What was said

Select Board, May 19, 2026

the recording · 0:54 long, about 7,555 words spoken · captions carried this meeting moderately well

lunenburgbudgetproject.org — written by the Lunenburg Budget Project, an independent tool for residents. Not affiliated with the Town of Lunenburg, the School Committee or the school district. The data this page is computed from: /data/recording-minutes.json

The town published minutes (text) and an agenda for this meeting. Those minutes are the record; what follows is a guide to the recording.

The short version

  1. ▶ 13:46Vice chair Amanda Moore resigned citing health, following the failed override.
  2. ▶ 19:15The board agreed in principle to hold a special election to fill the vacant vice-chair seat.
  3. ▶ 26:36The board reorganized, electing a new chair 3-1 and a new vice chair and clerk unanimously.
  4. ▶ 21:59The board held off calling a special town meeting on the budget, deferring to the School Committee and Finance Committee first.
  5. ▶ 6:09The board voted unanimously to write off uncollectible ambulance receipts and refer the remainder to a collections agency.

Why it matters — our reading

  • A vacant board seat and a leadership change affect who residents deal with on upcoming budget decisions.
  • Whether a special town meeting on the budget gets called determines if residents face another vote this year.
  • The ambulance-billing write-off is routine collections cleanup and does not by itself change any resident's tax bill.

Watch next

  • The special-election date, once set with the town clerk
  • Input from the School Committee and Finance Committee on whether to call a special town meeting on the budget

budgetcapitaleconomic developmentelectionsfacilitiesfeesgrantshealth insuranceoverridepersonnelplanning and zoningpublic commentpublic safetyroads and dpwtown departmentstown meetingwater sewer

Present: Mr. McCloud (select board member); Renee Emkey (select board member); Brian Lehtinen (select board member, remote); Renee McEntire (select board member, elected chair); Caesar (heard also as "Season Azolo") (select board member, nominated for chair, elected clerk); the Town Manager (town manager); Libby (staff, addressed to conduct a roll call vote). 2 of 7 matched to the board’s posted roster; the rest, in italics, are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

  1. ▶ 6:09Write off $107,232.09 in uncollectible ambulance receipts and send $65,044.85 to Coastal's collection agencypassed unanimously (roll call)
  2. ▶ 17:53Have the animal control officer investigate the nuisance dog complaint from George and Jennifer Burden re: 41 Courtland Circlepassed unanimously (roll call)
  3. ▶ 26:36Nominate Renee McEntire as chairpassed 3-1 (roll call)
  4. ▶ 27:18Nominate Brian Lehtinen as vice chairpassed unanimously (roll call)
  5. ▶ 27:38Nominate Caesar as clerkpassed unanimously (roll call)
  6. ▶ 26:13Nominate Brian Leighton (Lehtinen) as chairfailed, no second
  7. ▶ 26:27Nominate Season Azolo (Caesar) as chairfailed, no second
  8. ▶ 43:13Waive special event policy requirements (abutter notice, public hearing, insurance) for the Teen Center's Shrieks and Creaks eventpassed unanimously (roll call)
  9. ▶ 43:57Waive the town's right of first refusal for 35 Leominster Roadpassed unanimously (roll call)

And 1 procedural: adjourn at 7:56 p.m. (▶ 54:18).

Against the town’s minutes

The town published minutes (text) for this meeting; ours were compared item by item. 14 agree, 7 caption errors resolved by the official reading, 6 substantive differences. The town’s minutes are a partial record.

  1. differsexact list of special-event requirements waived▶ 43:13

    recording Waive special event policy requirements (abutter notice, public hearing, insurance) for the Teen Center's event

    town’s minutes “The waived requirements included abutter notification, the public hearing requirement, notice for the public hearing, and insurance requirements.”

    Official separates 'the public hearing requirement' from 'notice for the public hearing' as two items, giving four total vs. our three; check the motion language in the recording to see if a fourth item was actually waived.

  2. differsFlat Hill Road Bridge bid figures▶ 46:19

    recording $807,530, $1,417,869.50, $1,065,352, $600,000, $428,500, $335,000, $350,000, $1,378,500

    town’s minutes “nine bids received ranging from $807,530 to $1,417,869.50. The apparent low bid of $807,530 was rejected for failure to include the required bid bond. The next lowest bid was $1,065,352. Total available project funding is $1,378,500, drawn from the MassDOT Small Bridge Grant, FY22 capital plan, and FY27 capital plan.”

