Wayland Select Board Votes to Negotiate Five-Year Deal With KP Law

WAYLAND — July 7, 2026 — Wayland Select Board directs town manager to negotiate a five-year legal services contract with KP Law. The board voted 5-0 Monday to retain the town's longtime general counsel firm after reviewing four competing proposals and a three-year spending summary showing annual legal costs ranging from $184,076 in fiscal year 2023 to approximately $222,000 in fiscal year 2026, against a $7,000-per-month retainer. Vice Chair Thomas J. Fay cautioned against flat-fee alternatives, noting that Wayland's $90 million municipal budget and litigation history make the roughly $200,000 annual spend defensible: "I also look at the size of our town budget, $90 million — so this is 200,000, 225 a year for to run a very large organization, and in a town that is litigious." The board also heard a facilities assessment pegging a full town hall gut rehabilitation at $22.3 million and directed Fay to draft a working group charge for presentation July 20, while establishing a fall calendar for an operating override discussion — the town's first in roughly 20 years — with a joint Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee session set for August 17 and a potential override vote targeted for October.