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.