The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

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Lincoln School ribbon-cutting on Oct. 28

One of the new breakout rooms at the Lincoln School.

After five years of planning and building, the renovated Lincoln School will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours on Friday, Oct. 28 starting at 1:30 p.m. in the Learning Commons. Here’s the schedule:

  • 1 p.m. — Doors open
  • 1:30 p.m. — Ribbon-cutting ceremony
  • 2:30 p.m. — Reception in Dining Commons
  • 3 p.m. — School tours leave from Dining Commons

Materials from the 1994 project time capsules will be on display in the Dining Commons throughout the event. Additional tours will be offered on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9–11 a.m.

To attend the October 28 event in person, RSVP to apearson@lincnet.org by October 21 (RSVP not needed for October 29 tours), or watch the ceremony live on Zoom at www.lincnet.org/ribboncutting.

For photo galleries and a full history of the project, visit the School Building Committee website at lincolnsbc.org.

Town completes second round of bonding for school project

The town has sold bonds worth $8,489,000 in the second portion of borrowing to fund the school project. The sale generated a 2.6% interest rate with annual debt service at roughly $440,000, according to Lincoln Finance Director Colleen Wilkins.

Prior to the sale, the town’s AAA credit rating was affirmed by Standard & Poor, which helped keep interest rates low. “As part of their report, S&P cited strong credit rating factors for the town, including Lincoln’s very strong economy, very strong management with strong financial policies and practices, and the town’s thoughtful practice of building financial reserves,” Wilkins said.

The tax impact on the median tax bill is $215 and will be reflected in real estate tax bills issued in fall 2022.

In the first round of borrowing in early 2019, the town sold bonds worth $80 million at an interest rate of 3.379%. At that time, the Finance Committee was basing property tax impact estimates for the project on an expected interest rate of 4–5%, resulting an estimated tax hike of 18–20%, but officials revised that down to 14–16%.

The combined bond sales plus $4.4 million from the town’s debt stabilization fund and $1 million from free cash in 2019 are funding the $92.9 million project , which is scheduled for completion this summer.  For fiscal year 2023,  the Finance Committee projects in the Annual Town Meeting warrant that debt service for the school project will be $4.29 million, or 9.6% of the $44.52 million town budget.

My Turn: School Committee thanks district staff and community

By the Lincoln School Committee

We would like to thank the Lincoln School district faculty, staff, and community members for making personal sacrifices, following safety protocols, and recognizing how each of our actions contributes to the overall health of our community and vitality of our schools.  

Remarkably, the Lincoln Public Schools have been open five days a week during this pandemic fall. We are among a handful of Massachusetts school districts — only 3% — who have been able to do so, and thus far (knock wood and fingers crossed) there is no evidence of in-school transmission of the highly contagious virus. 

Children are learning and playing together in person and remotely in small cohorts. Each child has a school-supplied computer tablet and Wi-Fi. Families have direct contacts for support and those needing special services are receiving them. Faculty are collaborating and creating innovative ways to stimulate learning, creativity, and joy during this time of worry, racial reckoning, and isolation — all with the backdrop of a major school building project.

We are grateful, and not just for good luck. Our children are learning together because of comprehensive and collaborative planning and administration, resilient teaching adaptations and innovations, amped-up technology support, and shared commitment to health and safety protocols including masks, distancing, and hand-washing as well as clean and ventilated buildings, outdoor spaces, and school buses.

As we come to the long weekend break and as infection rates rise across our region and the nation, let us all stay safe and take a moment to give thanks for everyone who has made this fall possible in our schools.

The Lincoln School Committee members are Tara Mitchell, Peter Borden, Trintje Gnazzo, Adam Hogue, and Susan Taylor.

