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Wellesley Select Board Policy Subcommittee discusses draft Town‑Wide Capital Planning Committee; Climate Action Committee urges broader sustainability standards
Summary
On Jan. 9, 2026, the Wellesley Select Board Policy Subcommittee reviewed a draft Town‑Wide Capital Planning Committee. Climate Action Committee members recommended broader sustainability language, a simple departmental checklist, coordination with the CAC director, and inclusion of grant funding in project evaluations.
The Wellesley Select Board Policy Subcommittee met Jan. 9, 2026, in a hybrid session to review a draft Town‑Wide Capital Planning Committee and gather feedback from the Climate Action Committee. The meeting began at 8:15 a.m. and adjourned at 8:54 a.m.
Colette Aufranc, a Select Board Policy Subcommittee member, summarized the Select Board’s effort to create a Town‑Wide Capital Planning Committee intended to assist the Select Board with capital planning responsibilities. Aufranc reviewed the current process, highlighted elements of the proposed draft, and said she was working to include "an appendix of strategic plans for ease use reference and use for proponents and Committee members." She asked the Climate Action Committee for their feedback and questions.
Members of the Climate Action Committee offered several substantive recommendations. They called for broader language around environmental goals, saying the draft should expand the phrase "environmental sustainability" to "Sustainability, Climate Change Mitigation, and resilience," and suggested related edits to CAC‑specific sections.
The committee also proposed a concise checklist tool to make sustainability and resilience considerations easier for departments to use when preparing capital project proposals. "Proposed a tool to refer to - a checklist summary that will be easy for departments to use," the Climate Action Committee members told the subcommittee.
To help departments apply the checklist, the CAC recommended that departments proposing projects meet with the CAC director to work through the checklist and "explain rationale when compliance is not possible." The CAC members additionally urged that grants be included as an evaluation element for proposed projects. The Climate Action Committee said it was supportive of the overall Town‑Wide Capital Planning Committee proposal.
No motions or formal votes were recorded during the session. The meeting concluded with the adjournment at 8:54 a.m.
Next steps noted by the subcommittee included incorporating stakeholder feedback into the draft and advancing the proposed committee structure for further review by the Select Board and other town bodies.
