Medfield Select Board Approves Documentary Film Permit, Defers Hunt Club Trail Decision

MEDFIELD — June 2, 2026 — Medfield Select Board approves film permit for documentary about "Bubblegum Bob" Kenneflick and defers Hunt Club trail vote pending site visit. The board unanimously authorized filmmaker Christopher Stevenson and his daughter Madeline Stevenson to shoot their verite documentary about 85-year-old Robert "Bubblegum Bob" Kenneflick on town-owned land, with the condition that building managers approve any interior access; Town Counsel Mark Sorrell noted schools and the Council on Aging fall outside the board's jurisdiction and require separate permissions. A proposal by Norfolk Hunt Club liaison Gil Rogers to clear an overgrown path through the northeast corner of the former state hospital grounds was deferred after abutters on Longmeadow and Evergreen Way, including Bill DeSorbo and Jill Rodosta, told the board the submitted topographic map showed neither the full trail route near their property lines nor Trinity Financial's approved berm and parking layout. The board also voted unanimously on five action items, including a $47,183 contract with Metropolitan Corporation to wire a previously purchased ultraviolet disinfection system at the wastewater treatment facility and a MassWorks grant support letter for phase three infrastructure improvements at the 334-unit mixed-income housing project at the former state hospital; it agreed to form a study committee on senior property tax relief after resident Lester Starr told the board he had lived in Medfield more than 40 years and felt he was "being taxed out" of his home.