Hingham Select Board receives final ARPA check, approves licenses at July 29 meeting

HINGHAM -- July 29, 2025, Hingham Select Board accepts a final $221,017 ARPA payment and hears a sobering water capacity study projecting a 2032 timeline for new supply. U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch and Plymouth County Commissioner Chairman Jared Valenzuela presented the check July 29, bringing the town's combined CARES Act and ARPA total to more than $8.25 million; Town Administrator Tom Mayo credited outgoing Assistant Town Administrator for Finance Michelle Monziger with securing the payment by preemptively applying for an additional $500,000 in unallocated county funds. A seven-community regional study by consultant Ryan Algrove of Apex Engineering found a projected deficit of 2.16 million gallons per day across Hingham and five neighboring communities, with a pipeline connection to the MWRA estimated to cost $130 million to $240 million in total and Hingham's share put at $20 million to $28 million. Select Board member Bill Ramsey, expressing frustration with the 2032 target date, said commercial development on the Bristol and AW Perry parcels in South Hingham, together exceeding 300 acres, remains impossible without new water and sewer infrastructure, adding that the town has lacked a new commercial tax base since buildout of The Cove and other North Hingham parcels.