”My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

School project gets donations for trees, walkways, benches

Last week marked the official start of the school project, and the SBC Outreach Team organized a socially distanced groundbreaking photo on the ballfield immediately after the Town Meeting. The picture (a drone photo taken by Lincoln resident Tyler Ory) photo will become part of a virtual groundbreaking ceremony that will try to capture the community’s involvement in the project. One of the people in the photo is SBC member Peter Sugar, who sported the shovel and hard hat he wore at the last Lincoln School project groundbreaking almost exactly 26 years ago. (Click image to enlarge.)

Donations from eighth-graders, a Lincoln couple, and the estate of Harriet Todd will allow the School Building Committee to add back some of the items that were cut earlier this spring but not restored by the recent Town Meeting vote.

Robert and Jacquelin Apsler have donated $32,328 to pay for concrete walkways behind the refurbished school’s learning commons as well as interior benches in the Reed/Brooks connector and the dining commons. Those features didn’t make the list of items that voters restored with an $828,945 appropriation on June 13. However, they were part of an earlier list for which that the SBC was planning to request $2.02 million back in March (itself a subset of the $3.5 million in cuts that the committee made in February after bids came in over budget).

“I want to publicly thank the Apslers for their incredible generosity, SBC chair Chris Fasciano said at the June 17 SBC meeting. “It was a very pleasant surprise when we heard that news and it’s very much appreciated.”

As its class gift to the Lincoln School, the graduating eighth-grade class of 2020 created a school project tree fund and started it off with a $500 donation. That amount got a boost of $20,000 from the estate of Harriet Todd, a former Selectman who died in 2018 and left the town $500,000 in her will. Her family agreed that $275,000 of that bequest could be spent on auditorium seating, carpeting, and stage paneling (the rest will endow a scholarship for Lincoln students). However, the auditorium work will cost only about $255,000, so the Todds agreed that the $20,000 balance could go into the tree fund.

An amount of $56,084 was originally budgeted for 52 new trees but was one of the items cut in February. After the School Committee votes to establish the gift fund, residents will be able to make additional donations for trees.

“It’s just lovely on their part, and it obviously gives a big boost,” Fasciano said of the Todds.

Outdoor Town Meeting zips by in 90 minutes

Voters line up in the Hartwell parking lot driveway to check in for Town Meeting on June 13. See more photos below. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

By Alice Waugh

It was a Town Meeting like no other. Instead of lasting hours with hundreds of people packed in a stuffy auditorium, the June 13 event took place in the fresh air under an enormous tent where chirping birds competed with the amplified voices of the speakers. All three warrant articles were approved, and the whole thing was over in less than 90 minutes.

About 150 residents (all in masks) sat alone or in socially distanced pairs under a gigantic tent that occupied most of the Hartwell parking lot, secured by stakes driven through the asphalt. Another 130 who couldn’t fit in the allotted space in the tent sat outside in lawn chairs or on the pavement in the bright sunshine. Questions were submitted in writing and read aloud by runners to minimize microphone handling.

Everyone was given a small orange card to hold up while voting to avoid the need for calling out loudly and perhaps spreading aerosolized virus — but there was a small hitch. Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden noted that the town’s bylaws require a voice vote, “so I’m asking you to speak softly and raise your bright orange cards.” A soft chorus of “ayes” signaled each vote.

The agenda was pared down from the 40 warrant articles planned for March to 21 crucial financial articles. Eighteen of those articles focusing on the town budget, including Capital Planning Committee (CapCom) and Community Preservation Act (CPA) items, were unanimously approved with no discussion in a single consent-calendar vote.

As expected, most of the discussion focused on a request by the School Building Committee to move $829,000 from free cash to the school building project to pay for some of the items that were cut when bids came in $3.5 million over budget. Before Covid-19 turned things upside down, the SBC had planned to ask for $2.02 million to restore 19 items at Town Meeting in March. The eight items funded by Saturday’s vote amount were outlined in a June 4 public forum on Zoom.

Several residents were not happy about the SBC request. “The School Building Committee was given a very large amount of money. How many more times will you come to Town Meeting asking for yet more money?” said Jeanine Carlson. “We taxpayers have to live within our budget. Why don’t you?”

