Palmer Select Board Approves $194,250 School Heat Pump Transfer, Advances $2.28 Million Wastewater Borrowing

PALMER — May 12, 2025 — Palmer Select Board unanimously blocks proposed Senior Center closure and transfers $194,250 in school heat pump rebate funds. The board voted Monday to transfer $194,250 from free cash to the Palmer Public Schools capital project account after a vendor rebate was inadvertently sent to the town rather than directly to the vendor, requiring a municipal finance workaround to close out by June 30. The board's chair announced that a budget subcommittee had identified $30,000 in alternative savings, removing the town manager's earlier recommendation to close the Senior Center on Thursdays, saying "the closing on Thursdays of the senior center is not being moved forward." The board also approved Resolution 2025-49 adopting MGL Chapter 41 Section 110A to give the Town Clerk discretion to treat Saturdays as non-business days for voter registration, approved a letter to Governor Healey supporting fair energy pricing, and conducted a first reading of a $2,280,000 wastewater dewatering loan reauthorization — an administrative consolidation of two prior authorizations, not new spending — with a second reading and public hearing set for the June 9 meeting. Stormwater consultants Kelly Crumrine and Haley Rivers of Tighe & Bond flagged that Palmer's required construction-site stormwater ordinance update is approximately two to three years overdue, warning that state regulatory pressure could follow if it is not advanced to a public hearing soon.