    Official confirms four of our eight figures but never states the other four ($600,000, $428,500, $335,000, $350,000); unclear whether those are other bids among the nine or a funding-source breakdown — check the recording and bid tabulation.

  3. differshow the flag-retirement ceremony's venue changed▶ 12:03

    recording The board asked John Bowen Jr. to hold the planned flag-retirement burning as a town-run public event on town property rather than a private event at his home, and he agreed.

    town’s minutes “Chair Nuzzolo suggested that the event might be better received and more broadly attended if the flags were donated to the town and the ceremony held as a formal public event. Mr. Bowen agreed to that suggestion.”

    Official doesn't say the ceremony moves to town property or becomes 'town-run,' only that flags would be donated and the event made public; check the recording for whether a venue/ownership change beyond 'formal public event' was actually discussed.

  4. differs925 Mass Ave RFP issuance and response timeline▶ 37:34

    recording The RFP for 925 Mass Ave will be issued next week with responses due back in July.

    town’s minutes —

    Official's RFP section covers only the evaluation-criteria walkthrough and states no issuance date or response deadline; check the recording or working group schedule to confirm this timeline was actually announced.

  5. differsremoval of an 'unacceptable' rating tier from RFP criteria▶ 35:51

    recording The board agreed to remove the "unacceptable" rating tier from the RFP evaluation criteria and have the working group reassign point values among the remaining three tiers.

    town’s minutes “each with tiered ratings of Highly Advantageous, Advantageous, and Not Advantageous”

    Official's final criteria already show only three tiers, consistent with ours, but records no discussion or vote about removing a fourth tier — check the recording for whether this removal was actually discussed as a board decision at this meeting.

  6. differswhether 'Ms. Emkey' and 'Renee McEntire' are the same person▶ 0:00

    recording Ms. Emkey (select board member) ... Renee McEntire (select board member, elected chair)

    town’s minutes “Clerk Renee Emkey”

    Official shows only one Renee Emkey, who became chair; our attendee list appears to split her into two separate board members. Check the recording to confirm there is only one person here, not two.

7 caption errors the town’s minutes resolve
  • street name in nuisance dog complaint:41 Courtland Circle→41 Cortland Circle▶ 17:53
  • identity of the member elected chair:Nominate Renee McEntire as chair — passed 3-1 (roll call)→Renee Emkey▶ 26:36
  • identity of the member elected clerk:Nominate Caesar as clerk — passed unanimously (roll call)→Caesar Nuzzolo▶ 27:38
  • second failed chair nomination — nominee name:Nominate Season Azolo (Caesar) as chair — failed, no second→Caesar Nuzzolo▶ 26:27
  • Teen Center event name:Shrieks and Creaks→Shrieks & Krieks▶ 43:13
  • pavement management plan vendor name:Tie and Bond→Tighe & Bond▶ 48:04
  • board member name (McCloud vs. McLeod):Mr. McCloud (select board member)→Glenn McLeod▶ 0:00
In one record only: 1 from the recording, 3 from the town’s minutes
  • Recording only — 'Libby' named as conducting roll call: Libby (staff, addressed to conduct a roll call vote) ▶ 0:00
  • Town’s minutes only — which board member dissented in the chair vote: “Chair Nuzzolo-nay”
  • Town’s minutes only — number of flooring bids received: “six bids”
  • Town’s minutes only — Amanda Moore's resignation acknowledgment: “Chair Nuzzolo read a letter from Vice-Chair Amanda Moore announcing her decision to resign from the Select Board. Ms. Moore described her resignation as a decision made with a heavy heart, citing ongoing health issues that had become increasingly difficult to manage.”

Compared 2026-09-13. Neither record is treated as the referee: a caption error is the same fact heard badly; a difference is for a person to check at the timestamp.

