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[music] [music] [music] >> Welcome everyone. This is a meeting with the Acushnet Board of Selectmen. Today is April 14th, 2026. It is 4:00 p.m. This meeting is being audio and video recorded. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Is there a motion to call the meeting to order? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye.

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The Board of Selectmen's minutes to be approved January 2026, 1/20/2026. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. We have 1/29/2026. [clears throat] Is there a motion to approve?

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>> So moved. Second. Here we have All those in favor? Aye. Aye. And then we have minutes for February 2/4/2026. I just want to make one correction to that. It mentions Chairman Hinckley. It was Chairman Wohler, not Hinckley. So I have that correction. I will give it to

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our administrative assistant. Is there a motion to approve 2/4/2026 minutes with that correction? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. And is there a motion to approve 2/10/2026? Mr. Chairman, Yes, sir.

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>> the same correction that you just mentioned on 2/10/2026. It says Chair Hinckley. It needs to say Chair Wohler. I have those notes. I'll also provide them in the minutes with um the correction. Is there a motion to approve with changes? So moved. Second.

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All those in favor? >> Aye. Aye. Any motion to approve 2/17/2026? >> Mr. Chairman, I have a spelling another spelling modification. It's very simple. Um at the bottom of page one, um I'd like to correct Officer Jeremy

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Font's last name spelling. Okay, very good. Is there a motion to approve 2/17/2026 with the corrections? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. And is there a motion to approve 2/23/2026 minutes? Um Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hinckley.

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Uh first page, uh in this meeting, it references Mr. Coppa. I would like that corrected to Chief Coppa. Okay, is there a motion to approve 2/23/2026 with the change? So moved. Second. All those in favor?

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Aye. I will abstain. I was not present. 2/27/2026. Any changes, Mr. Hinckley? I did not find any. All right, good. Is there a motion to approve 2/27/2026? >> So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Very

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good. First order of new business, gentlemen, we have an appointment for a senior clerk, Nicole Smith. Um she is present. Um I'm happy to say that the we did sign her up. Um Jennifer Grant, our Treasurer Collector, did the interviews along with our Assistant

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Treasurer Collector, Tanya Tavares. Um they spoke very highly of Ms. Smith. Um so we got I gave the okay to bring her on board. Um and now she's just looking for an official appointment so she can actually get paid for her work. So gentlemen, you can see if she has a

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resume We have a resume attached. It's pretty extensive. She has a very extensive in customer service, which is great for her position as senior clerk in the Treasurer Collector's office. I've had the opportunity to chat with Nicole. I've also had the opportunity to take a little bit of a beat up from Nicole, but it's been

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very friendly. So I'm glad to I'm glad to let everybody I'm glad to let everybody know that she seems to be a really good fit in the town of Acushnet. So thank you, um Nicole, for that. I promise I wasn't going to do it, but I had to do it. Perfect. >> So gentlemen, I don't know if you have

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any questions for Nicole, if you guys have met her. I'm sure you you have gone in the office to meet her. Um I'm just looking Same assessment. Um welcome aboard. >> Thank you. I'd be happy to make a motion to appoint Nicole Smith uh to the position of uh senior clerk.

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I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, one more thing, if you don't mind. Sure. So I can make a quick comment. Um I spoke with the Treasurer Collector and Nicole, and she's going to fit just fine here. And if you're already giving Chairman Gaspar a [laughter] little bit

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of a hard time, you'll definitely fit in fine. Welcome aboard. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Welcome aboard. >> it. Thank you. >> you. Thank you. All right. Very good. So the next one we have is we have uh Police Chief Gary Coppa here for an

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appointment, our new hire, Emmanuel Mateus. Um coming over from Rochester. So Chief, welcome. Good evening, gentlemen. Uh before I start, I would like to congratulate Selectman Wohler. And this is his last Selectmen's

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meeting. Yep. Congratulations on a successful term. Um seems like I've worked my entire career with you, on and off. I appreciate that. Uh I appreciate all the help you've given me through my career in the last 9 months or whatever, and also for the support you've given to our department. >> Great. Thank you. Appreciate that.

