Shutesbury Select Board seats five on new stormwater panel, defers lake committee vote

SHUTESBURY -- May 26, 2026, Shutesbury Select Board appoints five to new stormwater panel and confronts a winter snow deficit exceeding $100,000. The board unanimously seated James Morris, Steve Sullivan, Bob Douglas, Greg Day, and Jennifer Wallace on the newly constituted Stormwater Mitigation and Implementation Committee at its May 26 meeting, capping a lengthy recruitment effort that had originally targeted seven members. The board also approved $25,866.93 in FY26 line-item transfers covering expanded assessor's clerk hours, pre-solar library electric bills, heating overruns, and longevity bonuses, but Town Administrator Jennifer Brecher flagged that a snow and ice account deficit of more than $100,000 remains unresolved and must be addressed before June 30, with options including unspent reserves, potential state aid, or multi-year amortization. A planned vote to appoint Mary David to the Lake Wyola Advisory Committee was deferred after the board discovered unresolved questions about whether the committee's membership cap had ever been formally raised beyond its original 11 members and whether the body is a standing or ad hoc committee. The board also rescinded a redundant non-discrimination grievance policy and unanimously adopted a new fragrance-free guidelines and scent-reduction policy, Policy No. 260526, grounded in ADA Title I and Title III accommodation principles.