“We do not take lightly how much things have changed in the last few months,” SBC chair Chris Fasciano responded, noting that it had significantly scaled down its request since early March based partly on discussions with the Finance Committee. “We have made no decisions about coming back to the town or not coming back to the town. We are in a very uncertain time and we need to see how things unfold before we make that decision.”

Some of the other cuts, such as bike paths and walkways, playground equipment, and new trees, could be restored in the future with funding from sources such as the CPA, CapCom, or a potential Complete Streets Grant. But Fasciano acknowledged that funds that were cut from the budget for furniture, fittings, and equipment will have to be restored, either within the School Committee or SBC budgets, or by direct resident vote. Private donations are also a possibility, although town officials are not permitted to engage in fundraising.

“At some point, some or all of that [$750,000] will need to come back to the town,” he said. Much of that amount will go to replace old and worn furniture, as little or none has been replaced in the past 10 years as the town was trying to finalize a school project.

After the vote, the town still has $1.5 million in free cash, which — along with $2.2 million in the debt stabilization fund — makes up the town’s $3.7 million emergency reserves, FinCom chair Andy Payne said.

Former FinCom member Peyton Marshall also questioned the wisdom of allocating more money for the school.”Many of us in town have had to reconsider or are looking at our plans to remain in Lincoln,” he said. “I think we’ve gone far enough in spending money on town buildings and schools. Should we be prioritizing buildings or people?”

But others spoke in favor of the measure. When she first heard of the request to go before voters, one resident said she thought the SBC must be “very brave or very foolish, but then I read the list and though, ‘My goddess, this is going to impact actual learning in the classroom.” The allocation won’t raise taxes any further, “so it’s not going to show up in our mailboxes, but it will show up in the learning.”

There were about a dozen “nay” votes on the measure seeking $829,000 and three or four against a related measure to transfer $325,000 from the town’s cable TV fund to the cable TV infrastructure in the Donaldson Auditorium, which is normally used for Town Meetings.

Marshall was the only one to vote against the $270,000 Water Department borrowing request. Water Commission chair Ruth Anne Hendrickson explained that $125,000 of that was needed due to “the same sad story” — a previously funded item where bids came in over budget. She outlined the needs in detail before a June 9 public forum on Zoom.

In July, consultants will begin studying long-term options for Lincoln’s water supply, including switching to water from the MWRA. And starting next year, Water Department capital requests will go before the FinCom and the CPC before coming up for Town Meeting votes. This hasn’t been the case before, because the department operates as an enterprise fund independent of the town budget, whereby revenues from user fees are supposed to cover most of its costs.

Click images below for expanded versions and captions:

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Forum offers a closer look at school project items

The items in green are those for which the SBC is seeking additional funding at Town Meeting (click image to enlarge).

The School Building Committee answered questions and made its case for appropriating another $828,945 for the school project during a June 4 public forum conducted via Zoom.

The forum, which had 27 participants (about half of whom were SBC members and construction staff), was one of two such events scheduled before the June 13 Town Meeting, when residents will vote on moving money from the town’s free cash to restore some of the items that were cut from the project after bids came in $3.5 million over budget. The second Zoom forum will be on Monday, June 8 at 8 p.m. (participants must preregister but may do so right up until the start of the event). Click here to see a recording of Thursday’s forum.

The $828,945 would add back some items that either cannot be restored later, or could be restored later but only at significantly higher cost. The requested amount is a reduction from the $2.08 million that the SBC had planned to seek in March before Town Meeting had to be postponed and the town budget reexamined in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SBC outlined background material and the list items on the list in this memo and this slide deck shown during the forum, when officials offered more details about some of them:

  • The obsolete auditorium divider dates from the building’s opening in 1963 and is necessary for separating the stage and performance space from the lecture hall. Installing a new one later would mean tearing up some of the newly refurbished areas that are being particularly funded by a gift from the late Harriet Todd.
  • The sun control louvers in several areas of the building are needed to reduce glare and save money on heating and cooling.
  • An interior glass wall will allow more natural light into a deeper part of the building and allow greater space flexibility. Also, although minimizing contagion was not its original intent, the interior glass wall will enable teachers to separate students into smaller groups while “still maintaining sight lines and supervision,” Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall said.
  • Concrete pavers are much more durable and attractive than asphalt, and ripping up the surface and installing pavers later “would not be good value for money,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said. “Going back and undoing work makes it much more expensive.”
  • The partial restoration of the furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) budget will allow replacement of the outdated phone system and some of the oldest furniture.

