Accountability posts

At the March 9, 2026 Select Board meeting, Lexington made a significant decision that many residents may not have heard about: the Liberty Ride trolley tour program is effectively over. After eight failed procurement attempts and a confirmed annual operating deficit exceeding $125,000, four of five board members said they could not support pursuing a ninth RFP. Member Joe Lucente was the only dissenter. Importantly, no formal vote was taken — the decision was made by consensus, meaning there's no roll call on the record for a choice that ends a program that served roughly 8,700 passengers per year.

The process leading to that decision drew sharp criticism at the meeting. Dawn McKenna, the person who originally developed the Liberty Ride, told the board directly that in all the time current leadership has been in place, no one ever sat down with her to discuss the program. She described herself as the town's tourism expert and said that consultation never happened. The Town Manager agreed to meet with her — but the board had already reached its conclusion by that point. Separately, the financial figures underlying the decision were revised mid-meeting, with staff clarifying that the contractor alone cost $215,000 and total direct expenses reached $308,000 — numbers that differed from what had been presented earlier. A major program termination decision was finalized while the financial basis for it was still being clarified in real time.

There was a second significant item that received less attention: Lexington's Community Choice Energy program is downgrading its renewable energy content from Class 1 renewable energy credits to National Wind RECs. The program's own consultant acknowledged that Class 1 credits are more effective at driving new clean energy projects to be built, and that federal policy changes have reduced their impact anyway. The board also approved an accelerated contract negotiation timeline due to price volatility tied to Middle East conflict risks. Every resident and business enrolled in the Community Choice program is affected by both the cost increase and the shift in renewable content.

Residents who care about tourism, downtown business health, or Lexington's clean energy commitments should pay attention to what comes next: staff are supposed to deliver alternative tourism proposals by June 2026, and Community Choice contract pricing returns to the board as soon as next week. If you have views on either, now is the time to make them known. https://meetingwatch.org/ma/lexington/select-board/2026-03-09/ #MeetingWatch #LexingtonMA