Select Board awards community funds to 6 organizations
BILLERICA >> The Select Board voted 3-2 Monday to award $50,000 in community funds from companies in town to six local organizations.
Select Board Chair Andrew Deslaurier and members Kim Conway and Michael Riley voted in favor of the funding, while board members John Burrows and Michael Rosa voted against it.
Deslaurier said before the vote that the $50,000 in funds from EMD Serono were part of an agreement between the company and the town, while E Ink Corp. contributed an additional $15,000 “out of the goodness of the organization’s heart.” The board’s vote only covered the EMD Serono funds, while E Ink’s $15,000 contribution was done independently.
“Both are good neighbors, we are thrilled to be a host community to both organizations, and they have been long-term partners,” Deslaurier said.
Of the $65,000, $3,000 went to the Billerica Public Library, $5,000 went to Billerica Yankee Doodle Homecoming Inc., $6,000 went to the Billerica Playground Project, $8,000 went to the Billerica Community Farmers Market, $5,000 went to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Billerica and $38,000 went to Community Caregivers.
The two votes against the awards by Rosa and Burrows were in part because of how much money went to a single applicant. Burrows said he wanted to see the funds spread out a little more, rather than Community Caregivers receiving such a comparatively large portion of it.
“Any one of these organizations could get $65,000 and it would be going to a good cause. But you could have the opportunity to give 13 of them $5,000, maybe spread it out a little more,” said Burrows.
Rosa said he also took issue with how the recipients were chosen. He said that it was supposed to be done in a Select Board subcommittee, which would have included two of the board’s five members, but that Deslaurier had only made himself available to EMD Serono and E Ink while they decided on the awards without an actual subcommittee.
“A subcommittee is more than just one member of the board, so I don’t agree with that,” said Rosa.
Additionally, Rosa said he thought Deslaurier should have been exempted from the process entirely, as at least one application for the funds had a “very close family member” of Deslaurier as a party to it, though Rosa said that application did not receive funding. Rosa clarified on March 8 that he was referring to Maggie Deslaurier’s role in the Parent Teacher Organization at Hajjar Elementary
School, which applied
for community funds but did not receive any.
Maggie Deslaurier, Andrew Deslaurier’s wife, is the vice chair of the Billerica Public Library’s Board of Trustees. The library did receive $3,000 in community funds for its 2023 “Find Your Voice” summer reading program, but that money came from E Ink, and was not part of the $50,000 from EMD Serono that the Select Board voted on.
Andrew Deslaurier took issue with Rosa’s statements.
“Are you saying that I would influence this decision to benefit a personal organization of mine?” Deslaurier said, raising his voice. “Michael, you have known me a long time. You
know I am better than that, and I have had no influence on any of these organizations.”
Deslaurier went on to say that he specifically did not get involved in the application review process so that the organizations that applied would “have confidence in this program, and support them as co-neighbors of these organizations.”
Rosa then said that the Community Caregivers share of $38,000 was too large compared to what other organizations received, and that some of that money could have even gone to other applicants that were rejected. EMD Serono gave them $35,000, and E Ink gave them an additional $3,000.
“If I was sitting at the table, I would talk about the one that got $35,000. Because they list stuff here that I do not believe should
be a community fund award,” said Rosa. “For one entity to suck up $35,000 out of $50,000 is absolutely, in my view, unacceptable. Are they a good organization, do I think they should get something? Absolutely, but not $35,000.”
Community Caregivers, an organization started by the Mcdevitt family during the pandemic to help older and disabled neighbors, had originally requested $41,900. In their application, they said they want the funds to help with their local programs such as the Best Buddy pet fund, help at home and the Tasty Tomato plant program, among several others. The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Billerica said in their application that they want to use the $5,000 they received for their Music Technology programs to help kids in musical education.
The Billerica Community
Farmers Market requested funds to help with their Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program matching program.
The Billerica Playground Project requested funds to help build and maintain safe and accessible playgrounds in the town.
Billerica Yankee Doodle Homecoming requested funds for the homecoming event in September.
The community funds are typically given by organizations that operate in Billerica as a condition of a tax increment financing agreement. TIF agreements are a strategy municipalities can use to try to incentivize businesses like EMD Serono to open up or remain in town. For a period of years, depending on the specific agreement, businesses can receive significant local tax breaks that can vary in percentage year to year.