Blandford Select Board Approves Liquor Licenses, Confronts Fence Dispute at Town Common

BLANDFORD -- October 21, 2024, Blandford Select Board approves $150 liquor license renewals and confronts an unfunded engineering overrun. The board unanimously renewed licenses for the Blandford Country Store and Blandford Country Club at $150 each after a brief debate over whether to raise the fee to $200. Town Administrator Christina flagged a $30,759 gap in the Gill Engineering contract for the Beach Hill bridge study, a project funded by a $100,000 OneStop grant but contracted at $130,759, with no appropriation for the difference and all construction-phase grant applications for the current fiscal year denied. A lengthy exchange with former Select Board member and Legion representative Mike over an unauthorized fence installation at the town common underscored what Chair Jacqueline Coury called a liability and precedent problem: "We can't just have people going around doing jobs in the town." Three election poll workers were appointed and intergovernmental agreements with Springfield Water and Sewer were tabled pending Town Counsel review.