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Um gentlemen, as you know, our department, like many departments, are facing staffing issues. Uh with the retirement of Chief Corriveau, the deployment of Officer Cadiero, and the anticipated loss of officers to State Police, we are no different. Uh since January, we have been lucky

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enough to attract two lateral police officers to help fill these vacancies. Tonight, I bring you a third uh lateral transfer officer for your consideration of appointment. I would like to intro- introduce Emmanuel Mateus. Officer Mateus lives in Freetown. He is married. He started his

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law enforcement career in 2014 [clears throat] as a security officer for Southcoast Health. Uh he worked there until 2022. Uh between 2018 and 2020, he became a deputy sheriff with Bristol County's Sheriff's Office. And between 2020 and

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2022, he worked as a part-time officer in the town of Rochester. Uh in 2022, he was promoted to full-time officer uh rank in Rochester, and he has worked there since. Uh Manny comes to us as a certified electronic weapons instructor and a

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certified firearms instructor. He looks to join our department, hopes to open new doors in his law enforcement career. I bring you Manny Mateus. And ask for his appointment. Again, you have the resume in front of you. I've I've reviewed it. Quite impressive, Mr.

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Mateus. Thank you. So is there anything >> Yeah, I mean, I I concur. I mean, I think we're we're on a little bit of a winning streak the last, you know, year or so. Um actually more back up. We we've brought in some really outstanding outstanding individuals uh to serve our

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town, and you're the you're the latest. And um super excited for you, but really excited for the town of Acushnet. So thank you, Chief, for uh bringing Mr. Mateus forward. And um I have no problem initiating a motion, but obviously would like to hear from my colleagues. >> Yeah, I would just echo what my

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colleague said. Um welcome to town. Um we put a lot of faith in Chief Coppa to pick the right people for the department. And uh judging by the resume, I think you'll you'll be able to jump right in and help out as fast as you can. And uh welcome to town. Thank you. Great. With that said, happy to

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make a motion to appoint Emmanuel Mateus as a patrol officer. Second. Starting at step four hours in the school. I have a full understanding. I talked to the Chief earlier about step four, so he brought his years of of service. Sure.

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So Absolutely. Is a motion to appoint Emmanuel Mateus at step four? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Motion unanimous. Chief, I would just like to thank you um for what you've done in

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recruiting in a short period of time as Police Chief. Um and and I know we have Jeremy Font >> I was just going to say that. Jeremy Jeremy Font is here. Courtney is here. Courtney Soares one of our police officers here as well, but I can tell you um the work that you've guys done

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behind the scenes to go out and do that recruiting without the cost of academy and everything else is just truly incredible um for the department and the morale of our department, and also for the morale of this board to know that we're filling those voids quickly and expeditiously. Um I can't I can't thank you enough for

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the short period of time you spent in your role as Chief. Um I do know that you have Jeremy always there looking forward to help out in in that capacity as well, and the rest of the men and women in our police department. So kudos to everybody. Well, I'm I'm glad Jeremy and Courtney are here. Uh one of the

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things that you don't often see behind the scenes is every time when we make an appointment, we're doing background checks on three or four other people. That's on their shoulders. They they've done, I don't know, close to a dozen background checks in the last 5 months on top of all the other workload. I've

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never had to chase them. They've gone above and beyond for me. Sometimes I actually feel bad um cuz of the hours they put in. Um I don't want to help out, but I'm quickly reminded that's not my job anymore. So I want to thank both of them that are here for hard work, and also for all the hard work that the other

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sergeants and other officers are doing. Um they've been I've been able to bounce ideas off of them, as well as these two. And uh things seem to be running smooth right now. So I thank all of them for their help. Awesome. Good. Great. Great work. Thank you.

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Welcome to town. Thank you. There you go. You can go, Chief. Signed, sealed, and delivered. >> Dated, right? What day is today? >> That today is the 14th. Valentine's Day. What? Thank you, I appreciate that. Congratulations. Thank you, sir.

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Congrats to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Welcome. Thanks, dude. All right, good stuff. And the next order of business we have an appointment. I after all the confusion going on with ZBA clerks and the things of the the

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like, I made a phone call to Paul Sullivan, the that used to be ZBA clerk for the town of Acushnet. I asked him if he would be willing to fill in to fill that void to give the board some time to recruit >> [clears throat] >> and have some discussions with staff, ongoing staff. So, with that said, he

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did volunteer to do it for April and May only. So, it is a short-term appointment, a temporary appointment. So, is there a motion to appoint Paul Sullivan as a ZBA clerk for the months of April and May? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Great.

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Um town administrator signatory authority. It's the rescinding of the previous authorization which went with our assistant town accountant for signatory purposes for the town administrator. I would like to rescind that now that we have Mr. Adam La Montagne as a full-time

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town administrator, there's no need to have that signatory authority anymore. So, is there a motion to rescind the signatory authority? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Great. And the next one would be the liquor license that's being

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currently under the name of Mr. James Kelly, uh outgoing town administrator, but he is still with us today. He's in the audience giving me the smirk. He has been He has been gracious enough over the last couple of years to have his name on the liquor license for

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Acushnet River Valley Golf Course. And now Mr. Adam La Montagne will be the signatory and the license holder. So, is there a motion to transfer a liquor license for the Acushnet River Valley Golf Course in the name of Adam La Montagne? So moved. Second. All those

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in favor? Aye. Okay. And I'm going to turn this real quick to Mr. La Montagne. He's got a federal grant policies and procedures he would like the board to review. It's not here for a vote.

