Wenham Select Board Authorizes Town Hall HVAC Start, Sets Town Meeting Food Rules

WENHAM -- June 3, 2025, Wenham Select Board unanimously authorized its town administrator to proceed with a four-month town hall HVAC conversion and debated how to present a pending state lawsuit to voters before Monday's Special Town Meeting. The board voted 5-0 to accept the written implementation plan for the geothermal heating and cooling project, which will temporarily close town hall to walk-in public access beginning June 26. On Special Town Meeting logistics, the board voted 4-0 with one abstention to allow two food vendors to sell outside Buker School before the June 9 meeting, with sales ending by 6 p.m. a compromise reached after Town Clerk Diane Bucco cautioned that "town meeting is a legal official government legislative body, it's not a social gathering." The board's chair said he plans to open the town meeting presentation by explaining the five specific requests in the town's active court case against the state over the MBTA Communities Act zoning bylaw (Article 3A), telling the board voters should understand that passage of the bylaw "would most likely supersede the court action." The board also appointed Peter Clay to the Affordable Housing Trust and Ben to the WISH committee, and decided against appointing a Select Board liaison to the Veterans Committee, finding no statutory or bylaw requirement to do so.