Light board OKs $1.7M exhaust stack contract

Municipal Light Commission · Meeting of June 25, 2026

PEABODY — The Peabody Municipal Light Commission voted 4-0 to award a $1,698,066 contract for repairs to Generating Unit 2's exhaust stack. Commissioners Valet, Paris, Domano and Melvin approved the deal with SVI Prefco, plus a 10 percent, $159,806 contingency, after a competing bid from O'Connor came in at $1,739,411. PMLP operations staffer David Hallin said the stack has "one to two inches" of corrosion and work will run from late September to mid-December.

Separately, finance staff disclosed an audit finding that roughly 3,000 transactions between city and utility ledgers "didn't match exactly up," and City Councilor at Large Jared Hoffman asked commissioners to open talks on the financial relationship between the city and PMLP, saying "neither the city of Peabody nor PMLP are truly autonomous."

In the full story:

• Call to Order and Minutes
• Public Comment: The City-PMLP Relationship
• Correspondence
• Manager's Report
• GT2 Upper Exhaust Stack Contract Award
• Financial Variance Report and Audit Findings
• Hydro-Quebec Check and Power Supply Evaluation
• Commissioner Remarks and Closing
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,615 words

Source: the Municipal Light Commission meeting of June 25, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.