Hubbardston Board of Health Sets Winter Storm Drill, Approves $3,320 in Expenditures

HUBBARDSTON -- October 14, 2025, Hubbardston Board of Health chooses winter storm drill to meet a state emergency-exercise deadline of December 31. Chair Gael Moncoeur and member Dianna Johnson voted unanimously to run their own tabletop exercise rather than join a Worcester-led virtual heat scenario, citing the town's direct experience with the devastating 2008 ice storm as a more realistic public health threat. The board also unanimously approved a slate of expenditures totaling approximately $3,320, including a $2,250 sanitarian invoice, a $600 Montachusett Public Health Network membership, and a $150 Massachusetts Association of Health Boards fee, and voted to refund $50 to Sawyer Farm for an inspection the board was never able to complete. In a sharp exchange over the town's new digital accounting platform, Moncoeur warned that the system currently gives the board no visibility into how deposits are split across its four revolving accounts, invoking a past dispute in which the town was required to restore $11,000 to board accounts after legal intervention: "We are an independent board, we report to the state."