Town Manager Weekly Update - April 23, 2026

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Elaine Lazarus

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Apr 23, 2026, 6:21:38 PM (11 days ago) Apr 23

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From Elaine Lazarus, Town Manager - April 23, 2026

Thank you to all Town staff and the volunteers who were involved with the planning and operations of the B.A.A.’s 130th Boston Marathon and the Town events surrounding it, including the Hopkinton Marathon Committee, Police, Fire, Public Works, Health Dept., Senior Center, and Parks & Recreation. Thank you to our nonprofit partners, including the Hopkinton Center for the Arts and the 26.2 Foundation for all that you do to make April Hopkinton’s Marathon Month!

Hopkinton Organizing for Prevention Pilots Narcan Training for HHS Students
This April, Hopkinton Organizing for Prevention (HOP) piloted Narcan training for 250 juniors and seniors at Hopkinton High School, equipping students with practical, life-saving skills to respond to an opioid overdose.

This community collaboration brought together Hopkinton Public Schools, the Health Department, Youth & Family Services, and Police and Fire to teach students the risks of non-prescribed medications, how to recognize and respond to an overdose, and protections under the Good Samaritan Law.

Students who completed the training can pick up a free Narcan kit at the Health Department at Town Hall. Community members can attend a free monthly training hosted by the Health Department on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 PM at the Library.

Saturday, May 2, 2026 - Annual Town Meeting - 9:00 AM

The Annual Town Meeting will get underway at 9:00 am on May 2 in the Middle School Auditorium. All registered voters are eligible to vote. The warrant and Warrant & Motions document are posted on the town website. Town Meeting & Budgets The Warrant & Motions document is what participants will be using during the meeting.

Continuing from my update last week, I am highlighting some of the articles. Please see the Warrant and Motions document for a complete list of articles.

Article Number	Article Description
20	Community Preservation Recommendations - This year the Community Preservation Committee has recommended funding the following projects: Amend uses of cricket/baseball field grant previously voted - Total authorized by this and FY24 vote would be $1,000,000. Headstone preservation at town cemeteries - $20,000 Phase 1 of rehabilitation of 11 Ash St. building (Center School) - $2,400,000 Benches and picnic tables at parks & recreation facilities - $25,000 Lighting at the pickleball/tennis court at Fruit St. fields - $250,000 Restoration of the floor in the Library’s Ellsworth conference room - $25,000 Restoration of limestone entrance at Town Hall - $10,000 Land purchase - approx. 3.5 acres off Winter St. links Cameron Woods, Sylvan Way, and Phipps open space - $35,000 Land purchase - 280 Cedar St. - $225,000 (a portion of the purchase price of the property also proposed in Article 13, this portion for open space)
21	Zoning - Amend MBTA Communities Bylaw to comply with state requirements; add 0.3 acres and combine 2 subdistricts into one, in the downtown area.
22	Zoning - Amend the fee-in-lieu of providing an affordable housing unit in a residential development to the difference between the median single family home sales price in Hopkinton for the most recent calendar year and the purchase price of a 3-bedroom home that is affordable to a qualified affordable housing unit purchaser. At the present time, the fee is the purchase price of a 3-bedroom home that is affordable to a qualified affordable housing unit purchaser.
26	New Revolving Fund - Municipal Aggregation Fund. The proposed revolving fund would hold revenue collected from the Municipal Aggregation electricity program. Municipal aggregation “adder” funds may only be used for expenses related to the program and local energy projects. The revolving fund will keep these funds separate to ensure they are spent properly, and for reporting purposes.
27	New Revolving Fund - Municipal Electric Vehicle Charging. The proposed revolving fund would hold the revenue collected from use of publicly available municipal EV charging stations, for the expenses related to EV charging stations such as maintenance and repair. The town is working to install municipal, publicly available, EV charging stations in 2026 via grants and state programs.
28	New Bylaw - Use of Trails and Shared Use Paths/E-Bikes. This bylaw is intended to address the use of electric bicycles and other mobility devices on certain town trails, and excessive speeds of e-bikes and the like. State law allows the town to adopt regulations for the operation of electric bikes on shared use paths after public notice and a public hearing, and this may include the imposition of speed limits. The proposed bylaw would set up a framework for that by empowering the Trails Committee to hold the hearings and designate specific shared use paths where electric bicycles could be used. A speed limit of 10 mph would be imposed for the designated shared use paths.

I will provide more next week - you can see them all in the Warrant & Motions document. 2026 Annual Town Meeting & FY2027 Budget Documents. Next week check this folder for the town meeting presentation slides.

Learn About Dementia - May 16

On Saturday, May 16, the Hopkinton Council on Aging is sponsoring a Dementia Friends Information Session. Learn about dementia and available resources. The session is at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts, 98 Hayden Rowe, from 11 am to 12:30 pm.The session is free.

Artful Connections - May 19 at 6:30 PM

The next Artful Connections event is on Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30 pm at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts. This event features Japanese singer-songwriter Junko Ogawa, and Asian American poet May Chen. Sponsors include the Hopkinton Cultural Council.

This weekend:

Friends of Whitehall Spring Cleanup: Sat. April 25, 2026 from 9 a.m. until 12 noon. Gather at the boat landing parking lot at Whitehall State Park on Wood St. (rte.135). More info: www.friendsofwhitehall.org

Elaine C. Lazarus

Town Manager

Town of Hopkinton

18 Main St.

Hopkinton, MA 01748

508-497-9701

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