Wayland Select Board appoints Aubin to Conservation Commission amid packed agenda

WAYLAND -- August 18, 2025, Wayland Select Board confronts PFAS spike and a $38.6M water-project decision. The board unanimously appointed retiree Lisa Aubin to the Conservation Commission and heard from CMG's Ben Gould that monitoring well MW21 at 195 Main St. returned 532 parts per trillion of PFAS6, roughly 40 times the state's 20-ppt reporting threshold, pointing toward the middle school septic field as a likely contributor. Gould warned a permanent cleanup could take "centuries." Member William Whitney pushed for a $25,000-to-$50,000 peer review of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority connection project, now estimated at about $38.6 million after design cuts from a 2021 figure of $26 million. Town Manager Michael McCall floated a Nov. 4 special election, costing roughly $8,000, to reclassify about $700,000 in annual DPW-building debt as excluded debt and ease a projected gap of up to $1.5 million. The board also approved an $18,400 Regional Housing Services Office agreement covering about 284 hours.