Hingham Select Board recommends $70M HMLP borrowing, electronic voting funds

HINGHAM -- February 3, 2026, Hingham Select Board endorses $70 million electrical reliability borrowing and electronic town meeting voting. The three-member board, chaired by William Ramsey and joined by Elizabeth Klein and Julie Strehle, voted unanimously on all eleven items Tuesday night, including a recommendation to bring a $70 million HMLP infrastructure borrowing article to the spring annual town meeting, where it will require a two-thirds majority. HMLP General Manager Tom Morahan said the project addresses a single-point-of-failure risk in the town's transmission lines and will not increase electric rates. The board also backed up to $100,000 to purchase or lease electronic voting devices for use beginning at the 2027 annual town meeting, with a research task force to report findings by September 2026; Liza O'Reilly of the League of Women Voters told the board the league supports the article after surveying clerks in five benchmark communities. Separately, the board ratified the town's $67.2 million bond and note sale, reaffirmed at triple-A, at a true interest cost of 2.2 percent on the refunding bonds, generating $100,000 in annual debt service savings.