The money

  1. ▶ 4:43Uncollectible ambulance billing (Coastal Medical Billing)

    The board was asked to write off uncollectible ambulance receipts and send a separate amount to collections; this had not been done in a year due to finance department staffing issues.

    as heard:$107,232.09$65,044.85

  2. ▶ 3:00Proposed water treatment plant

    A resident said the water district will hold a special meeting on a proposed water treatment plant that would affect water fees charged to all public buildings, including schools.

    as heard:$47 million

  3. ▶ 31:48925 Mass Ave RFP - property valuation

    The purchase price category was excluded from the RFP evaluation criteria given a recent assessment showing the property's value as negative.

    as heard:negative approximately $80,000

  4. ▶ 44:40Accounts payable warrant

    The board reviewed an accounts payable warrant in this amount.

    as heard:$126,087.73

  5. ▶ 46:19Flat Hill Road Bridge bids

    Nine bids were opened for the bridge project; the low bid was rejected for missing a bid bond, making the next lowest bid the apparent low bid, against funding from a state small bridge grant and two capital plan years.

    as heard:$807,530$1,417,869.50$1,065,352$600,000$428,500$335,000$350,000$1,378,500

  6. ▶ 47:34Adult Activity Center and Teen Center flooring bids

    Six bids were opened for flooring projects, against an FY26 capital plan allocation for both projects.

    as heard:$74,424$119,000$76,000

  7. ▶ 48:04Pavement management plan contract (Tie and Bond)

    The town engaged an engineering firm to update the pavement condition assessment and multi-year pavement management plan, funded through Chapter 90 funds.

    as heard:$34,500

  8. ▶ 48:27MassDOT Community Culvert Program grant

    The town was awarded a grant toward design work for a culvert replacement on Goodrich Street, a corridor whose loss would cause a long detour.

    as heard:$150,000

Settled without a vote

  • ▶ 12:03The board asked John Bowen Jr. to hold the planned flag-retirement burning as a town-run public event on town property rather than a private event at his home, and he agreed.
  • ▶ 19:15The board agreed in principle to hold a special town election to fill the vacant vice chair seat, with the date to be set after consulting the town clerk.
  • ▶ 21:59The board decided not to call a special town meeting tonight, choosing instead to wait and hear from the School Committee (meeting the next night) and Finance Committee before deciding, and to consider a Tri-Board meeting.
  • ▶ 36:52The town manager will ask Amanda Moore whether she wishes to continue serving on the 925 Mass Ave RFP working group despite her board resignation.
  • ▶ 37:34The RFP for 925 Mass Ave will be issued next week with responses due back in July.
  • ▶ 35:51The board agreed to remove the "unacceptable" rating tier from the RFP evaluation criteria and have the working group reassign point values among the remaining three tiers.

Public comment

  1. ▶ 3:00reminded residents of a June 3rd special water district meeting on the proposed water treatment plant and its effect on water fees townwide — Tom Alonzo, as heard, resident, 284 Lancaster Avenue
  2. ▶ 7:16thanked volunteers and DPW staff for the Memorial Day flag-staking, announced his Naval Academy candidacy, and described a planned flag-retirement burning event — John Bowen Jr., as heard, resident, 162 Island Street
  3. ▶ 52:16alleged a possible ethics violation involving a PAC letter sent before the town election that he said benefited a finance committee appointee — John Bowen (JB), as heard, resident, 162 Highland Street

Where the time went

Minutes of recording by subject, from the topic spans below. A topic with two subjects counts toward both.

