Essex Board of Selectmen Approves Licenses, 5K Race Permit, and $155K Weekly Warrant

ESSEX -- July 21, 2025, Essex Board of Selectmen approves licenses and race permit, tables Town Landing parking dispute to August. The two-member board, Chair Alva Ingeharo and Selectman Annie Cameron participating remotely, with Selectman Peter Phippen on vacation, approved a $155,283.30 weekly warrant, a one-day wine and malt license for a tented wedding at Rivers Bend, 35 Dodge Street, on September 13, and a conditional entertainment license for an amplified solo guitarist at the same venue on August 2, subject to ratification at the August 4 meeting. The board unanimously approved the Friends of the Essex Elementary School's 17th annual Happy as a Clam 5K on September 12 over Western Avenue, Belcher Street, and Story Street. Town Administrator Brendan Zewicki briefed the board on a non-urgent DEP-ordered removal of recycled asphalt from the Centennial Grove parking lot and outlined a two-phase plan to address excavation materials at the DPW yard, with new consultant Weston and Sampson developing an engineering proposal for fall Town Meeting and a disposal-funding request targeted for the May 2026 annual Town Meeting. The Finance Committee flagged ClearGov budgeting software as a fall Town Meeting appropriation item, and Council on Aging Director Tess reported 11,682 senior center attendees in FY25, representing 33 percent of Essex's senior population, and warned that seniors will constitute 40 percent of the town's total population within approximately three years.