* Does Acton Have A “Not Invented Here” Problem?

Letter to the Editor of the Acton Exchange

By Erik J. Heels

First published 2026-04-12; ActonExchange.org; publisher: The Acton Exchange.

When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, ownership took the trophy on a tour of all Massachusetts cities and town, about one per day. The tour took about a year, which is how I remember that there are about 350 cities/towns in Massachusetts.

Presumably some of these other cities/towns in Massachusetts have faced (or perhaps even solved) some of the problems facing Acton. We should do more to borrow sound solutions from others before inventing our own solutions from scratch.

For example:

How many town employees does Acton need? Do we have too many or too few?

How many fire and police stations? Do other towns build a new fire station and then close two old ones?

What color should town hall be painted? Are those with white town halls all wrong?

How many road snow plows should Acton have? How many sidewalk snow plows?

Should Acton have centralized trash/recycling pickup?

What about a town-wide sewer system?

Is Acton the first town in Massachusetts to close an elementary school?

Mass law (MGL ch. 39 sec. 16) says that the Finance Committee “shall submit a budget at the annual town meeting,” but Acton does not do this, and nothing in Acton’s Charter says otherwise. Are we doing Town Meeting right?

When one town has a fire emergency near the border of another town, the bordering town crosses town lines to provide “mutual aid,” sending people and equipment to the emergency. This is the best example that I can think of where one town helps another. Let’s apply this model to all that Acton does.

-Erik J. Heels, heels@alum.mit.edu, 17 Forest Rd, Acton MA 01720