Concord commissioners agree to back request for part‑time planner to support CPA work

The Concord Historical Commission on Monday discussed and agreed to move forward with a request to add a part‑time planning position funded by the Community Preservation Act to support the Community Preservation Committee and free senior planner Anne Clifford to focus on historic preservation.

Elizabeth (staff) told the commission she had sent a memo to the deputy town manager proposing the new part‑time position as part of the fiscal 2026 planning division budget. "The commission got a copy of a memo that was sent by myself to the deputy town manager regarding the fiscal, 2026 budget for the planning division, requesting a new part time position to support the Community Preservation Committee and the Community Preservation Act program," she said, noting the extra workload across three committees.

Commissioners generally supported the request and discussed next steps for advocacy. Lauren Meyer and others encouraged the group to send a collective letter to the town manager, Select Board and Finance Committee; Elizabeth said individual outreach to officials would also help. There was no motion or formal vote recorded at the meeting. Instead, commissioners agreed to prepare a draft letter for review and to vote on it at their next regular meeting.

The staff estimate for the additional position varied in discussion. Elizabeth said the role would be modestly budgeted and described existing CPA funding: "Anne's time...is roughly...a little over $31,000 a year in CPA funding, to her, to fund the 12 hours," and later noted the memo estimated the new part‑time funding might be "a little less than $40,000 a year" when accounting for the new position. She also said a new position would need personnel board review and to be included on the town meeting warrant before becoming effective (if approved) on July 1 following the budget process.

Commissioners discussed procedural timing and agreed the commission could draft and approve a support letter within about two weeks so it could feed into the town budgeting process; Elizabeth said the town manager was actively preparing the budget and the operating budget line would appear on the town meeting warrant if advanced. Several members offered to help draft and circulate the letter for commission review.

Next steps: the commission will draft a concise letter of support for the CPA‑funded position, circulate it to members for edits, and place the letter on the agenda for a formal vote at the next regular meeting. No formal budget change was adopted at the meeting.