Littleton Appoints Melissa Hebert to Light and Water Board in 7-2 Vote

LITTLETON — August 14, 2023 — Littleton Select Board and Light and Water Commissioners voted 7-2 to appoint Melissa Hebert, a former Select Board member and Microsoft technology consultant, to fill a vacancy on the Board of Light and Water Commissioners through the May 2024 annual town elections. Hebert was unanimously recommended by the commissioners over two other applicants, Mark Hollinger and Heather Trumbull, with one Select Board member casting a dissenting vote and declining a request to make the result unanimous, saying the vote "reflected a genuine difference of opinion." In a lengthy joint session, Select Board Chair Chuck Connelly read a prepared statement detailing the sewer capacity constraints facing businesses in the Littleton Common Sewer District, disclosing that the current DEP discharge permit is capped at 243,000 gallons per day against a facility capable of handling 500,000 gallons per day; without the Lapolli Companies' 550 King Street development partnership, the per-REU sewer cost would have approached $210,000 versus the current roughly $40,000. Several business and property owners told the board they feel shut out of future capacity, with attorney Brian Barack saying "we got forgot" and property owner Matthew Field stating his multiple village-district properties have been devalued by over $500,000 each because of a single-REU allocation. The board also received a draft bicycle and pedestrian master plan from MAPC planner Mara Holland, based on a 700-response community survey, but took no vote, with debate centering on a contested proposal to remove centerlines from some rural roads.