The Finance Committee’s April 2 meeting summary is sourced from the official approved minutes. The April 6 Select Board meeting summary and Finance Committee’s April 9 meeting summary are sourced from the meeting recordings; official minutes are pending town approval. Timestamps link directly to each moment in the recordings.
The Town Minute is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the Town of Sturbridge or any municipal office. While we strive for accuracy, errors or omissions may occur. This content is intended as a public-friendly summary, not an official record. For official and complete records, please refer to the Town’s approved meeting minutes and official meeting recordings on the Town’s website.
Table of Contents
🗳️ Annual Town Meeting
📅 Monday, April 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM
📍 Tantasqua Regional High School, Sturbridge
🧾 32 articles on the warrant — including the budget, capital plan, water/sewer items
🔗 Add Annual Town Meeting to Google Calendar
Annual Town Meeting is the moment when residents have direct voting authority over the town’s finances. The Select Board and Finance Committee make recommendations, but residents cast the actual votes. This year there are 32 articles on the warrant. Click here for our plain English summary of the warrant.
Select Board — April 6
Route 20 Safety: What the Data Shows
The Select Board and Planning Board met jointly on April 6 for a presentation from Central Mass Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) on its regional Vision Zero road safety initiative — a federally funded effort to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries across Worcester and 39 surrounding communities, including Sturbridge.
The headline numbers for Sturbridge: between 2020 and 2024, the town recorded 7 fatal crashes and 30 serious injuries. When Worcester is removed from the comparison, Sturbridge was described as ranking around seventh in total crashes among the region’s communities. The presenters also said Sturbridge sees a lot of single-vehicle crashes.
Data analysis flagged these Sturbridge locations as high-priority:
Route 20 at Fiske Hill Road
Hall Road at Main Street (Route 20)
Haynes Street
Route 49
Board members and the police chief also pointed to the broader Route 20 corridor — especially the stretch west toward Charlton — as a major concern. A fatal crash on Route 20 had occurred in the week before the meeting.
The police chief noted that reportable crash data does not capture the full picture — incidents in parking lots or under $1,000 in damage may be logged as calls for service, not formal crash reports.
Action Item for Residents: Central Mass “Vision Zero” Study - Public Input / Survey
Board members also raised the tourist factor: Sturbridge’s seasonal population swells significantly, and unfamiliar drivers add to the safety challenge. On Route 20 more broadly, the CMRPC presenter said MassDOT has the corridor in view following completion of the Charlton-Oxford reconstruction project and is open to shorter-term interventions while longer-term planning continues. The town administrator said the town has already submitted multiple corridor studies to the state.
Route 131 / Route 20 roundabout: Plans are still in development by consultant Howard Stein Hudson. A public meeting is expected this spring or summer.
What’s coming from CMRPC: A draft regional safety action plan is expected by November 2026, with formal adoption targeted for January 2027. A Beacon Street demonstration project in Worcester is expected to be implemented in the next 3 to 6 months and used to test traffic-calming treatments. CMRPC also has an online survey and “Concern Mapper” tool where residents can flag unsafe locations, and presenters asked the town to share those links through its communications channels.
DPW: A Hard Winter by the Numbers
DPW Director Heather Blakley introduced the department’s new Assistant Director, Dr. Burmeister, then provided a winter recap.
This past season: 17 snow events (up from 11 the prior year), over 67 inches of snow (20 to 25 inches above the preceding three-year average), and 460+ contractor hours on road plowing alone — not counting hired drivers or sidewalk work. The department was short-staffed for much of the season, dealt with contractor and equipment availability issues, and in some cases worked 24 to 36 consecutive hours. School bus drivers helped during the two largest storms.
The director noted that a brine pre-treatment system approved at a prior town meeting will add a new tool for getting ahead of ice events. She also reminded residents that DPW begins cemetery cleanup in mid-April — winter items should be removed from gravesites before then.
Votes and Appointments
Police officer appointed. The board approved a new full-time officer, Kevin Marderosian effective April 7, 2026, at $39.16/hour with three-year officer benefits minus longevity. Kevin has 18 years of law enforcement experience, most recently as a sergeant with the Oakham Police Department, and is a Sturbridge resident. He is the father of current Officer Zachary Marderosian; the chief said the son had no involvement in the hiring process.
Cultural Council. Claire Campbell was appointed for a term expiring April 6, 2029. Campbell is a lifelong Sturbridge resident with a background in music performance and education, including a degree from Westminster Choir College.
Pavement management contract. The board approved a professional services agreement with Tighe & Bond for pavement management support and capital planning for DPW, not to exceed $18,000 through December 31, 2026. The work will move the town’s existing pavement data onto Tighe & Bond’s GIS platform and integrate it with water and sewer infrastructure data.
Sewer abatement. The board approved a sewer-only abatement for 12 Newton Place. A water pipe broke outside the structure and discharged onto the lawn, not into the sewer. The board approved abating 2,261.5 cubic feet of excess sewer usage. Water charges were not abated.
Lead Mine Forest stewardship plan. The board approved a contract with Fieldstone Natural Resources to prepare a forest management plan for Lead Mine Forest for $16,451.58, funded through a DCR grant. The work includes public engagement and site walks and is expected to take about three months.
