Historical Commission approves rail trail comment letter, weighs Hosmer House reopening

SUDBURY -- December 10, 2024, Sudbury Historical Commission grapples with Hosmer House mold findings and $615,000 envelope ask. Combined Facilities Director Sandra Duran told the commission October surface swabs by Alpine found mold spore counts from low to over 1,000 across all three floors of the 1793 building, with an industrial cleaning estimated at $46,000 to $50,000 and no funding source identified. Vice-Chair Michael Wallace pressed to reopen the long-closed house with public disclosure, calling it "an old house, but it shouldn't be a dying house," while alternate Marjorie Katz insisted on signed liability waivers and town counsel review. The commission voted 6-0 to send Fuss and O'Neill a comment letter cataloging cattle crossings, stone culverts and a leaning signal post along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Phase 3; approved an $8,589 fiscal 2026 budget; and unanimously accepted a KP Law response to an Open Meeting Law complaint stemming from a Chair Christopher Hagger email that inadvertently copied a quorum.