Freetown Special and Annual Town Meeting 6/1/26

The Town of Freetown held a Special Town Meeting followed by its Annual Town Meeting on June 1, 2026, at the Apponequet Regional High School Auditorium in Lakeville, Massachusetts. The Special Town Meeting commenced at 7:13 p.m. Voters unanimously approved articles addressing highway salt shed engineering and construction funds ($100,000 transfer and $450,000 appropriation), a $25,000 match for a Massachusetts Historical Commission schoolhouse feasibility study, an $8,100 OPEB actuarial study, and $60,000 for police video and network upgrades, while voting to indefinitely postpone Article 6 due to drafting errors before adjourning at 7:20 p.m.

The Annual Town Meeting opened at 7:41 p.m., beginning with civic announcements, community event dates, and a moment of silence for deceased residents John Ramus, Carlton Abbott, and Bob Gregory. Voters proceeded to approve omnibus departmental operating budgets across general government, public safety (including an added $71,000 for a new firefighter), education, public works, health and human services, culture, debt service, unclassified expenses, and capital items. Elected official salaries, enterprise fund spending of $2,065,243 for water and sewer, updated device testing fees, and annual revolving fund caps were all adopted without opposition.

The centerpiece of the meeting was Article 6, authorizing $26,500,000 for a joint Freetown Library and Senior Center Community Building, supported by a $9,879,645 state grant, stabilization funds, overlay surplus, and up to $17,000,000 in borrowing subject to a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion election. Despite technical issues with electronic voting clickers, voters overwhelmingly passed the debt authorization by raised voting slips with more than the required two-thirds majority. The meeting concluded after approving school roof repairs ($160,000), police cruiser lease-purchase financing, PEG access transfers, a school committee recall petition to the state legislature, battery energy storage zoning regulations, personnel bylaw adjustments, and zoning definition updates, before adjourning.

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