Essex Board of Selectmen Schedules Hearings for Two Package Stores, Ratifies Fire Department Grants

ESSEX -- January 6, 2025, Essex Board of Selectmen schedules hearings for two package stores, ratifies over $880,000 in fire department federal grants. The board, meeting January 6 and acting as the town's licensing authority, voted to hold compliance hearings for Chebacco Package Store, which lacks a required fire inspection sign-off after a cooler replacement narrowed an interior egress corridor below state minimums, and Wheezy's Dillon Package Store at the Shays Riverside Motel, which owes real estate taxes while remaining open. A dozen other licenses were tabled, prompting Town Administrator Brendan Zubricki to remark it was "an inordinate amount of issues with renewals this year." The board ratified two Assistance to Firefighters grant applications, $622,857 for a tanker truck and $259,500 for radios and wildland gear, that were submitted to the federal government without prior board review, a procedural breach Zubricki acknowledged directly, stating the fire department grant preparer "missed the memo." A third federal application, to the Volunteer Fire Capacity Grant Program for roughly $7,000 in forestry equipment with a 50 percent federal match, was approved on the same night. The board also voted unanimously to remove Memorial Day from the town's restricted alcohol sales days and authorized submission of a $40,000 state IT Community Compact grant application for fiber optic network switch replacement.