Harvest Festival. The board authorized the Town Administrator to contract with Deep Roots Distillery to organize the annual harvest festival for $9,850, now formally structured as a town event.
▶ Watch: Harvest Festival
Opacum letterbox challenge. The board approved a special land use permit for Opacum Land Trust to use Hines Farm, Plimpton Community Forest, Long Pond, and Riverlands Trails for a school vacation week letterbox challenge event, April 18–26.
▶ Watch: Opacum letterbox challenge
Finance Committee — April 2 & April 9
Both April Finance Committee meetings were focused on getting the warrant booklet and the committee’s formal voter report ready for Town Meeting on April 27.
Article 13: The Sidewalk Plow Vote
The main Finance Committee action in April was a reversal and re-reversal on the Capital Improvement Plan.
At the April 2 meeting, Mike Hager moved to reconsider the committee’s earlier 6-0-1 vote to approve Article 13 as written. The article includes a $250,000 sidewalk plow machine needed to carry out the Select Board’s policy directing DPW to clear sidewalks along Routes 20 and 31. The Select Board, after learning the cost, recommended removing the plow at a joint hearing — but had not formally revisited the underlying policy.
Three votes followed:
Motion to reconsider: passed 4-3
Motion to remove the plow machine, reducing the capital budget to $1,110,927: failed 2-5
Motion to approve Article 13 as written, plow included: passed 4-3
The Finance Committee’s recommendation going to Town Meeting is to approve Article 13 as written, with the sidewalk plow machine included. Members also discussed whether the town assumes liability for clearing sidewalks along state-maintained Route 20 under the new policy.
See our full warrant guide for what Article 13 funds: thetownminute.com/p/sturbridge-town-meeting-warrant-made-simple-32-articles-big-votes-what-to-watch
Article 60: Pulled from the Warrant
The town already adopted the MGL sections proposed in Article 60 back in 1990. The committee voted 7-0 to reconsider its prior support and 7-0 to recommend no action. The chair said the reason would be noted in the warrant booklet.
Budget Report: What Goes In, What Doesn’t
At the April 9 meeting, the committee reviewed its formal written report to voters — the document distributed at Town Meeting alongside the warrant booklet.
One substantive question: should the report mostly address the town’s operating budget, or should it do more to reflect the full financial picture voters are being asked to act on? During the discussion, one member said the broader total was “like $60 million” when water, sewer, and Community Preservation Act spending are included. Another member suggested the report should at least acknowledge that broader number. Others argued those funds come from separate accounts already publicly documented. No change to the report’s scope was finalized that night, and the chair suggested taking up the bigger question at an off-cycle meeting before next year’s cycle.
Fire department budget. A member flagged that the fire department’s budget is up about 13%, driven by a scheduling change intended to reduce forced overtime, and the committee agreed to add a sentence noting that in the report.
Free cash. Members discussed whether the town’s drawdown of free cash is consistent with its financial policy, which calls for certified free cash between 5.5% and 7.5% of the general fund. The committee also confirmed the town began FY26 with about $7.262 million in certified free cash.
School buses. Members debated how many buses are being purchased this year and how those costs are split between the Burgess budget and warrant articles. The discussion did not land cleanly enough to treat the funding path as settled without checking the Burgess budget and Article 31 directly.
Budget Line Item Transparency
During the April 2 warrant review, Mike Hager raised a question about the prior-year budget column in the warrant booklet. Some line items — including department head salaries — show higher figures than what Town Meeting actually approved, because they reflect merit pay distributed after the fiscal year closes. Hager said this makes year-over-year comparisons harder to read for voters.
Finance Director Barbara Barry explained the timing constraint: merit pay awards happen each June, after Town Meeting, so they can’t be reflected in advance. Chair Kevin Smith noted this has always been the practice. Hager requested more information and suggested the discussion continue at an off-cycle meeting.
April 23: Final Town Meeting Recommendations
The Finance Committee meets on Thursday, April 23 to vote on recommendations for three Special Town Meeting articles where final figures weren’t yet available — Article 55 (snow and ice removal deficit, expected to be about $300,000), Article 56 (unpaid bills), and Article 57 (wastewater treatment plant clarifier repairs and painting).
What’s Next
April 23 — Finance Committee finalizes recommendations on Articles 55, 56, and 57
April 27 — Annual Town Meeting, 7:00 PM 🔗 Add Annual Town Meeting to Google Calendar
Spring / summer — public meeting expected on Route 131 / Route 20 roundabout plans
November 2026 — CMRPC draft Vision Zero regional safety action plan expected
Resources
The full warrant — 32 Annual Town Meeting articles and 9 Special Town Meeting articles — broken down in plain language: thetownminute.com/p/sturbridge-town-meeting-warrant-made-simple-32-articles-big-votes-what-to-watch
Before you go article by article, get the big picture: Read the FY27 Budget Breakdown →
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The Town Minute covers Sturbridge town government so you don’t have to sit through the whole meeting. All summaries are sourced from official recordings and/or approved minutes. Verify anything important at Sturbridge.gov.
The Town Minute is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the Town of Sturbridge or any municipal office. While we strive for accuracy, errors or omissions may occur. This content is intended as a public-friendly summary, not an official record. For official and complete records, please refer to the Town’s approved meeting minutes and official meeting recordings on the Town’s website.
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