Hello,  Burlington!

Last night, Burlington held its first night of Town Meeting. New Town Meeting Members were sworn in, including Lourdes Genao, who was chosen by Precinct 3 TMMs to fill the seat left vacant by Matt Frost. According to the count, 99 Town meeting members were in attendance (79% of the body) at the beginning of the meeting, including a few who were allowed to participate remotely per ADA regulations.

The body got through the entire operating budget (all proposals were approved) and a good deal of the capital requests.

Take a look at the Warrant Article Summary to see what all went through. The only two contentious items were relocation of the pickleball courts and renovation of a building to relocate the dog pound into. In the end, though, both passed narrowly.

Here are some updates from other Town Boards that were presented at the beginning of the meeting. It was a lot, so I’ll continue with these updates tomorrow.

Economic Development Office

The vision planning for the Mall Road-Middlesex Turnpike corridor will be presented in January (postponed from May), in order to ensure sufficient community involvement. Don’t forget that there will be a Community Design Workshop on May 23 and 24 where stakeholders will get a chance to really dig in and help create a vision for the area.

Department of Public Works

MWRA interconnect construction has restarted and Phase 2A is expected to be completed this summer; this will deliver 3.5 million gallons per day (up from the current 1 MGD). Phase 3A will come in front of Town Meeting in the future and will further increase capacity.

Mill Pond PFAS filters are in place, and we’re just waiting for approval from the Department of Environmental Protection to get them all online!

Yard Waste collection is underway and will continue until the week of May 22. Please give the DPW a call at (781) 270-1670 if you’re missed.

Communication Survey

Sam Hockenbury from the town was present to encourage Town Meeting Members to fill out the communication survey. They have over 700 responses so far! The survey closes tomorrow, so please fill yours out and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. These results will help the town create a “roadmap to improve the communication flow to the residents, business owners, employees, and anybody else who spends time in the Town of Burlington.”

Today in Burlington

Meetings and Events

• 11:00 AM - Free blood pressure screening at the library
• 5:00 PM - Shawsheen Union Contract Negotiation Subcommittee (Shawsheen Tech)
• 7:00 PM - Board of Health will have the short meeting; I don’t see any public hearings, but click on the agenda for the latest information. (Town Hall and virtual)
• 7:00 PM - School Committee will hear updates about BEAM Update and the MSMS National Latin Exams Awards, among other items. (BHS and virtual)

Sports and Activities

Our softball team suffered another tough loss yesterday, falling to Central Catholic by a score of 3-0. In tennis, Lady Devils took a 3-2 win over Stoneham while boys won 5-0. Boys won their Lacrosse game 15-4 against Melrose.

We have a packed schedule today:

• Unified Coed Basketball at 3:00
• Track meet against Wilmington at 4:00 at BHS
• Boys’ volleyball in Winchester at 4:00
• Baseball in Watertown; JV plays at 4:00 and Varsity at 7:00
• Softball at 4:15 against Watertown at Marvin Field

Nicci