The cuts in February were “rough,” SBC co-chair Chris Fasciano said. “For the first time, the SBC needed to eliminate parts of the project that we had tried really hard to protect and that represented collective community values. They’re so important to the project that we were willing to come back to the town and ask for additional funds. The SBC is acutely award of the pressure of the current situation… but in the end, we feel the responsibility to deliver a school project with the greatest long-term value for the community.”

Not included in the June 13 request are other cuts including bike paths, playground equipment, replacement trees, interior benches, theatrical rigging, and the majority of the budget for FF&E. Some of them may be eligible for future Community Preservation Act money, Complete Streets grants, or private fundraising. 

In answer to resident Sara Mattes’s question about whether there was a “hard stop on what we’re spending,” Fasciano said the SBC has not made a decision about when or whether to come back to voters for more supplemental funding. However, the remaining FF&E budget “will have to go to the town again,” he said, as purchases have been deferred for many years while the town struggled to approve a school project. “The economic environment and town finances will be a major factor in those decisions” about any future requests, he added.

Resident David Stifter expressed disappointment at some of the cuts, saying, “it seems like we’re getting some very different from what was in the renderings.”

“The SBC is as frustrated as you are,” Fasciano replied.

“We’re all disappointed it’s not going to turn out exactly as we envisioned it… but there are so many things that are great about this project,” said Buck Creel, administrator for business and finance for the Lincoln Public Schools. “I’m actually delighted we’re able to accomplish as much as we can given all the constraints.”

SBC to make reduced request for school items at June Town Meeting

Back before the coronavirus hit, the School Building Committee was planning to ask voters at a Special Town Meeting in March for up to $2.08 million to partially offset items it had to cut from the school project. Now it plans to ask for less than half of that amount at a stripped-down Annual Town Meeting now scheduled for June 13. However, depending on economic conditions, the SBC will almost certainly seek more additional funding at a Special Town Meeting in the fall.

The SBC settled on a list of cuts in February after construction bids totaled $3.5 million more than the project’s budget. The hope then was that $1.5 million in free cash that was originally recommended for a new public safety radio system could be used to restore the first two “buckets” of items the SBC prioritized. But now, with all the financial uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, the SBC was unsure about how much to ask for in this new environment.

After meeting with the Finance Committee, the SBC voted on May 13 to make a two-part funding request totaling $828,945. The first question will ask for $628,945 for seven items. If approved, they’ll then ask for the other $200,000 to pay for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E).

The first appropriation would fund the following items:

  • Restore the glass wall between the K-4 Science area and hallway ($26,666)
  • Interior lite and built-in bench at K-4 Art Room ($11,291)
  • Sun shades on the building’s exterior ($285,709)
  • A new auditorium divider ($279,400)
  • Concrete pavement in front of Reed/Brooks ($9,435)
  • A concrete walkway up to the main entrance ($13,799)
  • Concrete on the CASE (special education) driveway ($2,645)

The “first priority” list identified in February mostly matches these seven items but does not include $451,000 for FF&E, which includes crucial technology hardware and systems as well as some furniture. If approved, the second $200,000 request would restore some of that.

After reviewing the town’s budget situation, the Finance Committee this week recommended that the SBC “think of an outer limit of about $840,000 in free cash” that could be available for the school project, FinCom Chair Andy Payne said at the SBC meeting. Current estimates show a town budget deficit of about $800,000 over two fiscal years due to a drop in state and federal revue and added expenses from the pandemic. In a bit of good news, the mild winter resulted in savings on snow removal that can be applied to offset this year’s shortfall.

