Hubbardston Select Board Adopts Private Way Plowing Policy After Lengthy Review

HUBBARDSTON -- November 17, 2025, Hubbardston Select Board approves private way plowing policy and accepts four simultaneous resignations. The board unanimously adopted the town's private way plowing policy framework at its November 17 meeting, ending a multi-meeting review that included legal edits from KP Law setting a minimum roadway width of 15 feet, a 20-foot vertical clearance, and a requirement that 100 percent of abutters sign a liability waiver before plowing begins. In the same session, the board accepted the resignations of Building Commissioner David Horn, DPW laborer Brendan McDonald, Treasurer Mary Laroo, and Executive Assistant Patricia Lowe, four departures the board called "extremely important" positions, and directed the town administrator to post all vacancies the following morning. Select Board member Kris Pareago and member Peter Walker were assigned to conduct exit interviews with each departing employee. The board also continued the annual tax classification hearing to November 24 after a snag in the debt exclusion schedule, with a deadline pressure to set the tax rate before December 1, and approved a perpetual conservation restriction on 32 acres of the Bratco property on Gardener Cutoff Road through North County Land Trust.