The whole meeting, in order

  1. ▶ 0:02Opening, pledge, meeting noticeprocedural · 1:33 long
  2. ▶ 1:36Announcements: Cruise Night, Spring Fair, yard waste daysinformational · 1:02 long
  3. ▶ 2:38Public commentinformational · 2:05 long · public comment, water sewer, town meeting
  4. ▶ 4:43Uncollectible ambulance billing write-off and collections referralvoted · 2:09 long · fees, budget
  5. ▶ 6:52John Bowen Jr. remarks: flag-staking thanks, Naval Academy candidacy, flag burning eventinformational, one request agreed · 5:31 long · public comment
  6. ▶ 12:41Resignation of principal assessor Linda Kachkaacknowledged · 0:44 long · personnel
  7. ▶ 13:25Resignation of outreach coordinator Jonathan Francisacknowledged · 0:21 long · personnel
  8. ▶ 13:46Resignation of Vice Chair Amanda Mooreacknowledged, letter read into record · 3:05 long · personnel
  9. ▶ 16:51Nuisance dog complaint, 41 Courtland Circlevoted · 1:42 long · public safety
  10. ▶ 18:34Special town election to fill vacancy and possible special town meeting on the budgetelection agreed in principle; special town meeting deferred pending School and Finance Committee input · 5:08 long · override, town meeting, elections
  11. ▶ 23:42Reorganization of the select board: chair, vice chair, clerkvoted · 4:16 long · elections
  12. ▶ 27:59Town manager's annual evaluationdeferred to next meeting · 0:19 long · personnel
  13. ▶ 28:18925 Mass Ave RFP evaluative criteriainformational, criteria adjusted, RFP to be issued · 9:38 long · economic development, planning and zoning
  14. ▶ 37:56Select board committee liaison assignments reviewinformational, assignments largely continued · 4:53 long · town departments
  15. ▶ 42:49Waiver of special event requirements, Teen Center Shrieks and Creaksvoted · 0:46 long · fees
  16. ▶ 43:35First right of refusal, 35 Leominster Roadvoted · 1:05 long · planning and zoning
  17. ▶ 44:40Accounts payable warrantinformational · 0:19 long · budget
  18. ▶ 44:59Town manager's report: personnel transitions, benefits, and capital project bids/grantsinformational · 4:10 long · capital, grants, roads and dpw
  19. ▶ 49:09Committee reports: Stormwater Task Force fee structure workinformational, work continuing toward fall town meeting · 2:03 long · water sewer, fees
  20. ▶ 51:33Public comment: alleged ethics concern over a pre-election PAC letterinformational, no board action taken · 1:04 long · public comment, elections
  21. ▶ 52:37Closing public/board comment; Memorial Day serviceinformational · 1:21 long
  22. ▶ 53:58Adjournmentvoted · 0:30 long

What the captions could not carry

  • The same board member is rendered with several different surnames across the transcript (Lehtinen/Layden/Leighton/Laitinen/Leitnen/Waynen); which spelling is correct is not settled by the captions.
  • Ms. Emkey is also rendered "Enkey"; Mr. McCloud is also rendered "MacLeod" elsewhere in the meeting.
  • Whether "Caesar"/"Season Azolo" is a name distinct from the four regular roll-call voters, or an alternate rendering of one of them, is not clear from the captions.
  • Exact wording and vote tally are unclear for the failed chair nominations (only that no second was heard).
  • The date for the special town election and any timeline for a possible special town meeting were not established at this meeting.
  • Portions of the RFP evaluative-criteria reading (timeline category wording) were self-corrected mid-sentence and are potentially garbled.

These are ours, and they are not the record

OUR MINUTES OF A RECORDING, written by a language model from machine captions. Two derived layers stand between this file and the meeting. Cite the video at the timestamp, never this file. Figures are as heard and may be wrong; names may be wrong; where the town published minutes, those are the record.

Written 2026-09-13 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/select-board/2026-05-19-JnVWS4tJouo.json — 1,539 caption segments, sha256 0c11b43afb7a…. All recorded meetings.

Every other report

The budget feed — every board, everything about money →What the town is deciding now →The blog — one finding at a time, in two minutes →This week in town — meetings coming up, minutes and recordings just posted →The boards — each one, in one place →Lunenburg by the numbers — who lives here →Lunenburg’s homes and the tax bill →Homes and students — the town builds, the schools do not grow →The boards, compared →Youth sports and the fields →The School Committee’s finances — every fund and line it owns →Parks & Recreation — the department, its fund, its sales, its grounds →Health insurance →Free cash — can it fill the gap? →Teacher contracts →School user and athletic fees →Extracurriculars — sports, music and clubs →Classroom positions and class size →Overrides →Commercial development and new growth →Special education — four reports →How many students one special education group may have →The circuit breaker — what the state reimburses for the costliest placements →What other districts spend, for each pupil →What the state requires us to spend — and where that puts us →Chapter 70 — the formula, and why it pays the floor →How Chapter 70 actually works, in eight steps →School staffing — did it go up, and over which years →Who works in each school →The paraprofessionals →What courses actually ran, subject by subject →AP exams — who sits them, in what, and how they score →The cut register — what was announced, and what shows →Funding that stopped →When a grant ends — who picks up the bill →Who is in the schools — enrolment, FY1994 to today →Which grades students leave in →Who leaves Lunenburg schools, and where they go →Monty Tech — the assessment, and what sets it →If students leave — what school choice would cost →What a family actually pays →What sports cost, and who pays →Health insurance — the cost outside the school budget →Budget against reported spending →

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What changed

Version 15 — updated September 20, 2026