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Dunstable

‘It’s just really dire’: Diana DiZoglio discusses funding shortfalls with Groton, Dunstable officials

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GROTON — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio met with Groton and Dunstable officials Thursday to field concerns mainly regarding the regional school district’s lack of funding.

Accompanied by her office’s Division of Local Mandates and state Rep. Margaret Scarsdale, D-Pepperell, DiZoglio sat down with Select Board members, school leadership and town administration at the Groton Senior Center to share her work and offer a listening ear.

With the visit — part of her office’s AuditTours initiative — DiZoglio intended to connect with community leaders to hear about local issues that may inform future reports.

DiZoglio’s office is currently conducting a performance and safety audit on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which will help “make government work better by identifying any gaps in the system,” DiZoglio said. They also recently released an audit on the Executive Office of Elder Affairs that she said detailed the lack of proper reporting around abuse and neglect cases.

In an effort to improve the lives of Massachusetts residents, DiZoglio said this outreach is integral to making change and ensuring the government serves everyone fairly.

“We audit and investigate different areas of state government based on things that we hear from our local communities, based on what folks bring to our attention as being problematic areas or potentially problematic areas,” DiZoglio said. “That’s why it’s important to come out often to hear from all of you, to get feedback from all of you about what areas of concern you as residents have, you as stakeholders have.”

DiZoglio previously stopped to meet with local officials from Ashby, Townsend and Pepperell for a similar conversation last month. This is DiZoglio’s eighth month in office, having previously served as a state representative and most recently state senator.

The conversation largely centered around the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District’s struggling finances, as they continuously lose out on state aid. That, in turn, means its two towns must cut budgets.

“It’s just really dire,” Scarsdale said. “Did they just forget to count communities under 15,000? The regional school situation is bad, it’s really awful.”

Ben Tafoya from the auditor’s Division of Local Mandates works closely with municipalities to tackle their unique concerns by investigating and analyzing challenges and thereby enabling towns and cities to make informed decisions. With the passage of the Student Opportunity Act, a new financial formula allows some districts to benefit while burdening others with high costs, Tafoya said.

Groton-Dunstable Superintendent Laura Chesson voiced her displeasure for the relatively new legislation. While many districts, including Chesson’s, have seen a decline in enrollment, Groton-Dunstable fails to receive the same funding allotment as Littleton Public Schools, she said. The district also is neither rural nor urban, Chesson said, which means they’re “lost” when it comes to additional help.

As a member of the Massachusetts Association of Regional School Districts board of directors, Chesson said she has “not heard of a regional school district who has had a positive impact from this.”

For fiscal 2022, Groton-Dunstable spent more than 170% of its foundation budget, according to information shared by DiZoglio’s office. In Lunenburg Public Schools, that number was just under 130% for fiscal 2022.

About two-thirds of Dunstable’s $13 million budget funnels into the school district, Town Administrator Jason Silva said, and after a failed $300,000 override, the town reduced its police and fire departments and was forced to make other “real impactful decisions.” The town is unable to accommodate new families in the district simply because “we can’t afford them,” Silva said.

“We had a 7.5% increase this fiscal year. Next fiscal year is looking absolutely brutal, as the superintendent said,” Silva said. “Who the heck knows how we’re going to pay for it at this point? Because I don’t know.”

Groton and Dunstable must also address PFAS contamination at the high school, which is just another cost.

“If we do not get these operational overrides passed, and we have to pay for PFAS on top of that, and we can’t get both towns to come to the plate with the PFAS, we’re going to be talking about a decimation of the school district,” Chesson said. “I’m not overstating that.”

By raising awareness and coming together to identify needs and problems with their local governments, communities across the state can collectively improve persistent issues across the commonwealth, DiZoglio said. She said she aims to facilitate that change through her office.

“(Constituents) come up to me and say, ‘Can we do something about this?’” DiZoglio said, “and my response is, ‘What I can do with my mandate and the mandate of our office is we can shine that big flashlight, produce these reports and then be really, really, really loud standing alongside all of you.’”

Dunstable awarded two fire education grants

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DUNSTABLE — The Fire Department was been awarded two grants by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.

In a Wednesday statement, Fire Chief William Farrell said his department had been awarded $2,881 for the Fiscal Year 2023 Student Awareness of Fire Education Program and $1,777 for the Senior SAFE Program. The funding gives fire departments an opportunity to engage students and seniors with education on fire safety and prevention. Each program is tailored to the needs of each demographic and includes general best practices for what to do in the event of a fire, Farrell said.

According to the statement, lessons taught in the school-based program are in line with standards from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Health Curriculum Frameworks and the state Department of Fire Services Curriculum Planning Guidebook.

According to the Department of Fire Services, since the S.A.F.E. program was introduced within schools 27 years ago, annual child fire death rates have decreased by 78%.

To learn more about the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services’ S.A.F.E program, visit bit.ly/3GRzMtU.

PACH Outreach thanks locals for aid, donations during holiday season

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PEPPERELL — The holiday season was a busy time for many. But plenty stopped to think of helping their neighbors — and Pepperell Aid from Community to Home Outreach would like to thank all the generous residents, organizations and businesses of Pepperell and Dunstable for their kindness.

