Charlton Water/Sewer Commission Elects New Officers, Defers Two Key Contract Decisions

CHARLTON — May 14, 2025 — Charlton's Water/Sewer Commission reorganized Wednesday with an almost entirely new board, electing Paul Gagner chair, Tom Coleman vice chair, and Robert Coleman clerk, all 5-0. The commission approved warrants of $100,906.66 and senior abatements of $874.91, then voted to approve sewer connections for two planned North Main Street duplexes — contingent on $16,400 in privilege fees from developer Christopher Hansen — and for the new fire station at 4 Oxford Road. An emergency vote authorized up to $20,000 for a replacement vault access hatch on Oxbow Road, needed immediately because Route 20 reconstruction crews are days away from paving over it; Member Eric Groton recused himself because the identified supplier, EJ, is his grandfather's company. The commission deferred a vote on a Veolia contract amendment to add a third operator at $129,423 annually — a proposal tied to a state compliance notice that already cited understaffing at the plant — and also pushed to June a roughly $154,500 abatement decision on a Mass Turnpike McDonald's sewer bill that had ballooned to $206,000 due to a faulty meter.