Payne emphasized that the FinCom was not recommending spending $840,000 from free cash on the school — rather, it’s the maximum amount that the board felt comfortable making available for discussion and voting.

Other sources that could be tapped include some of the stabilization fund, which currently stands at $2.2 million, or deferring some or all of the town’s planned $550,000 contribution to its OPEB (other post-employment benefits) fund. OPEB covers non-pension costs for retired town employees such as healthcare premiums. Dipping into the stabilization fund would require a two-thirds majority of votes at Town Meeting.

Given the uncertainty of getting voter approval for more money now or in the fall, SBC member Peter Sugar suggested using part of the construction contingency fund for some of the trimmed items instead. “We don’t know what people’s financial situation is,” he said. “I don’t want to have animosity build up in this town for this project, even from a minority. I think that would be a mistake.”

But others didn’t support that idea. If the contingency fund runs dry later on, “we’ll have to go back to the town [anyway] and tell them they have no choice” but to appropriate more money, SBC member Tim Christenfeld said.

“I’m concerned about eating into our contingency too much even before we’ve technically broken ground,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said. “Let’s put the information before the town so the town can make the best-informed choice about how the project will unfold.”

Some SBC members worried that residents would not be receptive to another “ask” in the fall and that the June request should therefore be larger. But the FinCom encouraged the SBC to keep their request lower for now and defer seeking money for items that don’t need to be committed to at this early stage of the project.

“I’m not trying to discourage you from coming back in the fall,” FinCom member Jim Hutchinson said. “It’s obvious to me that some of the FF&E is needed in this project, but it also doesn’t need to be decided right now.”

“If the SBC is heading down a path of a phased-request approach, I would encourage the SBC to share as much visibility as possible into these future requests with the FinCom and ultimately the residents,” Payne said.

Asking for less than the full amount suggested by the FinCom now might be more politically palatable. “I’m not sure we would get support for [all of] the $840,000. My sense is more like $500,000 to $600,000,” School Committee member Tara Mitchell said.

“My sense is that the more we ask for, the thinner the support might be,” agreed FinCom member Gina Halsted.

Town Meeting plans

The current plan is to hold the June 13 Town Meeting outdoors under a large tent and lawn seating in the central ballfield on the school campus. This location provides easy access to electricity from the portable classrooms and the temporarily paved areas offer better footing than the grass in Codman Field, which was also considered as a site.

The Town Meeting will feature an expanded consent calendar of financial items that can be voted on in a bloc (though residents have the right to “hold out” any items for separate discussion and voting). There will also be separate votes for the school funding question and a Water Commission capital request. The commission voted in January to seek another $250,000 to replace aging equipment in the town’s water system.

If the Town Meeting still can’t happen on June 13 for public health reasons, the town (and the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School district) will open the new fiscal year on July 1 using monthly budgets based on 1/12 of their fiscal 2020 budgets for as long as necessary.

Town Meeting decision expected next week

Town officials will make a decision next week about whether to go ahead with a streamlined Annual Town Meeting on May 30 as currently planned.

At their April 20 meeting, the Board of Selectmen indicated they were waiting on word from Gov. Charlie Baker about whether Massachusetts schools would reopen May 4 when his closure order was originally set to expire. But the following day (April 21), he decreed that schools will stay shut for the rest of the academic year due to Covid-19 epidemic.

If an abbreviated Town Meeting is to take place on May 30, officials must commit by May 11 to meet public notice and printing requirements. The board’s next weekly meeting is April 27.

Along with other financial items that can’t be delayed, the Town Meeting will include a vote on whether to spend additional money for items that had to be cut by the School Building Committee (SBC) in February. Before the Covid-19 pandemic upended plans, the SBC identified three lists of items grouped by priority totaling $2.08 million that they hoped to see restored.

