By J.D. O’Gara

With six months under his belt, Holliston Town Manager Frank Gervasio likes his new job, and the former Assistant Town Manager of Medfield can’t beat the commute – he’s a Holliston resident, with a wife and three small children here in town. Local Town Pages reached out to him to review what happened in the past year as well as what lies ahead for 2026.

Woodland Street Dam and Bridge Project

“I think the biggest news would be the completion of the Woodland Street Dam and Bridge Project,” says Gervasio, adding, “The bridge was shut down, road completely shut down for 2 ½ years. That was a $3.6 million dollar project, and ultimately, the town’s tax dollars will pay close to none of that, maybe $50 thousand. (Thanks to) “our very diligent department heads and the DPW, working with our state legislators, Rep. James Arena-DeRosa and Senate President Spilka, we received a number of grants and state funding for the project.”

The Town Manager says that project’s proximity to the Holliston Rail Trail prompted a lot of buzz among residents. “Everyone was talking about it. We had a lot of people who every day would walk the Rail Trail and post pics.” Despite the mishap of a struck water line near the end of the project, “it opened right around Labor Day,” says Gervasio, “and it was a huge accomplishment.”

Selecting a New DPW Site

“Following a very thorough and healthy community dialogue, the Town has selected Arch Street as a site for our new DPW facility,” says Gervasio. “This was a multi-year process where the town had gone out and tried to buy land and we had looked at existing town parcels. Following that due diligence, we heard a lot of community feedback to keep it at Arch Street.” 

One constraint of that location is the size, and the town of Holliston is working with engineers to figure what is feasible. The Town hopes to consolidate the Water and Highway Divisions under the same roof, if feasible.

“Probably sometime in January, the Select Board will be hearing an update from Weston and Sampson, the engineers, and then we’ll have the goal of bringing the project to the May 2026 town meeting for approval,” he says.

Holliston High School Receives Invitation from MSBA

On Friday, Dec 12th, after seven years of the Holliston Select Board and School Committee trying, Holliston finally received an invitation from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to be placed in an Eligibility Period for a new Holliston High School building. During this 270-day period, the district must complete certain preliminary requirements 

“This is a multi-year process,” says Gervasio. One of the first steps is the formation of School Building Committee, by July 31, 2026, and then, says the Town Manager, sometime in 2026 or even 2027 Holliston will need to vote on a feasibility study for the project.

Recreation Department Projects

Goodwill Park Project: That is on track to be completed in March 2026,” says Gervasio, “ “We’ll have a new pavilion, new bathrooms, that type of stuff.”

Site of the former Flagg School: Over $800K was directed to this project at last Town Meeting. “Starting in summer, we’ll start construction on a new basketball court, a walking track, outdoor classroom space and new parking for access to the site,” says Gervasio.

Bike Park on Woodland Street: The Select Board previously approved a concept for a bike park on Woodland Street with a  pumptrack, a circular loop with rollers and berms that enable riders to ride without pedaling or pushing. “At this past Town Meeting, the Town put forth Community Preservation Funds for the engineering portion of that project,” says Gervasio. “Given the site’s proximity to wetlands, we need to better understand the impact there. This is a very important step to making that project a reality,” he adds.

Downtown Sewer

In November, the Sewer Commission received a $1.5 million grant from the state in to fulfil the first step in bringing sewer,” says Gervasio, noting that the funds received fell short of the $7 million requested. Still, the grant amount will allow the Town to “basically upgrade our existing wastewater treatment plant, which serves schools on Woodland.

The upgrade and design of the new infrastructure will give the plant the capacity to treat wastewater from the downtown district,” he says, “and from there we will ask for funds to actually construct the system. This is a really big goal of many in town, to diversify the types of small businesses that can come and grow and stay in Holliston. Bringing businesses into town helps reduce the tax impact residents shoulder. We’re hopeful we can get through this first round of grant funding and be successful in our next grant application.”

Town Hall Digest

“The Select Board has been working on how to better communicate everything going in in an approachable way,” says Gervasio, adding many residents don’t have hours to invest in watching public meetings. Therefore, the Town is piloting a Town Hall Digest. For now, he says, “We’re just sticking with Select Board meetings, and we’re going to roll out additional ones as well, using AI to summarize the recordings of meetings and provide a paragraph of topics covered.” The digests of Monday Select Board meetings will roll out on the following Friday and will include dates and deadlines residents should know, as well as a link to the recording should anyone want to watch it.

Folks can sign up on the town website by enrolling in a Notify Me account. 

So far,2026 is shaping up to be a busy year, but Gervasio isn’t worried.

“We have a really great group of department heads and staff here in town that are very committed to what they do and very motivated. I’ve also met a lot of our very dedicated and motivated volunteers. Our town owes a great deal to them, says Gervasio, thrilled at his role, adding, “Holliston is a wonderful town, and I feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity.”