane entrance on the north side of the Lincoln Road intersection; and possible redesign of the Y intersection just before the tennis court, Higgins said.

(Editor’s note: This article previously stated that there were no contested races, but it has been corrected to not that there include the previously overlooked contest for the Parks and Recreation Commission race.)

In a town election where there was only one contested race, David Cuetos — who did not appear anywhere on the actual ballot — managed to garner votes for three different positions and was in fact elected as a Bemis trustee.

No one filed to run for the Trustees of Bemis opening in the March 30 election, but Cuetos won as a write-in candidate with three votes. Eight other residents  — Chris Bursaw, Montana Bray, Christopher Burns, Donald Collins, Ephraim Flint, Patrick Lawler, Sue Parker, and Dilla Tingley — won two votes apiece, and many other residents received single votes, according to Town Clerk Valerie Fox.

“This was a complete surprise to me. I learned about it this afternoon when I received an email from the town clerk,” Cuetos told the Lincoln Squirrel on Tuesday evening. “Apparently I was written in by some voters to many different offices across the ballot.”

Asked if he planned to serve in the Bemis role, he said, “I don’t know yet what I’d do. My goal is to join the Finance Committee and by our bylaws, that post requires exclusivity. I have expressed my continued interest in that position to the chair of FinCom and the new town moderator. If the moderator doesn’t appoint me, I think I’d honor the support of those voters who deposited their confidence in me.”

If Cuetos declines the Bemis position, a candidate will be appointed by the current Bemis trustees and the Select Board. That person will hold the seat until the next election, when two seats will be up for election (one person for the remaining two years of this seat and another for the normally expiring three-year term).

FinCom has two three-year terms currently expiring. New members must be appointed by the moderator within 30 days of Town Meeting. “I don’t know whether Merrill Berkery or Rich Rosenbaum have expressed interest in another term, but in my view incumbency alone should not guarantee reappointment,” Cuetos said.

In the only contested race, newcomer Hilary Dionne beat out David Onigman for a seat on the Parks and Recreation Commission by a vote of 365–246. Onigman had been serving as an appointed member to fill a vacancy.

Andrew Payne, the sole candidate on the ballot for Town Moderator, garnered 612 votes, but Cuetos also got 51 write-in votes (40 in Precinct 1 and 11 in Precinct 2). Three other residents (Susan Mygatt, Richard Ohlsten, and Peter Sugar) each got a single write-in vote.

Margaret Olson regained the seat on the Planning Board that she lost in last year’s election. She will succeed Craig Nicholson, who did not run for reelection. Four voters wrote in Cuetos for that race as well, and Sarah Postlethwait got five votes.