Foxborough Selectmen's Notebook: Board Meets With National Grid

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Foxborough Board of Selectmen met with representatives from National Grid for an update on the progress in the area since last year’s storms.

Dave Laliberte from the Foxborough Parks and Trees Division and Roger Hill from the Foxborough Department of Public Works have worked closely with National Grid on the matter and spoke at the meeting as well.

Laliberte said National Grid has implemented a “Hazardous Tree Mitigation” program throughout the area, and added that he thought they were “doing a great job” clearing hazardous trees, noting there have been three to eight National grid crews in town every day.

Bill Russell of National Grid called the situation in Foxborough a “wake up call” and said the company did an “end to end review of (their) practices” following the extraordinary power outages in the area.

Foxborough resident Howard Siegel expressed his ongoing concern with the National Grid situation, saying he “strongly urges” the board of selectmen and town manager to “stay on this”.

The selectmen announced they will begin holding monthly “office hours” for residents who do not wish to speak at the meetings.  Office hours will begin June 5, and will continue to be held the first Tuesday of each month in the Gala Meeting Room at the town hall. No appointment is necessary, and sessions will run from 10 a.m.-noon, and again from 5-6:30 p.m..

Also at the meeting, Paul Giguere, from Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, presented the town with a refund check for $100,000, after a renovation project at Foxborough High school came in under budget.

State Representative Jay Barrows also attended the meeting to gather support for his proposed amendment to the waste water agreement and the board agreed to support the measure.

Town Manager Kevin Paicos spoke about the Strong Town Manager Act and gave a presentation on the fire department overtime study, saying the town hopes to cut back on “unplanned overtime” expenses.