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It's just for us to review it, take it under consideration. So, Mr. La Montagne, if you would. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. You have in your in your packet this evening a draft policies I received from an auditing firm from one of my other previous towns.

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>> [clears throat] >> These are important to have if you we get any type of federal grants, anything over 750,000 requires a single audit. Uh it's recommended that it since we at this point we are not

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aware of any for the town of Acushnet, uh so if we are were to ever go through this audit, we could check that box off and these would be the policies and procedures that we follow relative to any federal monies that come into the town of Acushnet. So, it's it's just one of those boxes we

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just got to check off and I want the board to just have a chance to review it and as the chairman said, just for discussion purposes this evening and then uh as we all know, this is a selectman one of our last meeting, so we can send

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time to review and the new member coming in and I want to thank you as well for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, very well said. Mr. Chairman, just a question. So, Adam, this is really good stuff. Is this something that I will review it, but that we can lift and shift and use as a policy for

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all grants in town or is this, you know, like the the verbiage of it and the controls in place and realize that it's pertains to federal grants, but state grants [clears throat] as well that, you know, to my knowledge, I don't know that we have that in place and if you can lift and shift and, you know, use it for state grants, I would

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encourage you to do that as well. >> [snorts] >> I believe this one by name of Mr. Yeah, I believe this one's specific to federal awards, but that's something if the board wants to do, I think we could certainly arrange that to include all inclusive of all grants is what you were referring to. Yeah. Just make sure you

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get those controls in place. Good idea. All right. So, again, like Mr. La Montagne just mentioned, unfortunately, it's it is going to be, I believe to be, selectman Wrona's last meeting, so we would give this to the new the incoming

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select board member, let him have some little bit of time to digest and review it, provide some comments, so we have a bit of time to think about it. Sure. So, fair enough, no motions needed. So, the next one we have the discussion regarding 250th parade.

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I don't know who's here to discuss that. I don't see anybody here. Oh, there they are. Apologize. Um not them? So, I don't know. I did I figured it might have been Brad Fish, our veterans VSO officer, but

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um and then I was told that it was Nancy Beveris from the beautification committee and here comes Mr. James Kelly. Uh I'm the one and only Mr. James Kelly. Mr. Chairman, uh I uh while I was still

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uh town administrator, this request came in by Miss Beveris. Uh we've talked briefly among some of the others saying, "We're wondering if the board would consider

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naming a 250th anniversary of the United States parade committee including uh members from beautification committee

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from uh the veterans and uh whoever else the board would want to uh consider. The reason it was brought up was because they were looking to [snorts] at that point

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uh approach the CPC to see our CPA for Yeah. to see if it was uh an appropriate use of any of the historic funds.

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The CPC said they would consider it, but they were waiting for the board of selectmen to determine if the board wants staff and the volunteers to get involved in trying to put that together.

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I had an earlier on conversation with Brad Fish, our veteran service officer, and I thought it would be a great idea. I I brought it up several months back to when we haven't had a conversation again, so I'm glad there's other people that have in that conversation alongside of Brad um to do something in celebration of the

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250th anniversary. So, I mean I don't know what kind of money they're looking for from CPC, but I mean, whatever it takes to to do something nice on behalf of the town and the country, um I think it's something that we I'm I'm all all for.

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You know, no, obviously we're not going to spend 100 grand doing it, but I understand that there's money that's needed to do certain things in town and I think that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to do something very nice in the community, so whatever it is, um I'm good with it if

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they want to put something together and, you know, Pauline's here from the historical commission. Karen too. Karen Denaulso. I'm a historical assistant. Hi, Karen. How are you? Good, and you?

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So, whatever they want to do, just tell Nancy if she wants to spearhead this thing and talk with Brad Fish and come up with some names of people that we can just establish a 250th you know, committee. They they were also looking uh uh

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talking to some of the charitable charitable groups like the Lions, etc. to see if they would want to be involved, so uh but they wanted to make sure you guys were on board before they

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started to push. Yeah. Yep. Mr. I think it's a great idea. You know, we think you know, >> [snorts] >> glad to hear the Lions, but I would definitely get a hold of Andrew Choppa. He's become the parade guy in town and you know, there's a lot of people who have done this, but I think it's an awesome idea.

