Select Board hears liaison updates: COA director withdraws, summer camps scaled back, MLB solar project on hold

Select Board members used their Jan. 26 retreat to update one another on staffing, program and policy matters across town committees and to flag items that may need board attention before Town Meeting.

Colette Aufranc, the board’s liaison to several committees, said the Council on Aging’s candidate who had accepted the director job withdrew the next day and the board’s second finalist declined to re-engage, requiring the COA to restart its search and delaying initiatives that depend on new leadership. Aufranc also said bathroom floor repairs at the COA are being handled as a change order to the kitchen project and are nearing completion.

Beth Sullivan Woods reported the Board of Health’s Community Health Assessment is nearly finalized with planned public rollouts, and she told the board the Recreation Department will scale back summer camp enrollment as a pilot year because of significant youth behavior challenges; the reduction is “meaningful” and staff are balancing scholarship slots against full-tuition enrollment within reduced capacity. Sullivan Woods also said the Youth Commission received a $35,000 food-security grant, administered through the Charles River Chamber (originally funded by a state senator), to support a meal program serving roughly 25–50 residents per week at a cost under $25 per meal; funds must be spent by the end of June.

Aufranc told the board the Municipal Light Board is carrying significant capital work and is deliberating the use of its WeCare reserve, which is accumulating faster than it can be deployed and raises fairness questions for ratepayers; as a result, the MLB’s school solar panel project is on hold pending those discussions.

Kenneth Largess reported the Wellesley Housing Authority is finalizing a management agreement with Cambridge Housing Authority and flagged that the Residential Incentive Overlay (RIO) Task Force submitted bylaw language for the Warrant, surprising some board members. Largess said Town Counsel’s opinion is that a development agreement cannot be mandated through a zoning bylaw but can be required as a permitting condition, creating uncertainty about whether a map change could proceed to Town Meeting without a development agreement in hand.

Aufranc and others also briefed the board on community events and cultural initiatives including plans for "Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend" (May 16–17) and work by the Town Hall Art Working Group on interior art installations.

The board did not take formal votes on these items at the retreat but asked staff and relevant committees to return updates and, where needed, to coordinate timing with Town Meeting and the Town-Wide Capital Planning Committee.