Churches, schools, businesses, scouts and individuals came together this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to bring joy and hope to 110 individual families in Pepperell and Dunstable through various means.

The Community Church of Pepperell, Pepperell Christian Fellowship as well as Our Lady of Grace Church and the Knights of Columbus spread cheer by raising money through their parishioners.

The Lions Club helped raise 154 pounds of peanut butter and jelly to share with those in need.

Varnum Brook, Nissitissit and the Moppet schools each held successful food drives to help stock the food pantry shelves, while members of several local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops learned the meaning of helping others with their own food drives.

Anonymous residents generously donated many food store gift cards that PACH Outreach clients were able to use to supplement their food needs.

Many local businesses, such as Masy BioServices, Wilson Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning, Main Street Bank, The Lazy Bubble and Pepperell Quality Market worked to raise money for PACH Outreach as well. Kimball Farm, Leominster’s New England Apple Products Co. and Groton’s Autumn Hill Orchards were also generous in donating hundreds of pounds of their produce.

The Greater Boston Food Bank also generously donated to PACH Outreach. For the 10th year, the Lynde Family showed the true meaning of Christmas by raising money and doing a food drive at their family Santa 5K.

PACH Outreach would also like to thank those residents who donated on PAYPAL Giving Tuesday and Misc. Thursday Night on Dec. 8. There are others to thank who came by PACH Outreach and dropped off bags of groceries not wanting any recognition. Pepperell and Dunstable may be small towns but they each have a great deal of love and caring to share.

Most of all thank you to the volunteers at PACH Outreach who help to make this all possible. There are no paid employees at PACH Outreach, only people that volunteer because they care.

PACH Outreach, located at 66 Hollis Street, provides residents in need with a caring, compassionate resource to meet their basic needs, including food, personal care items and referrals to additional assistance and is available to all Pepperell and Dunstable residents in need, including seniors, families and single adults, whether unemployed or under-employed. If you or someone you know is in need, please contact PACH Outreach at pepperell@pachoutreach.org, at P.O. Box 1247 Pepperell, MA 01463 or by phone at 978-925-9770.

PACH Outreach is staffed by volunteers who will return calls when the office is open. Office hours are 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. On Thursdays.

Dunstable Fire Department awarded grant for new safety equipment

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DUNSTABLE — The Fire Department was recently awarded a grant as part of the state’s Department of Fire Services’ Fiscal Year 2023 Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant Program, Fire Chief William Farrell announced in a press release.

The program, meant to provide local fire departments with a “variety of equipment that makes the dangerous job of firefighting safer,” awarded a total of $5 million to more than 300 departments across the state, according to the press release. For Dunstable, the $9,496.25 grant will be used to replace numerous pieces of safety equipment, including “front line thermal imaging cameras” as well as “spare batteries for reverse thermal imaging cameras” and “portable scene lighting.”

This is the third year that funding has been awarded by the program, part of a five-year, $25 million bond bill filed by the Baker-Polito administration to support firefighter safety and health.

Massachusetts fire departments were able to apply to the program for 121 different types of eligible equipment, including ballistic protective clothing, thermal protective clothing, gear washers and dryers, thermal imaging cameras, assorted hand tools and extrication equipment, communications resources, hazardous gas meters, fitness equipment and more.

State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey praised local firefighters for their work and called the program “absolutely vital” to local fire departments.

“Every time a firefighter goes to work, they could be asked to rescue a child from a burning building, clean up a spill of hazardous materials, treat a patient with a contagious medical condition, or rush into a hostile event to rescue and treat victims,” Ostroskey said. “This program is absolutely vital to helping fire departments prepare for the vast array of hazards they face today and making sure that firefighters go home safe after every call.”

State House delegation visits, surveys Nashua River Rail Trail conditions

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GROTON — State Sens. Jamie Eldridge and Ed Kennedy made their way to Groton last Friday to survey the current state of the Nashua River Rail Trail.

The Nov. 18 site visit, which also included representatives of state Sen. John Cronin and state Rep. Dan Sena’s offices, came in response to a letter penned by Peter Cunningham, a member of the Groton Select Board and the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail, back in August that described the condition of the “vital recreational resource” as “deteriorated.”

Managed by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, Cunningham recently said he felt the NRRT had been neglected by the agency.

That said, he called Friday’s visit “huge” for the future of the trail.

“Obviously (a visit by the legislators) can help us raise awareness, but I think it can also help (the legislators) back on Beacon Hill when they need to sort of articulate what we’re dealing with,” Cunningham said. “You can be somewhere, you can read a letter and maybe understand at a certain level, but seeing the condition of the trail firsthand like they have today can really make a difference.”

“Having (state) Sen. Eldridge and (state) Sen. Kennedy here, that’s huge, it’s all a part of that process and, hopefully, it’s just the beginning,” he said.

Through constant use, the trail has become inundated with potholes and other markings. Likewise, weather, rocks and roots have cracked parts of the trail and, in some areas, even broken through the surface of the pavement from underneath, leading to large mounds in the asphalt that the FNRRT refer to as “volcanoes.”

