Board of Selectmen & Finance Committee Meeting 4/14/26

The Freetown Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee met jointly on April 14, 2026, to fill a vacancy on the Finance Committee and conduct FY27 budget hearings with municipal department heads. The joint body considered three candidates—Craig Cabral, Mark Versowski, and Jean Fox—and voted to appoint Craig Cabral to a one-year term expiring at the 2027 annual town election. Town Clerk Cheryl administered the oath of office immediately afterward.

Department heads then presented their FY27 budget requests and capital priorities. The Fire Chief reviewed the civil defense ($23,000) and fire department budgets, addressing the removal of an additional full-time firefighter position due to levy limits, rising overtime and call wages, turnout gear replacement rotations, and long delivery timelines for a newly ordered ambulance and fire engine. Highway Surveyor Chuck Macomber discussed road resurfacing, inflation in road striping and vehicle maintenance, staffing and retention shortages driven by higher wages in neighboring towns, and two upcoming Town Meeting warrant articles: one for a $362,000 fabric-structure salt shed (plus $150,000 in-house site prep) and another to replace a severely malfunctioning 2017 International truck quoted at $301,000.

The Police Chief outlined contractual raises, educational incentives, cruiser replacement rotations, and the implementation of body-worn cameras via a $150,000 state grant, noting an upcoming $10,500 annual cloud-storage cost starting in year two. He also advocated for a $60,000 warrant article to overhaul the department's failing video surveillance and network servers, while reviewing the dispatch budget, which proposes adding a full-time dispatcher to reduce overtime. Finally, Town Administrator Debbie presented updates on Board of Health PFAS testing and bottled water mandates ($30,000 Riverhawk contract increase), proposed increasing bylaw department head wage adjustments from 2% to 3% at an added cost of $4,650, and noted that a reduction in the regional school assessment would free up municipal funds. The meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m.

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