Wayland Select Board ratifies Lt. Sean Gibbons as interim police chief

WAYLAND -- November 23, 2020, Wayland Select Board unanimously ratifies Lt. Sean Gibbons as interim police chief. The 5-0 vote installs Gibbons effective Nov. 30, the last day of outgoing Chief Patrick Swanick, with Town Administrator Louise Miller estimating a four-to-five-month search for a permanent chief. Gibbons told the board "there is nobody that does more than I do" in leading the department when the chief is unavailable, citing command stints during Swanick's vacations and a two-week training trip to Israel. The board also learned the town has secured a $2.2 million MassWorks grant for River's Edge wastewater infrastructure, on top of an earlier $2.4 million award. School Committee members Ellen Grieco and Genie Downs pitched a 10-week pooled-PCR surveillance testing program starting Jan. 4 at roughly $175 per student, asking the board to establish a gift account to close an estimated $260,000 funding gap; a formal vote was deferred pending town counsel review.