Sudbury Select Board elects Kouchakdjian chair on 3-2 vote

SUDBURY — May 20, 2025 — Sudbury Select Board elects Kouchakdjian chair on 3-2 vote, restructures local transit, hears Route 20 rewrite. Member Lisa Kouchakdjian was elected chair over the no votes of outgoing chair Daniel Carty and member Charles Russo at the May 20 meeting; Janie Dretler was elected vice chair 5-0 and Town Manager Andy Sheehan reappointed clerk 5-0. The board endorsed Carty's Transportation Committee plan to sunset the town's Uber and taxi voucher program Aug. 31 and the MWRTA hospital shuttle in July, while continuing MWRTA Catch Connect microtransit — which has averaged 20 to 25 riders and 60 trips per week — for at least another year using about $115,000 in ARPA balances, a $31,500 state earmark, and a $50,000 supplemental appropriation secured by Rep. Carmine Gentile. Senior Center Director Nicole Boardman was named Sudbury's MWRTA representative. The board also unanimously appointed clinical geriatrician Dr. Joel Bauman to the Council on Aging, deferred a vote on the Housing Production Plan after Carty objected that its 174-unit affordable-housing target was unrealistic, and heard a 90-minute presentation from BSC Group's Adam Deschano recommending an expanded Village Business district along Route 20 with three-story mixed-use buildings, no minimum parking, and a town request to take ownership of a 1.1-mile state-highway segment.