Lunenburg Select Board Elects New Chair After Vice Chair Resigns for Health Reasons

LUNENBURG -- May 19, 2026, Lunenburg Select Board reorganizes after vice chair resigns citing health, elects Emke as new chair. Amanda Moore, vice chair of the Lunenburg Select Board, submitted her resignation effective May 17, citing health issues she said had become "harder to manage," adding in a letter read aloud at Tuesday's meeting that she felt "the weight of leaving" just as the town's Proposition 2½ override failed. The remaining three-member board elected Renee Emke as chair on a 3-1 vote, with outgoing chair Cesar Mazzolo dissenting, and unanimously elected Brian Leighton as vice chair and Mazzolo as clerk. The board agreed in principle to hold a special town election to fill Moore's seat, with a date to be determined after consultation with the Town Clerk. In other action, the board voted unanimously to write off $107,232.09 in uncollectable ambulance billing while sending $65,044.85 to a collection agency, and waived the town's right of first refusal on 35 Leominster Road after all reviewing bodies recommended against exercising it. On infrastructure, the Town Manager reported a $150,000 MassDOT culvert grant for Goodridge Street and disclosed that the apparent low bidder on the Flat Hill Road Bridge project, at $807,530, was disqualified for failing to include a required bid bond, pushing the effective low bid to $1,065,352 against $1,378,500 in available funding.