HUDSON – The town of Hudson now has a new building commissioner following the retirement of Jeff Wood, who served in the role for 20 years.
Robert Berger was appointed as the new commissioner at the July 29 meeting of the Select Board.
Berger’s appointment began on Aug. 12.
Select Board member Diane Bemis asked about the municipal permit tracking system that Berger had developed.
When he first started in 2001 as a municipal officer, Berger had a “Back to the Future” moment as three programs were being used to produce a permit. He saw a chance for improvement and set off to develop a software that would be simpler to use.
He said the system he coded and developed was available as free software for any community that wanted to use it.
Bemis also commended him for his work at the Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham.
Berger said of sign language, “It is a hard language. It’s almost like Spanish, and I haven’t stopped. I’m on my second year right now.”
“I’m personally grateful to the town that we have finally filled this position. It’s been a much-needed position, and I hope that you have a wonderful career with the town of Hudson,” Select Board member Judy Congdon said.
Fire prevention
In Hudson Fire Department news, the Select Board approved the reallocation of 2025 fiscal year funds within the salaries line of about $19,950 to use in the support of fire prevention activities. Due to an increase in requests for fire inspections and the unanticipated demands for inspectional services from a housing crisis, as well as many large-scale development projects on the horizon, the priority lies with fire safety over administrative needs, according to a memo from Fire Chief Jamie Desautels to Executive Assistant Thomas Gregory.
Congdon commended Desautels for bringing fire prevention back into focus for the town. With so much growth on the east side of Hudson and two fire incidents on White Pond Road within the last year, the town needs fire prevention “more than ever,” she said.
Station 2 is currently closed, she said, and the residents on the east side of town deserve the same access as the ones on the west side. Congdon believed the station needs to be rehabbed, staffed and be used to protect the residents of Hudson.
She noted that Hudson is facing an “inevitable increased volume” as well as a potential Proposition 2 1/2 override.
“But there is no long-term plan,” she said.
Staffing practices have not changed in decades, but “our growth has been exponential,” she said. With the funds spent on surveys about parking and employment, she believed it was time to do a survey about whether they were running safely with the fire and police departments.
She wanted to ensure that they were properly staffed with emergency personnel.
“Chief Desautels, in your seven months, you’ve been a godsend for the department. … Thank you for bringing your knowledge, experience and morale back to a department that desperately needed it,” said Congdon.
She expressed the hope that the reallocated funds would help him to keep meeting the ever-growing needs of the town of Hudson.
The Select Board also approved a $37,768.65 contract with Polaris Sales Inc., for the acquisition of an off-road utility vehicle for the police department.
Police Chief Richard DiPersio said he has wanted to get the Ranger Crew XP 1000 vehicle for the department “for a long time,” but the cost had put it on the backburner. As an off-road utility vehicle, it can be used for many things, like community events and search and rescue in areas that are difficult to access.
DiPersio said, “So this year we got creative with the cruiser appropriation that we get at Town Meeting. We were able to repurpose some of the equipment and the cruisers that we’re replacing, and that sort of freed up some money.”