Select Board: New Leadership, Clean Audit, Licensing Push

Hopkinton, May 26 — The Select Board reorganized for the new year, electing Shahidul Manan as Chair and Matt Kizner as Vice Chair. Additionally, they thanked outgoing Chair Joe Clark for his service. Members Brian Herr and Matt Kizner participated remotely. However, Kizner dropped off partway through due to illness.

The meeting covered a clean FY2025 town audit, a new police officer appointment, and several routine approvals. It also included two substantial policy discussions — a draft Common Victualler licensing policy and a public safety assessment scope. Public comment was dominated by residents urging the Board to strengthen and enforce business-licensing safeguards. In conclusion, the Board closed by entering executive session.

Board Reorganization

• Chair: Shahidul Manan elected unanimously by roll call.
• Vice Chair: Matt Kizner elected unanimously by roll call.
• Vice Chair Kizner publicly thanked outgoing Chair Joe Clark, acknowledging a difficult year for the Board.

Public Forum Highlights

Residents raised a consistent theme: the proposed business-licensing policy and the public safety assessment should be defined broadly and, critically, made enforceable.

• Several speakers urged a broader scope for the public safety assessment, arguing it should cover licensing, sex-offender oversight, and HPD culture around sexual assault and domestic violence — not just emergency-response coordination.
• Speakers cited gaps in the common victualler (food service) licensing process, noting that many license packages are approved with contingencies that are never revisited, and argued that a policy “is only as strong as the institution willing to enforce it.”
• Lynn Key spoke as the sister of Amanda Key, a 2012 assault victim who died in 2023, asking the Board to add enforceable action standards to the new licensing policy.
• Don Kaiser raised environmental concerns about herbicide treatment in Lake Maspenock and pesticide spraying. He asked the Board of Health to require applicator licensing and disclosure.
• Ed Harrow criticized “silo management,” citing open-space and land decisions made without notifying the relevant committee.
• Parker Happ noted private-road concerns were promised but absent from the agenda and flagged a forthcoming citizen petition.

FY2025 Audit Presentation

Terenzio Volpicelli of FF, which resulted in a clean (unmodified) opinion. The audit found no internal control deficiencies or material weaknesses.

• Bond rating: S&P continues to rate the town’s long-term debt AAA.
• Reserve ratio: ~35% in FY2025, up from 31% — considered “quite strong” (S&P benchmark ~18%).
• Reserves: Certified free cash of $16.2M plus ~$6.3M in stabilization funds (~$22.5M combined).
• Pension/OPEB: Middlesex County retirement system ~59% funded; town OPEB plan ~18% funded ($7.9M accumulated against an estimated $44.5M liability) — in line with comparable communities.
• Key concern: Rising debt levels — the auditor flagged this as a potential factor in a future rating downgrade.
• Recommendations: Strengthen network/cybersecurity (phishing and ransomware awareness, in-person verification of payment changes) and adopt closing checklists; spend down an excess school-lunch fund balance (~$1.9M).

Board members praised the finance department’s professionalism.

The audit report is posted on the town website, but it’s not easy to find. It is titled “FY2025 Hopkinton Audited Financial Statements.pdf”. Also, it is the last (newest) entry in the Audited Financial Statements folder.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1py_v96BW7IbejNHnb5OzyRW4l8lJJlJy

Votes and Approvals

Item	Outcome
Move Board reorganization to front of agenda	Approved (unanimous)
Elect Shahidul Manan as Chair	Approved (unanimous)
Elect Matt Kizner as Vice Chair	Approved (unanimous)
Consent agenda (meeting minutes (Apr 14, May 2, May 5); $600 + $2,635 gifts from Friends of Hopkinton Seniors; resignation of Beth Watson from Historic District Commission; appointment of Prince Guau as water/sewer assistant; farmers market beer & wine licenses for Rushford and Sons and Jammalo Craft Wines)	Approved (unanimous)
Appoint Victoria (Tori) Fullager as police officer (lateral transfer from federal government)	Approved (unanimous)
Tax abatements on four town-conveyed parcels (Honeybee Pass, Lincoln St., Whalon Rd., Clinton St.)	Approved (two motions, unanimous)
Authorize RFP process for public safety assessment	Approved (unanimous)
Order of taking / eminent-domain easement for Liden Street (per Town Meeting Article 33)	Approved (unanimous)
Post new working foreperson position in DPW water & sewer division (effective July 1)	Approved (unanimous)
Common victualler license policy	No vote — deferred for further review

Common Victualler License Policy (Discussion — No Vote)

Town counsel (Kayla Venkowskis and a colleague from Mead, Talerman & Costa) walked the Board through what its background-check authority does and does not allow. Key points:

• The town has only standard-level CORI access, limited to Massachusetts convictions (misdemeanors within 5 years, felonies within 10 years, plus pending charges).
• Because Town Meeting rejected a civil fingerprinting bylaw, the town cannot run national CORI checks — the only legal route to national checks is a fingerprinting bylaw approved by the Attorney General and FBI.
• The town has public-level access to Level 2 and 3 sex-offender information only (current status).
• The Board cannot automatically deny a license based on a record but may use CORI/SORI as part of an individualized suitability evaluation, and may impose reasonable, business-related conditions. Counsel advised that where there is genuine risk to the public or employees, denial is the stronger path.
• Reliable, publicly available information (e.g., news reports, police reports from other states) may be considered even when it would not appear on a CORI.

Board members asked counsel to provide the guidance in writing, incorporate recent resident feedback, and add recommendations on enforcement and implementation.

The Board wants the policy in place before any new license discussions this year but is leaning toward principle-based (“always come to the board / always require review”) rather than overly prescriptive language.

2026 Annual Town Meeting Recap

Town Clerk Connor Degan, Moderator Zach Kosan, and town counsel debriefed the town’s first Saturday Town Meeting (completed in a single day). The Board’s stated priority is increasing attendance.

• What worked: single-day completion (avoiding a costly multi-night meeting), food/refreshments from the Boy Scouts, and a smoothly run meeting; turnout exceeded the prior year.
• Opportunities: better advertising (reusable signage, more advance notice), offering childcare (Girl Scouts may provide babysitting; Boy Scouts already booked for next year), avoiding date conflicts with major school/community events, and adding morning coffee.
• A resident survey (~100 responses) is open on the town website and Facebook with no set close date; the Board favors keeping it open about another month.
• Counsel and members noted attendance correlates more with controversial warrant articles than with the day of the week, and that citizen petitions rarely pass without a town-government champion.
• Resident Brian Johnson urged against moving away from open town meetings, recommending that the town instead remove barriers to attendance (transportation, childcare, clearer warrant explanations).

Public Safety Assessment Scope

Town Manager Elaine Lazarus presented a draft scope for a public safety assessment funded at $24,000 in the FY27 budget. The Board authorized issuing an RFP.

• The assessment will go out to public bid; staff will also look at consultants, public agencies, and nonprofits used by other communities.
• Board requests for the RFP: require documented Massachusetts experience; consider including performance-management goal-setting for the fire and police chiefs; and ensure that deliverables establish a repeatable benchmarking framework.
• Timeline is to be confirmed post-Town-Meeting through the procurement process; staff to begin work promptly.

Town Manager Report

• DPW staffing: New working foreperson position approved for the water & sewer division (FY27 budget), effective July 1, to support two crews.
• Boston Marathon fundraising: The town’s 130th Boston Marathon invitational entries (52 bibs) raised roughly $542,000 for local organizations — most runners achieved the $6,000 minimum, and several well beyond.
• Summer schedule: Board agreed to move toward meeting once a month in June, July, and August. The specific dates TBD. July 7 is problematic due to the holiday.

Liaison Reports & Other Items

• Upcoming events: Pride Parade (June 20, on the Common) and July 4th Parade — members plan to march together where available.
• Juneteenth flag raising planned before the June 2 meeting (~5:30 PM).
• Open surveys: Town Meeting survey and a Charter Review Committee survey; police chief screening committee applications are open through May 29 (17 applicants as of the meeting).
• Memorial Day event drew 200+ residents and veterans (held indoors at St. John’s due to rain).
• Future agenda items requested: private-roads options (alternatives to making them public), public-forum structure/rules, and improving town communication channels.

Executive Session

The Board voted to enter executive session to (1) discuss litigation strategy regarding a Stonewall / assessor’s-map parcel near 61–65 Winter Street. They also entered executive session to (2) discuss strategy for negotiations with non-union town employees. Finally, they approved prior executive session minutes.

The Board did not reconvene in open session afterward.

For more detail, refer to the official minutes. In addition, you can check the YouTube recording for the complete record.