By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Construction management and municipal budget management will be the Select Board’s main focus areas for the upcoming year, Select Board Chair Phil Crawford said during a May 5 meeting.
Crawford said his main objective for the upcoming year is completing several initiatives that the Select Board has been working on the last few years.
“We have a lot on our plate as a town,” said Crawford. “A tremendous amount of construction projects have begun over the last few years, so what I would like to put out there is not really add a lot more or much of anything to what we already have, but to finish these things up.”
Crawford said the $63.5 million public safety and Town Hall project will be completed and opened later this year.
“We want to finish the completion and have the opening of our public safety buildings and Town Hall projects,” said Crawford.
Crawford also said he wants the “preconstruction process completed and laid out for the beginning of the rail trail.” Spring Town Meeting recently approved three warrant articles related to Phase 1 of the Lynnfield Rail Trail, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) recently approved funding Phase 1, totaling $6,062,695, in fiscal year 2026.
“The rail trail will be constructed in 2026,” said Crawford.
Crawford said the town was awarded a Complete Streets grant from MassDOT that will be used to overhaul the Summer and Salem street intersection.
“That will certainly improve that area for both the residents and the (new Fire Headquarters) that is being built next to it,” said Crawford.
Crawford also noted that Toll Brothers is currently constructing its the Willis Brook at Lynnfield over-55 development on upper Main Street. The 2022 Fall Town Meeting approved two zoning changes that are allowing Toll Brothers to build a 66-unit over-55 housing development at 1301 Main St., which was formerly part of the Sagamore Spring Golf Club. The new development will include a clubhouse, a swimming pool and a patio.
“We need to finish the management of that, and what it means to the town,” said Crawford. “There are new waterlines going into the street, and there will be months of construction going on that will need to be managed up there.”
In addition to the construction projects currently taking place, Crawford also said the Select Board will be prioritizing the town’s budget for the upcoming year.
“I have asked the schools to give us a quarterly report on both operations, their budget and their capital report,” said Crawford. “We would like to see that on a quarterly basis.”
Crawford said Department of Public Works (DPW) Director John Scenna will be giving quarterly reports as well.
Select Board Vice Chair Alexis Leahy said she “would like to see” Scenna give an update on the five-year Capital Improvement Plan that was finished earlier this year.
“I would like to see how capital planning is moving along and how they are meeting the needs they have outlined in that plan,” said Leahy.
Leahy added in an interview with the Villager: “I would like to receive consistent updates about the progress with addressing current and future capital needs as well as discuss any recommended changes as they arise.”
Crawford said during the meeting that a Golf Management Committee is going to be formed that will be conducting an “analysis of the golf operations and what we might want to do to improve” the town’s two golf courses.
“We can maybe improve the building at Reedy Meadow and what they might need for improvements along the golf courses,” said Crawford.
Leahy asked whether the Select Board will be looking for “volunteers from the community” to serve on the Golf Management Committee.
Crawford said no because the Golf Management Committee will most likely include himself, Scenna, Town Administrator Rob Dolan and a fifth member.
“I think it will be more of an administrative thing,” said Crawford.
Crawford said the town is going to have some “key retirements” in FY26, including Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin.
“Bob will be here from time-to-time to help us with our meetings, but he will be retiring from his day-to-day operations,” said Crawford. “We have to have some discussions on who their replacements might be.”
Crawford noted that Spring Town Meeting approved two different budgets recently. Townspeople will be voting on the proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2 ½ override during a Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4 that seeks to the fund the town’s $4 million deficit and $650,000 for school technology upgrades. If voters don’t approve the override, the town will implement a $73,075,332 balanced budget that will include a number of lay offs, including 56 School Department employees.
“Even though we don’t know what the vote is going to be yet, we still have to manage what that is going to look like depending on how that goes on June 4,” said Crawford. “We will be talking about that.”
Crawford said Scenna will be giving an update “on all of the projects” currently underway at the Select Board’s next meeting.
“(Scenna) is also going to lay out a two-year road program,” said Crawford. “He is going to list the streets for the next two years that we are going to have paved, subject to funding. We are looking at the fall of 2025 and the summer of 2026. Even though I say it will be two years, that will get done in a 12-month period. He will lay out all of the streets he has planned to be reconstructed during that timeframe.”
Crawford also said the Select Board has to oversee the Field 1 replacement at Lynnfield High School’s Pioneer Stadium. The DPW recently opened the bid for the Pioneer Stadium turf field replacement at LHS, which totaled $700,000. Last November, Fall Town Meeting approved transferring $915,000 from the Recreational Capital Trust to the DPW’s FY25 capital budget to replace the turf at Field 1.
“That needs to be replaced,” said Crawford. “It has already been approved and we have the funding in place to do that. It has gone out to bid. That should be done this summer. We just need to follow that to make sure it is followed properly.”
Crawford also said the town’s website and social media upgrades will continue being a focus area for the Select Board.
“We have been talking about this for years, and we have now finally started that,” said Crawford. “You will see continued improvement for both the social media piece and the website piece for Town Hall. We will probably be tweaking that as we go along.”