Pembroke Select Board Preserves Colonial Home, Defers CORI Policy to July

PEMBROKE -- June 26, 2024, Pembroke Select Board unanimously approved a historic preservation restriction on a 286-year-old shipbuilder's home and deferred a CORI background-check policy to July 10. The board voted to certify the deed restriction on the Briggs-Standage House at 95 Brick Hill Lane, built around 1738 and tied to prominent North River shipbuilder Luther Briggs, with Town Counsel Michelle Randazzo of KP Law confirming the move creates no municipal liability and mirrors a 2018 restriction on another Pembroke property. Randazzo walked members through state CORI law, advising that checks are mandatory only for volunteers with direct access to children, the elderly, or the disabled, and that running checks on elected officials is legally unproductive. The board also tabled three Historic District Commission reappointments after members flagged excessive absenteeism and missing meeting minutes, directing Town Manager Bill Chenard to summon the candidates for the July 10 meeting. The board closed out the night by dissolving the Community Center Task Force, a panel that had operated in various forms for roughly 24 years.