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I would I would second that, Mr. Chairman. I I I would stress that I'd feel definite 100% support as long as Brad is involved because I think especially being the 250th anniversary having definitely having some kind of veterans

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based you know, group behind it, I think it's a great idea, but I'm I'm in general, I like the idea and anytime there's a parade, I'm usually in good moods about it. I like parades and I agree with selectman Wrona having Andrew Choppa

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grab and being a member of the Lions Club who helped put that together every year. I think that's a great idea. I just, you know, during the sesquicentennial, Mr. Daken and I dressed in period clothing. So, if you gentlemen want to wear some wool in the middle of July, have at it.

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That'd be great. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, thanks for that offer, but no thanks. You sure that wasn't your uh usual clothing? >> [laughter] >> All right. So, Mr. Kelly, if you want to reach out to uh Nancy Beveris and and um

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Pauline's here, so they can get their group and get a name of people and we can just put it together. All right. At coming [clears throat] meeting, for the next agenda, would you like to uh have a report on it? I would That would be nice. I mean, a

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report you can just if if they can get their the names together and coordinate that quick enough, um you know, talk to those folks you know, Andrew Choppa. Yep. Get everybody Brad Fischer, get everybody on that what this volunteering to be on this committee and and hopefully we can

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have a a beautiful parade somewhere in July. Maybe even the 4th of July. We'll see what happens. Sounds good. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Thank you. Um Mr. Kelly, I don't know if you want to

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go too far. Um the next next uh item on the agenda is the annual town meeting. We got warrant operating budget and warrant articles. So, while you're up there, you've given the board a memorandum for us to take a peek at.

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Yeah. So, if you want to go through that now. Uh well, Mr. Chairman, just to uh as you know, as the La Montaine has come on in the middle to end of the budget season, we've

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already issued a timeline memo, talked to the departments. It's just to give the board an update. Uh one of the reasons you kept me on was to start drafting the warrant.

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Uh the standard articles are all drafted. The citizens petitions are been inputted. The various financial articles, such as the S program, etc. are all been updated.

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Uh we've had a preliminary meeting of the CPC for the CPC article. Pauline's here. She's got some of her standard uh parts of the CPC article.

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Uh we've got over 300K in free cash, but which isn't a lot because we spent a lot of it in the fall town meeting once free cash was certified.

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And we've got approximately uh $60,000 in police requests. We've got uh school requests for boiler repairs.

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And we've got various uh requests for articles from the fire department that we're going to have to meet with the chief to determine the funding sources. Mhm. So, I think we're ahead of things as far as

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the warrant goes than we've been in the past. But, we are not ahead of things as far as the operating budget goes. Right. And I would I would caution the board numbers and and Mr. La Montaine about the free

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cash number that you put out there because the snow and ice deficit is astronomical this year. Mhm. So, we got a lot of interdepartmental budgeting that we need to discuss. I'm sure that you, myself, and Mr. La Montaine are going to get together over the next week or so and

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discuss budgets. And we can also have that conversation of where we're at. What I'm anticipating, gentlemen, that we may have to do a spending freeze um sooner rather than later. Yeah, we're we're looking at deficits,

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rough figures that could be as much between ice and snow and some overtime of half a million dollars. It's not a not a pretty picture. Right. So, that's why I would like to get together with Mr. Kelly and Mr. La Montaine before the

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next meeting and we can have that conversation and really try to figure out where where we really are at with that so that if the board needs to implement a spending freeze, that's what we need to do. That's what we need to do. But, if not, we're eating up free cash

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just covering this year's fiscal year's spending. We do It's not a good scenario to be in. We do have some departmental money and as I said, we have some free cash, but it's a fluid situation. Sure is. And uh

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then the operating budget for fiscal year '27, I've talked to the board about revenue estimates and they're approximately $970,000 increase in revenues, but in discussions, that can could change.

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As you know, I've been conservative in my revenue estimates in the past. I'm looking at departmental increases excluding the schools of $1,345,000 increase.

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Uh Old Colony has come in with an increase of 410102. And we're waiting for the Acushnet schools, which will come in tomorrow. That's the preliminary. Okay.

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Uh I have a pencil sharpener for Old Colony upstairs in the office. We'll send them that. I uh uh I will be going to the meeting tomorrow night. I will be carrying the message as far as

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uh the financial uh issues that are going on and uh I am very sure that we will be

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looking at a number of the town budgets as well as the school budgets and decreasing the amounts requested because as you know, we have to go to town meeting with a balanced budget.

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>> Of course. And as Mr. Gaspar said in the past, we'll be rolling quarters, but I think this year we'll be rolling dimes, nickels, and even though they don't use it, pennies.

