Dunstable Select Board Continues Liquor Regulation Review, Advances Fire Staffing Trial

DUNSTABLE — December 2, 2025 — Dunstable Select Board puts liquor regulation revision on hold and backs a fire staffing trial. The board, with Chair Leah D. Basbanes and Member Ronald Mikol, declined to vote on amendments to the town's single-serving alcohol sales regulations after attorneys and owners of both package stores — Dunstable Country Liquors and Maribel's — argued November's newly adopted language conflicts with industry-standard drink sizes and threatens store viability. The attorney for Dunstable Country Liquors proposed removing the phrase "single serving" entirely and relying on fluid-ounce minimums, telling the board customers are declining to buy four-packs of $6-to-$8 craft beers: "If I have a gentleman who wants to pick up a little espresso martini for his wife, please tell me who's drinking a warm espresso martini." The board voted unanimously to retain Borosloe Insurance as broker of record for health and life coverage, a move prompted by back-to-back 14-percent health insurance increases, and approved the appointment of Heather Gurdison to the Helene Morgan Babcock and Alfred Babcock Memorial Scholarship Committee through November 2028. The fire chief received informal board approval to launch a six-month per diem coverage trial for the 4-to-8 p.m. shift at an estimated cost of roughly $14,000, funded within the existing call-pay budget.