Billerica Select Board Pulls Stormwater Bylaw, Clears Four Union Contracts for Town Meeting

BILLERICA — May 1, 2023 — Billerica Select Board dismissed two stormwater management articles and recommended four union contracts to spring Town Meeting on the night before voters were set to convene. The board voted 4-0-1 to dismiss Articles 37 and 38, which would have moved stormwater permitting jurisdiction from the Board of Health to the Department of Public Works, after members said inadequate public input and broad administrative waiver authority made the articles unready for a vote. Town Manager John Clancy argued against dismissal, saying "your responsibility is to those neighbors that come in here on a fairly consistent basis saying why is my yard being flooded out," but the board opted to defer to fall at the earliest. The four contracts — covering paramedics, DPW workers, professional administrators, and firefighters — carry appropriations totaling more than $835,000 and include a full wage-scale rebuild for the paramedics unit, setting hourly pay between $30.00 and $39.58 across 15 steps to address four current department vacancies. The firefighters' appropriation for FY2024 is $287,000; the DPW retroactive appropriation is $275,000. The board also approved a common victualer license transfer for Augusta Subs and Salads at 599 Boston Road and eight entertainment licenses for High Octane Harley-Davidson.