Brentwood Select Board approves New England Dragway permit, adopts key-control policy and approves office printer purchase

The Brentwood Select Board voted to approve a permit for New England Dragway and took several administrative actions at its March 3 meeting.

Lydia, a representative of New England Dragway, told the board the track will mark its sixtieth anniversary with a full April–October schedule and a new logo. "It's our sixtieth anniversary season, so it'll be an exciting year," Lydia said. Board members asked about coordination with police and fire for traffic and event details; Lydia said she and track leadership had been working to coordinate and preferred not to repeat earlier contentious meetings.

At least one track representative said the track felt it had been unfairly criticized at a prior meeting, saying the police "blasted us with many lies." The new police chief responded that he wanted "a clean slate," described productive conversations with track leadership and said he had met with police leadership from neighboring communities to coordinate for the season.

After discussion, a select board member moved to approve the track permit when the paperwork is ready; another member seconded the motion. The board voted in favor, and one member indicated an abstention related to a potential conflict of interest or work detail.

Separately, the board reviewed and approved a key-control policy governing access to the town's key vault. Under the adopted procedure, routine access requires the town administrator or any two select board members acting together (one of whom should be the chair); emergency access is authorized for the chair alone. Board members signed the acknowledgement forms before the policy vote.

The board also approved a one-time purchase of a large office printer to support a new receipts-processing workflow. The $5,200 purchase will be paid from town impact fees for the town office, and members voted to authorize the equipment purchase.

The board continued with committee reports and assignments for town-meeting warrant articles. The dragway representatives left the meeting with the board's assurance that staff and public-safety liaisons will continue to coordinate on event details.

Votes at a glance: permit for New England Dragway — approved (one abstention noted); key-control policy — approved by voice vote; printer purchase ($5,200) — approved.