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In this 2012 photo, volunteer Janice Phillipps arranges items that were dropped off at the swap table. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

By Alice Waugh

All of the volunteers who staff the town’s “swap table” were fired in a letter distributed to them by a DPW staff member at the transfer station on Wednesday morning.

The DPW is in the process of building a new swap shed “that will allow the Highway Department staff more of an opportunity to manage the swap area,” said the letter signed by DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo. “In relation to the new swap shed, beginning Wednesday, November 6, 2019, we will no longer need the services of the volunteers.” The letter also thanked them for their service. Work on the new shed began last spring.

Bibbo’s letter was dated October 15 but was not handed to volunteers until October 23. The transfer station is open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The swap table volunteers manage the hundreds of items that Lincoln residents drop off for others to take or donate. Items include everything from children’s toys to exercise equipment, dishes, books, housewares — and once even a Prada handbag.

Their work includes unpacking boxes of items, sorting them, and placing them on shelves as well as removing broken, dirty or otherwise unacceptable items and putting them in the trash dumpster. They also redirect items that can be recycled such as clothing and textiles, and they keep the swap table and existing shed tidy.

Swap table volunteer Ellen Raja puts aside usable bedding, kitchenware and small pieces of furniture and delivers them to Household Goods in Acton every Thursday. The organization donates the items to people including the recently homeless, survivors of domestic violence, and those with low incomes, illness, or disability.

Raja said she and the other volunteers were “shocked” when they got the termination notices yesterday, but she noted that DPW employees in the past have disparaged the swap table, saying most of the items were worthless and should just go in the trash anyway.

(Raja is not technically a volunteer; in exchange for her time, she earns an abatement on her property taxes through the town’s Senior Work-Off Program.)

A second volunteer reached by phone Wednesday night declined to comment. Bibbo also did not respond to an email sent Wednesday afternoon. Other volunteers in the past have included Bernadette Quirk, Sue Stason, and Janice Phillipps.

“Strange timing. I plan to express my disappointment to Chris Bibbo and [DPW assistant] Susan Donaldson,” said Recycling Committee co-chair Laura Berland, who resigned “for a variety of reasons — one being the fact that I had been on [the committee] for many years and felt it was time to move on.”

In June, the Lincoln Squirrel published a letter to the editor from Berland thanking the swap table volunteers for their work. She noted that the committee and volunteers have also donated books dropped off at the swap table to the Lincoln Public Library’s monthly book sale as well as More Than Words in Waltham.

“The more items taken away, the more we keep out of the landfill and the less the town spends in tipping fees,” Berland wrote. “At the end of the day, many of the items left in the swap area are thrown out, as there is a need to make room for more that keeps on coming — the less left over, the better.

“Lincoln is lucky to have the swap area. As co-chair, I have been asked to speak to the recycling committees of other towns who would very much like to set one up but struggle to get the Department of Public Works to agree. We are appreciative of the support Chris Bibbo, director of DPW, gives to the swap effort here in Lincoln,” Berland wrote.

“How are they [the DPW] going to manage taking care of everything? In my opinion it’s going to be a colossal mess,” Raja said.

Applications are now being accepted for the Lincoln Rental Assistance Program, a collaborative program of the Lincoln Housing Commission and the Lincoln Council on Aging (COA).

A sum of $30,000 has been allocated for the first year of the program, which was approved at Annual Town Meeting in 2019 and is funded by the Community Preservation Act. The town’s CPA account is in turn is funded by a surcharge on property taxes (partially matched by the state) and can be spent on historic, recreational, or affordable housing projects.

The program came about because more and more residents have been coming to the COA and town social worker with housing, financial, and food needs. “Other towns in the area are also seeing increasing needs, so it’s not just Lincoln,” COA director Carolyn Bottum said.

The Lincoln Rental Assistance Program (LRAP) provides monthly subsidies to households who are renting or wish to rent qualifying housing units in the town of Lincoln and need financial assistance to pay for rent and certain utilities. The goal of the program is to provide greater housing stability and housing opportunities to cost-burdened renters in Lincoln.

The town will provide rental assistance in an amount sufficient to ensure that each participating household does not pay more than 30% of the household’s income for rent and certain utilities. Households may be in the program for three years with an annual maximum subsidy of $5,000. 

To be eligible for the Lincoln Rental Assistance Program:

• Households must have an annual household gross income of less than 80% of the Area Median Income for the household size. For a household of one, this is $62,450; for a household of two, $71,400; for a household of three, $80,300; and more for larger households.
• The household must spend more than 30% of its gross monthly income towards rental housing costs, which means the rent paid by the household to the landlord and the amount paid for heat, hot water, electricity, water and sewer.
• No household member can own a home or have any other ownership interest in real property.
• The household must occupy the rental housing unit assisted through the LRAP as its primary residence.
• The household must agree to work with the Lincoln Council on Aging or town social worker to develop a strategy that supports a sustainable long-term housing situation through at least four meetings each year.
• The landlord must agree to accept LRAP payments.

If more eligible households apply than can be accommodated, a lottery will be held in a public place to determine who may participate in the program.

Guidelines can be downloaded here. Potential applicants may pick up applications at Lincoln Town Hall, the Lincoln Public Library, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and Bemis Hall; download it from the town website; or contact the Lincoln Council on Aging. Applications are due to the COA by 4:30 p.m. on December 31, 2019. 

For more information, call Carolyn Bottum at the COA at 781-259-8811.

To the editor:

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable wishes to thank all those individuals, faith communities, youth programs, organizations, and businesses who continue to give so generously of their time, talents, and resources. 

For survivors of Domestic Violence, the color purple is meant to be a symbol of courage, survival, honor, and dedication to ending violence. We are particularly grateful for those establishments who have illuminated their buildings with purple lighting during October.

We would also like to thank the over 160 businesses and offices who display our hotline cards on which are printed the names and phone numbers of local service providers to whom anyone experiencing abuse — physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological – can turn for help.

Last year we celebrated our 20th anniversary, and as we move into the next decade, we seek to adapt to the societal shifts that take place around us, to continue and strengthen our efforts to promote safe and healthy relationships  and develop new programs to alert and educate our communities and community leaders about relationship violence in all its forms.

The Roundtable warmly welcomes new members and volunteers and encourages interested people to visit our web site at www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org.

Sincerely,

Sue Rushfirth
President, Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable

A January lottery date for affordable units in the 60-unit Oriole Landing development under construction in Lincoln has been announced, with applications due on December 11.

Oriole Landing, a 60-unit rental development under construction in Lincoln, will have 15 units reserved for those earning a maximum of 80% of the area median income, and 70% of those affordable units will have a local preference. Applicants qualify for local preference if they or a member of their household fit into one of the following categories:

• a current resident of Lincoln
• an employee of the town of Lincoln (including Lincoln Public Schools)
• an employee of a business located within the town of Lincoln
• a parent or guardian of children attending the Lincoln Public Schools (including METCO students)

Rent prices, income maximums, lottery information packets and downloadable applications are available at www.s-e-b.com/lottery, or call 617-782-6900 ext. 1. 

There will be an informational session on the application process for the lottery on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. in the Tarbell Room at the Lincoln Public Library. Completed applications are due by Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. The lottery will be held on January 9, 2020 at 6 p.m. at the library.

Residents approved the project by Civico Development at the Annual Town Meeting in March 2018.