Shutesbury Board of Health Votes to Fund Lake Wyola Water Gauge From Its Own Budget

SHUTESBURY — March 18, 2026 — Shutesbury Board of Health authorizes contingency spending for Lake Wyola water gauge while tracking oil spill cleanup costs. The three-member board — Chair Noreen Pease, Catherine Hilton, and Arlene Reed — voted 3-0 at its March 18 meeting to spend from the board's roughly $1,900 annual budget line to purchase a water level gauge costing just under $1,000, if a preferred Lake Wyola Advisory Committee funding source cannot be located by Town Accountant Gail Weiss. Separately, Pease briefed the board on an ongoing oil spill remediation at a town facility, where soil contamination from a leaking underground pump has generated cleanup costs estimated at $6,000 to $8,000 — a figure that would fall entirely within the school department's $10,000 insurance deductible. Mass DEP is expected to issue a formal recommendations report. Pease also confirmed she has formally transferred a years-long condemned-property matter on Wendell Road to Town Administrator Haley and the Select Board, saying the Board of Health had exhausted its available authority.