After they walked a section of the trail, Eldridge and Kennedy both called for a complete “rebuild” of the trail by DCR and said the pockmarked surface could pose a safety risk to those that continue to use the trail.

“This is one of the oldest rail trails in the state and has seen more and more people use it every day,” Eldridge said. “So I think, now, it’s time for DCR to not just patch certain sections, but commit to a plan to fully rebuild and replace the entire Nashua River Rail Trail.”

“It’s bad — the trail is more than 20 years old at this point and, I know some areas have been fixed up, but it really needs a total overhaul,” Kennedy said. “Anybody that’s walked that trail, that’s seen the damage, it’s evident that it’s a safety concern for people and it’s something I would like to see addressed by DCR with greater emphasis.”

While Eldridge said he did not expect “significant” action from DCR until Maura Healey is sworn in as Massachusetts’ next governor in January, he hoped to develop some sort of plan for the NRRT moving forward alongside the agency and other local legislators. He also stressed that funding for such a plan is already available.

“Obviously, a funding decision might not happen until the (Healey) administration is in place, but I think we can and should begin working on a plan now,” he said. “Clearly, any plan to address the (Nashua River Rail) trail will have to be comprehensive, so getting a jump start on that now could go a long way.”

“It’s also important to emphasize to DCR that these funds are there, we have ARPA money, federal infrastructure money and other funds thanks to the congressional delegation. So if (funds) are what DCR needs to (rebuild the trail), I think local, state and federal elected officials have to work together to make that clear to (DCR),” he said.

Cunningham said he hoped to see a renewed commitment to the NRRT by DCR in the near future and noted that the agency has enacted similar efforts for other rail trails across the state.

“It has been done elsewhere, it’s not some black magic,” Cunningham said. “A whole rebuild of the trail is what really needs to happen here — and I would love to see that, so hopefully (DCR and the state Legislature) can work together to make that happen.”

Going forward, Eldridge, Kennedy and Cunningham called for continued and “robust” advocacy for the trail by local constituents to ensure the state Legislature and those at DCR know that the NRRT is a “priority.”

“The letter we got back in August, that to me is representative of the people of these communities — they are fed up with the inaction and want to see real change,” Eldridge said. “Still, we need to hear from more of those constituents about what a priority (the NRRT) is, because that pressure is what gets things moving at the state level.”

“Very often with bureaucracies, you have to gain a certain level of momentum to try and change something or get that bureaucracy to really pay attention,” Cunningham said. “Those that frequent the trail, know the condition of the trail — we need them to sort of translate that knowledge into advocacy, contact their local (state) Reps. and Sens. to let them know that this is something they really care about.”

Andrew Shepherd edges out competition, takes 1st Middlesex representative seat

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By the narrowest of margins, Andrew Shepherd would appear to be the next state representative for the 1st Middlesex District.

Shepherd, a Republican, is set to take the seat vacated by former state Rep. Sheila Harrington, also a Republican, who stepped down from the position last February to serve as clerk magistrate of Gardner District Court. He faced Democrat Margaret Scarsdale and Independent Catherine Lundeen in Tuesday’s general election.

At press time, according to preliminary results, Shepherd had led with 9,305 votes to Scarsdale’s 9,271 votes and Lundeen’s 1,057 votes.

While he refused to declare victory Wednesday morning, Shepherd called it a “hard-fought race” and was appreciative of those that voted for and supported him throughout his campaign.

“It was a hard-fought race by everyone involved,” Shepherd said. “We are very proud of that, as well as all of the support we’ve received — we appreciate each and every volunteer that has been here for us and the campaign over the past 11 months.”

“Now we’re just looking forward to each town certifying their results and, hopefully, going down to Beacon Hill to represent the (1st Middlesex) district,” he said.

Shepherd’s victory came after a similarly hard-fought primary election back in September, where he faced Lynne Archambault for the Republican nomination. Shepherd bested Archambault by a count of 2,255 to 2,174.

Prior to election night, Shepherd touted the “duality” of his experience, both in “real life” and on Beacon Hill, and stressed that it better prepared him for the vacancy. A business owner — Shepherd is the owner of the Bayberry Hill Water Company — Shepherd also interned in Harrington’s office and, later, served in the state’s Office of Access and Opportunity during his time as a student at UMass Amherst.

Shepherd also said the race had “humbled” him and, if elected, he would do his best to “put more money in families’ pockets” and focus on what he called “kitchen table economics.”

Late Wednesday evening, Scarsdale remained positive as she commented on Tuesday’s election.

“As the polls have now closed this election day and while we await final results, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the outpouring of support our campaign has received,” Scarsdale said. “Together our team knocked on over 5,000 doors, made over 3,000 phone calls, sent thousands of handwritten postcards and hosted dozens of meet and greets and visibilities across the district.”

“Without our amazing volunteer team, none of this would have been possible. Regardless of the final outcome, we have so much to celebrate and be proud of and our team truly left it all out in the field,” she said.

Lundeen could not be reached for comment.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Margaret Scarsdale.