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It's um it's not a good situation, right? And and it's not just in Acushnet as a municipality that that's under this, right? Expenses have grown up at too fast of a rate versus revenue. It's uh and like you said, you're

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looking at some of the neighboring communities that are have it deficit and override requests of multi-million dollars. And it's to the uh

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credit of this board that you have controlled spending in the past and the town meeting has listened to this board and you're not in the financial problem that these other communities are in.

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Well, thank you for that. We try always getting more difficult every year, right? Right. I I I I don't get some of some people's requests for the amount of money that they're looking for when they know every year I say the same thing over and over

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and over. What the town gets in in revenue versus what your ask is, the two sides are lopsided and then we're left with nothing for the rest of the town plus all our fixed costs. I mean, normally we're talking $850,000

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in revenue for budgetary reasons and I'm looking at the schools' request at $1.2 $1.3 million. What's wrong with that math right off the top? Doesn't balance. The problem is you've got proposition 2

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1/2 with very little new growth is 2/3 of your revenue. You've got a state aid that does not increase over 1 and 1/2% in the best of years.

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So, you're relying primarily on your increases on town revenues. Mhm. I got it. We get it. Why can't everybody else get it? That's the question of the day. So, this

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is the beginning of the discussion. Thank you for that update, gentlemen. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. >> Any questions? At the end of the meeting, Pauline is going to show you distribute the

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CPC historical requests that we've already discussed with the CPC and they've been open to them. So, that way it'll be on your agenda when you know what's coming in.

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Okay. Very good. Excellent. All right. And so, we do have for the warrant articles, um we do have the citizens petition. We've discussed this a couple of different times. Mr. La Montaine came in

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at our last meeting and let us know that the signatures have been certified for it to be on the town warrant. Um so, at that point, I would be making looking for a motion to approve the two articles for the citizens petition on town

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meeting warrant as presented. So moved. Second. All those in favor? >> Aye. Motion passes. I would also suggest to whoever's going to prepare the warrant, Mr. Kelly, and Adam La Montaine, that I would suggest that the exemption of municipal

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buildings from prohibited areas is first. So that the second one for the signage of the first one passes, there's no need for the second one. The way it's sitting inside the book right now. Opposite. So I just want to bring that to the board's

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everybody's attention that when you place them just simply just putting prohibited areas first. And then if that passes, we can make a motion to table the second one. Cuz there's no need for it. I believe

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that's how we put it in the draft. Okay. Just figured I'd mention it. All right. So there was a motion, it was second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. And then anything else, Mr. LaMoutain or Mr.

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Kelly on the warrant operating budget of warrant articles before I move on? No, sir. We're we'll continue working on it. We received all the quite a few of requests cuz we sent out the notice to all the departments as a reminder the selectmen voted to close it on that particular

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date. So I believe we pretty much have all of them. Mr. Kelly and I will be meeting with some departments and we'll be going over the budget as well. So Yeah, I think [snorts] that's >> [clears throat] >> that's the most important discussion is where we stand financially before we

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start approving warrant articles from free cash that we might not have funding for, right? So I think that's the critical part of the equation. But we can we'll balance that out. All right, gentlemen, any questions on the warrant operating budget of warrant articles before I leave that topic?

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No, sir. Nope. All right. So I guess it was the other day last Monday or whatever it was Mr. Wonacott called the office, got a heads-up from Senator Montigny's office

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and it just said it was April 6th. Good morning, on behalf of Senator Montigny, I am contacting you regarding the supplemental budget that the Senate will take up on Thursday, April 9th. Education and transportation funds generated from the fish sheet tax will be available to assist local

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municipalities with projects. If this is of interest to your town, please email a requested education and or transportation projects valued up to $200,000 by 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. So to credit to Mr.

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Wonacott, Selectman Wonacott, he got on the phone with Mr. LaMoutain and said, "Let's figure this out. Let's put in a request." I had a quick conversation with Mr. LaMoutain. Um it was kind of suggested that we looked at Slocum Street where we are getting good amount of funding and I

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didn't want to try to balance that out as what we already put in to be credited from the million dollars that we should be getting from the old transportation bond bill from 2014 that we worked on. Miss Velasquez is in the back there, our assistant town accountant with Mr. Kelly

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and State Rep Mark Silvia and myself. But Mr. Wonacott, if you want to get into a little detail on kind of how this what happened and you know, kudos to you for getting on the horn and kind of forcing us to say, "Hey, hurry up,

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figure something out." And we did. Well, I think that's the story, but I think really what it is is coming you know, the what's what the town needs from an infrastructure standpoint. