Stoneham Select Board Takes Up Easements and Licenses After Historic Override Win

STONEHAM -- December 16, 2025, Stoneham Select Board approves easements, renews 2026 licenses, and opens post-override budget planning six days after historic vote. Meeting on December 16, the board unanimously accepted a donated painted portrait of the late Fire Chief Raymond Sorensen from artist Laurie DeGenis, approved a new drainage easement and abandonment of an old one at 95 Maple Street, and OK'd a sewer easement at 134 Elm Street with a $20,000 developer payment to the general fund. All 2026 business and liquor license renewals passed, with Liberty Bell excluded pending a new ownership application. Town Administrator Dennis Sheehan disclosed that the town has received a $5.9 million IRS check, a reimbursement under the Inflation Reduction Act for the geothermal HVAC system in the Stoneham High School project, which will be used to close out the project without additional borrowing. Board members and two residents, Lisa Mashburn and Bobby Cafazo, called for a formal external strategic plan estimated at roughly $100,000, improved public communications, and a civic engagement series for residents new to Stoneham's town meeting form of government.