One possibility that’s been discussed is postponing a proposed $1.5 million public radio system and use the money for the school instead. Potential budget sources include free cash or the town’s stabilization fund, which currently stands at $2.2 million (this requires a two-thirds majority vote at Town Meeting). More borrowing would require a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting plus a simple majority at the ballot box.

Because of increased expenses and shortfalls in expected revenues, the town is facing a two-year estimated deficit of $600,000–$830,000 for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, even after some Covid-related expenses are reimbursed through state and federal grants, Finance Committee Chair Andy Payne told the SBC on April 15.

Guaranteed maximum price approved

The SBC voted last week to approve a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) of $78,324,908. That figure covers hard construction costs plus the construction manager’s contingency as well as insurance and bonds. It also incorporates cuts of $783,162 from items that were on the lists to bring to Town Meeting.

The SBC is awaiting word on the scheduling of Town Meeting before deciding whether to amend its lists of requests. They are scheduled to meet next on May 13. However, the project will proceed regardless of the outcome of the Town Meeting votes.

There was a delay in finalizing the GMP because the town and construction manager Consigli Construction had to negotiate how they would handle any extra expenses incurred as a result of the epidemic. They agreed that Consigli can tap its $1.7 million construction contingency, and if that is exhausted, they can ask for reimbursement of additional expenses totaling no more than $425,000 from the town. Any expenses Consigli identifies as being due to Covid-19 will be submitted for approval to Daedalus (the owner’s project manager) and/or the SBC. 

In March, the SBC signed a power purchase agreement for a 1.4 MW solar photovoltaic system along with a 500 Kw battery backup and gas-fired backup generator that will make the campus net-zero in terms of energy use. SunPower Corp. will provide the solar PV system through a nonprofit solar program organized by PowerOptions, Inc.

One possible bright spot about schools closing for the rest of the year is that the project might be able to start earlier than planned. Work can’t begin until teachers and students leave after the last day of school, which normally isn’t until mid-June.

“The subcontractors are champing at the bit. If school were to be canceled [for the rest of the year], they’re ready and raring to go,” Consigli’s Christian Riordan told the SBC on April 15.

$3.5m cut from school project, but alternate funding is a possibility

By Alice Waugh

(Editor’s note: this story has been updated.)

Items including new trees, some of the playground equipment, and sunlight-controlling window devices totaling $3.5 million were chopped—at least temporarily—from the school project last week after construction bids came in at $3.5 million higher than budgeted.

The School Building Committee (SBC) got the bad news when bids were opened on January 29 and voted on February 12 to approve cuts to close the gap. The newly deleted line items include:

  • $1.2 million for planting new trees, concrete walkways and bike paths, half the playground equipment, an auditorium divider and theatrical rigging, and sunlight-controlling window devices
  • $1.5 million (of the $2.1 million originally budgeted) for furniture, fittings, equipment, and technology
  • $254,000 for auditorium seating, carpeting, and stage paneling
  • $782,000 for using a different foundation pouring method and less expensive new caseworks, as well as not demolishing and removing the temporary classrooms.

In a bit of good news, the $254,000 for the auditorium refurbishment was restored after it recently became clear that the work could be funded from the estate of the late Harriet Todd, a former Selectman who died in 2018 and left $500,000 to the town in her will. Her family agreed that some of that bequest could be spent on the auditorium; the rest will endow a scholarship for Lincoln students.

Some of the other items that the SBC cut may not be gone for good. After a flurry of meetings this week, the Board of Selectmen approved a Special Town Meeting (STM) to vote on restoring some of them with money from a different source. The STM will take place at the start of the Annual Town Meeting on March 28.

The three buckets of items the SBC hopes to restore to the school project. Items in peach are the SBC’s top priority, those in blue are second priority, and green is third priority. Click image to enlarge.

