Billerica Select Board creates Agricultural Commission, revisits mail-in voting opt-out

BILLERICA -- February 3, 2025, Billerica Select Board votes 3-2 to create an Agricultural Commission and schedules a do-over public hearing on mail-in voting. Selectwoman Favreau drove both agenda items at the February 3 meeting, presenting the commission framework, drawn directly from the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture with only the town name changed, over objections from Selectwoman Conway and Selectman Riley, who wanted Town Counsel review first. The board also learned that its January 27 vote to opt out of early mail-in voting for the April 5 municipal election was procedurally invalid under MGL Chapter 54, Section 25B, which requires at least seven days of published notice and a formal public hearing; a corrective hearing was set for February 10. Town Manager Clancy Maine presented a capital plan projecting $50 million for the DPW facility, $12 million each for a North Billerica fire station and a new recreation center, and a $5.2 million road program in FY27 against only $3 million in available annual funding. Attorney Jacqueline Hubbard, deputy director of policy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts, was appointed to the Commission on Disability 5-0, while first-person applicant Daniel Morgan was defeated 1-4.