Billerica Select Board Votes 3-2 to Support Special Town Meeting Warrant Articles

BILLERICA -- May 6, 2024, Billerica Select Board splits 3-2 on contested special town meeting warrant while honoring fallen Sergeant Ian Taylor. The board voted 3-2 on three separate special town meeting articles at its May 6 meeting, including support for funding a new recreation center and a new Council on Aging at $20,337,065.76 each, and authorization to borrow up to $41 million and pursue a state Article 97 land transfer for the Parker Hill Recreation complex. A separate 3-2 vote preemptively declared the board's opposition to reallocating Article 97 conservation protections on the approximately 1.1-acre tennis court parcel at the Peggy Hannon and Rizza complex, drawing objections from Selectwomen Kelly Conway and Kim Favreau, who argued town meeting members should decide the question. The board opened the evening with unanimous votes placing letters of commendation in the files of all public safety and town hall employees who responded to Taylor's April 26 line-of-duty death, and unanimously amended an annual town meeting article to transfer $300,000 from overlay surplus to Taylor's family. Police Chief Roy Frost called the response coordination "the biggest and most complex operation" of his 28-year career, reading a letter from resident Carol Williams whose grandson had been befriended by Taylor years after a skateboard accident.