Essex Select Board Votes to Sign Budgeting Software Contract, Hears Fire Staffing Crisis Plan

ESSEX — August 4, 2025 — Essex Select Board hears fire staffing alarm, school budget warning, and stalled dredge update. Fire Chief Christian Hassel presented a five-year plan calling for the department's first full-time hire — a fire prevention officer — as early as fall 2025, followed by a firefighter position in spring 2026, driven by aging volunteers, mandatory retirements at 65, and documented missed ambulance calls; he also flagged the department's 33-year-old tender as a roughly $600,000 replacement need with federal grant funding considered unlikely. Finance Committee Chair Jody and liaison Ben Buttrick told the board the Manchester Essex Regional School District's multi-year model projects an 8.3 percent assessment increase for fiscal year 2027, with a $600,000 reserve draw expiring and a 4.5 percent teachers contract increase among the drivers, prompting Buttrick to say "it's going to be a funding challenge for both towns." Town Administrator Brendan reported that the Army Corps of Engineers' Essex River dredging project will not see a contractor return this winter — at the earliest the following season — with resurveying estimated at $65,000 per run. The board voted unanimously to sign a contract with ClearGov budgeting software contingent on town meeting appropriation, to authorize opioid settlement signing authority including the Purdue Pharma accord (total receipts estimated at $43,000 through 2039), and to support a state study — not a mandate — on regional school apportionment best practices before adjourning into executive session for AFSCME contract negotiations.