At Town Meeting voters approved a package of infrastructure items including roadway improvements, drainage and sidewalk repair funding, engineering for the Assabet Hill neighborhood, and a borrowing to repair two failing water-main bridge supports.

Public Works Director Scott Charpentier told the meeting that with the $310,000 Article 20 appropriation, the town’s overall roadway maintenance budget for calendar 2026 will be approximately $1.1 million when combined with Chapter 90 funds and operating allocations. The goal, Charpentier said, is to touch roughly 10% of the town’s 80 miles of roadway each year using a mix of reconstruction and preservation techniques.

Article 21, a $300,000 free-cash appropriation, will fund drainage and sidewalk improvements, and Charpentier noted recent and recurring culvert failures (Lincoln Street, Rice Avenue, Davis Ridge) as drivers of the request. Article 25, a $100,000 appropriation for engineering, will fund plans and specifications to repair drainage, sidewalks and roadway settlement in the Assabet Hill subdivision; the director said video inspection had revealed systemic drainage-pipe defects likely originating from poor construction compaction and failing joints.

Article 27 authorized $650,000 of borrowing under the Water Enterprise Fund to repair or replace two utility bridge supports that carry drinking-water mains across Hop Brook (Otis Street) and the Assabet River (School Street). Charpentier said both structures’ supports show advanced rot and that loss of either would disrupt service to dozens of customers; the engineering work and permits were already underway.

Appropriations and Financial Planning committees recommended the articles by unanimous votes; residents asked about priorities, bidding, prevailing-wage impacts and whether temporary measures exist if a failure occurs before repairs are complete. Charpentier said temporary piping and lane restrictions would be used in emergencies but stressed the town should address the structural problems before a failure occurred.

All articles in the package passed by the required majorities; Article 27 was approved as a borrowing under enterprise-fund authority and met the needed two-thirds vote on the motion to borrow.