Audit of the Devens Enterprise Commission (June 16, 2025)

This is a state performance audit of the Devens Enterprise Commission, the local permitting and regulatory body for Devens, covering July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC) for the period July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023.”

The audit checked whether DEC properly handled affordable housing, public health inspections, and its role in allowing the Devens Community Center to be used as a temporary emergency shelter.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine the following:”

Public health inspections affect whether residents, workers, and customers are protected from food safety, sanitation, and other health risks.

“Without ensuring these things, DEC may not know whether businesses are in compliance with state food sanitation standards, leading to a higher-than-acceptable risk that individuals may be exposed to food- or pest-borne illnesses or other potential health risks.”

If you live, work, eat, or do business in Devens, this audit is about whether local oversight is strong enough to make sure health inspections are actually happening and problems are followed up.

“NABH could overlook performing services that it verbally agreed to perform, or it could perform at a substandard level, potentially impacting the health and safety of Devens residents and businesses.”

DEC needs to formalize its relationship with Nashoba Associated Boards of Health and keep better records showing food inspections and follow-ups were completed.

“DEC management should develop and execute a contract with NABH that details the services provided for Devens, as well as oversight responsibilities, the payment schedule, performance expectations, and penalties for not fulfilling the conditions of the contract.”

DEC agreed to work on the issues, and the Auditor’s Office said it will check back in about six months.

“As part of our post-audit review process, we will follow up on this matter in approximately six months.”

The audit did not say everything was broken, but it did find that DEC’s public health oversight was incomplete because key agreements and inspection records were missing.

“Based on the results of our testing, we determined that, during the audit period, DEC ensured that public health inspections regarding beach water quality, sewage trucks, hazardous material spillage, and stormwater runoff occurred in accordance with Section 22 of Chapter 498 of the Acts of 1993.”

DEC means the Devens Enterprise Commission, the local authority that grants permits and regulates Devens. NABH means Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, the group DEC used for health inspection work.

“DEC is administered by 12 commissioners who are appointed by the Governor, 6 of whom are nominated by the select boards from the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley (2 commissioners from each town).”