Stow Select Board Unanimously Ratifies Town Administrator Dembkoski's Three-Year Contract

STOW -- February 10, 2026, Stow Select Board ratifies town administrator's contract and appoints new firefighter in 20-minute session. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify a three-year contract for Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski covering fiscal years 2027 through 2029, and appointed Aidan Underwood as a Firefighter/EMT with the Stow Fire Department through June 30, 2026. Fire Chief Barry Evers called Underwood, who joined the department less than a year ago with no prior firefighting experience, "really" the top candidate from a competitive in-house hiring process that was "really close." The board also approved its 2025 Annual Report after Member Ingeborg Hegemann flagged confusing language in a passage about the board's letter urging the state to include private well owners in any future PFAS remediation bond bill, language Dembkoski agreed to clarify before release. Dembkoski reported the town's FY2027 budget process is stalled pending school department figures that may not arrive until March, and noted that 12 categories of town committee vacancies, including the entirely memberless SpringFest Committee and a one-member Agricultural Commission, remain unfilled and open for applications on the town website.