Weekly News Roundup – 01/23/2021
Covid-19 Updates & Precautions • Town Election 2021 – Candidate Update • Kramer, Nasrullah announce campaigns for Select Board • Reminder: Citizens Petitions for Town Meeting due February 1 • Hopkinton High School extends remote-only learning through Friday • Town Manager to submit a consolidated FY22 budget to the Select Board • Amid uncertainty, School Committee approves $54M budget • Select Board roundup: Economic Development Office debated • ZAC finalizes proposed commercial solar bylaw, votes to send it to Planning Board • Seaboard Solar surprises town by applying for DCR forest-cutting permit
Covid-19 Updates & Precautions
This page provides information, maps and resources about the coronavirus response in our local area.
Visit Hopkinton, MA – Coronavirus Response Hub
As of 01/19/21, Hopkinton’s Health Department is reporting 574 total confirmed COVID-19 cases; 44 of those cases are active, with 513 recoveries and 17 deaths. You can see historical tracking and updates on Hopkinton’s Community Impact Dashboard
The most recent update from Jan 21st includes:
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 weekly Public Health Report
- Library Closure extended to Friday January 29
RELATED NEWS:
Health director: After ‘worst two weeks’ of pandemic, Hopkinton ‘trending back downward’
“We’re coming off what I hope to be one of the worst two weeks of the pandemic in Hopkinton,” he said, noting there have been 172 cases in the last month, and last week the town’s positivity rate was a record-high 5.95 percent.
Town Election 2021 – Candidate Update
Considering running for local office, but don’t know where to begin? Due to Covid there is an online process to request nomination papers this year.
To become a candidate a person must either obtain and submit nomination papers by securing the signatures of 50 Hopkinton registered voters by Tuesday, March 30, 2021; or a person may qualify by being the top vote-getter in one of the town political party caucuses. The Democratic and Republican caucus dates have not been announced yet, but are typically in early April. Nomination signature papers are available from the Town Clerk’s office starting January 19, 2021.
RELATED NEWS:
Kramer, Nasrullah announce campaigns for Select Board
Democrats Muriel Kramer and Irfan Nasrullah announced Tuesday that they have launched their campaigns for the two available Select Board seats in the May 17 Town Election.
Reminder: Citizens Petitions for Town Meeting due February 1
All article language for Town Meeting 2021 must be submitted to the Select Board/Town Manager’s office by Feb. 1, 2021, via email as a shared Google Doc or in Microsoft Word format, to Elaine Lazarus at elainel@hopkintomma.gov, or on paper by mailing to Town Manager’s Office, 18 Main St., Hopkinton MA 01748, or by using the Drop Box at the front door of Town Hall. Citizen Petitions require the signature of 10 registered voters. Please see the Guide for Citizen Petitioners from the Town for information about submitting articles by petition.
View Guide to Citizen Petitioners
Hopkinton High School extends remote-only learning through Friday
All schools went remote last Friday due to the fact that “several people in the HPS community have tested positive” for COVID-19, and “as a result, extensive contact tracing is necessary,” Cavanaugh emailed families.
On Monday, Cavanaugh announced that the high school would continue to go remote through Wednesday, while all other schools in the district would return to their usual schedule starting Tuesday.
Town Manager to submit a consolidated FY22 budget to the Select Board
On Tuesday, January 26 at 6:00 PM the Town Manager will submit a consolidated FY22 budget to the Select Board.
Amid uncertainty, School Committee approves $54M budget
At its meeting Tuesday night, the School Committee unanimously supported a Fiscal Year 2022 budget of $54,153,911, an increase of a little less than 6 percent from the current budget of $51,206,402.
That figure includes a requested increase of $2,145,327 for salaries, which represents a 5.2 percent increase, and $802,182 for expenses, or a 1.6 percent increase. Of the 5.2 percent salary increase, 2.9 is allocated for contract increases and 2.3 for new staff positions.
Select Board roundup: Economic Development Office debated
Growth Study Committee chair Fin Perry appeared before the Select Board on Tuesday night to encourage the establishment of an Economic Development Office at Town Hall “to call attention to the fact that Hopkinton is more than a bedroom community.”
He said the town’s “golden goose, EMC, is no longer a sure thing in town,” since its acquisition by Dell. Perry said a potential “future golden goose” is the life science and biotech industry, although, “Everybody on 495 wants to pull life science and biotech into their town.”
ZAC finalizes proposed commercial solar bylaw, votes to send it to Planning Board
The Zoning Advisory Committee put the final touches on its proposed commercial ground-mounted solar bylaw at its meeting Tuesday night, working with town counsel to tweak the wording before unanimously voting to send it to the Planning Board for eventual submission to Town Meeting.
Following input from Bryan Bertram, an attorney with Miyares & Harrington LLP, at last week’s meeting, the committee altered its approach to be less restrictive and more focused on screening and other measures that would better protect abutters.
Seaboard Solar surprises town by applying for DCR forest-cutting permit
The Connecticut company that plans to install a ground-mounted solar array in the woods off Frankland Road recently unveiled a possible new strategy to get the project moving forward despite lawsuits from abutters, applying for a forest-cutting permit from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
Abutters, some of whom have sued the town as well as Seaboard Solar in an attempt to stop the project, earlier this month received a notice from T. Jepson & Sons, a land-clearing company based in Spencer, indicating the tree cutting would begin “on or about” Feb. 15.