Littleton Select Board OKs Mass Trails Grant, Rejects Vote-by-Mail Opt-Out, Eyes Boxborough Water Deal

LITTLETON — January 30, 2023 — Littleton Select Board declines to end vote-by-mail and backs $19 million Boxborough water project in busy January session. The board voted 4-0 Monday to keep early vote-by-mail available for the May 6, 2023 annual town election after Town Clerk Diane Corey presented a breakdown showing the cost of proactively mailing postcards to all 7,548 registered voters at approximately $6,302.58 — an amount not budgeted for the current or coming fiscal year. Corey, who noted all 82 town clerks surveyed statewide preferred to opt out, nonetheless told the board "the only way you're going to get that voter participation is by sending out something." The board also heard a detailed first briefing from Littleton Electric Light and Water General Manager Nick Lawler on a proposed $19 million borrowing authorization to extend a water main four and a half miles into Boxborough to serve roughly 1,100 residents in an environmental justice community with contaminated wells, with approximately $14 million expected to be recovered through betterments and the remainder attributable to a new Littleton production well yielding at least 500,000 gallons per day. Additional 4-0 votes approved a Mass Trails grant application for a $45,000 ADA trail at Cloverdale, a memorandum of understanding with the North Central Climate Change Coalition, a sixth amendment to the Shattuck Center contract for a $2,700 sewer connection, and meeting minutes from January 9.