On February 26, the SBC went over its previous list of cuts and parceled them into “buckets” that they hope to offer for STM votes (see illustration). The three buckets, which total $2.08 million, are in descending order of how critical the SBC feels the items are. If the first set (peach) is approved, there will then be a vote on group #2 (blue), and then another vote on the third set (green) if group #2 is also approved. But if any bucket is voted down, there will not be a vote on the next set.

Residents approved a budget of $93.9 million for the school in December 2018. Since the school project cannot increase its previously approved budget, money to restore any of the cuts would have to come from another source and would therefore require residents’ approval. Those sources, as identified by the Finance Committee on February 25, include:

  • Free cash. Officials have already targeted spending $1.5 million from free cash to upgrade the town’s public safety radio system. However, that item on the ATM warrant could be passed over if residents at the STM decide to spend some or all of that money on the school instead. The first two buckets of potentially restored cuts add up to $1.499 million.
  • Tapping the town’s stabilization fund, which currently stands at $2.2 million (this would require a two-thirds majority vote at Town Meeting). Town Finance Director Colleen Wilkins said this week that depleting the stabilization fund even to zero would not affect the town’s AAA bond rating.
  • Borrowing via a capital or debt exclusion. This would require a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting plus a simple majority at the ballot box.

At their meeting on Tuesday, the Finance Committee also expressed concern about how town officials and contractors misread the market and didn’t build in enough bidding contingency funds. “The cost escalation moved very quickly [from an expected 5-6% to 8%], and we may not have understood the preference for new construction” by contractors bidding on Lincoln’s complex renovation project, SBC chair Chris Fasciano told Selectmen on Monday.

Finance Committee members voted 5-2 to “roll back” and reopen its deliberations on the large budget requests (e.g., public safety radio) for fiscal 2021 in anticipation of the SBC’s budget request. They will then deliberate those requests  at one or more meetings before Town Meeting and make a recommendation, which might include supporting the SBC’s request, supporting only portions, not supporting it, or having some other recommendation(s).

FinCom members Tom Sander and Elisa Sartori voted against the motion. “I would like to have voters vote at Special Town Meeting decide on whether they want to put additional money into the school project to preserve these important items that SBC was forced to cut and which otherwise will never be part of the building,” Sander said later. “And I actually personally favor funding these. But I see our role on FinCom as being neutral fiscal trustees of the town. And I feared that undoing our vote to fully fund the police and fire radio project for this coming fiscal year would not as concretely and objectively pose to residents what we (FinCom) would have planned to do with this free cash if it wasn’t put into the school. As long as it is clear to voters at Town Meeting that this is not simply $1.5 million of free cash sitting idle with no other planned uses for it, I’m fine with the vote that FinCom approved.”

“It’s a hard ask,” Selectman Jennifer Glass acknowledged at the SBC meeting. “But in my opinion, this is the moment to say to the town that we have a set of choices. We have a great project as it is, but we have some decisions that, if we don’t make them now, we’ve lost things as part of this project.”

July 4 fireworks canceled due to school project

The traditional Lincoln Fourth of July fireworks show in Codman Field has been canceled this year because of the upcoming school construction project and won’t resume until work is done.

In a letter to the Lincoln community posted by the Lincoln Police Department and the Parks and Recreation Department, Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy and Parks and Rec Director Dan Pereira said the school campus won’t have sufficient parking or pedestrian access while construction is going on. There isn’t any other site in town that can accommodate the show, which attracts over 5,000 spectators and 1,000 cars each year, they said.

Construction work on the two-phase school project is slated to begin this June and be “substantially complete” in June 2022.

“An event of this scale cannot be run safely in the reduced space. We have not yet determined when the campus will be ready to resume this tradition, but will keep you informed,” the letter said.

All July 4th morning activities (the road race, reading of the Declaration of Independence, children’s bicycle parade, main parade and Boy Scout lunch) are expected to run as usual, and the Codman Pool will remain open and free for community use that day.

“We are always looking for new energy and ideas to invigorate our public events, especially during the temporary loss of this beloved tradition,” the letter says. Anyone interested in helping out should contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 781-259-0784.