Douglas Select Board Approves Fire Chief Job Description, Seeds ADA Committee

DOUGLAS -- May 5, 2026, Douglas Select Board unanimously approves updated fire chief job description and seeds new ADA committee. The board voted 4-0 Tuesday on all four formal actions of the evening, including approval of a revised fire chief job description vetted by the town's labor counsel, which Town Administrator Matt Wojcik said replaces an outdated document written for an all-call department and now addresses ADA essential-functions requirements and mental health fitness language for a full-time chief. Jennifer Zipkak of Cook Street was appointed the first member of the town's newly forming Americans with Disabilities Act committee on a three-year term, with between four and 12 additional appointments remaining. The board also authorized the Douglas Common Preservation Society to fund a targeted gazebo ceiling repair at the Town Common, with contractor Jason Baker to receive payment only upon completion. A lengthy road-opening discussion followed after a contractor connected a business to the sewer line on Main Street without permits, coordination, or a police detail, using only a chain-link fence on a major thoroughfare during rush hour, prompting Wojcik to call the incident "an absolute clown joker disaster" and directing staff to draft both a bond-requiring road-opening policy and a bylaw for the November Town Meeting. The board also heard that Douglas carries a current Aa3 bond rating and approximately $9.5 million in outstanding debt, with a new bond exceeding $625,000 planned to cover the water department's share of the Depot Street project and $620,000 in wastewater treatment plant repairs authorized by Town Meeting the prior evening.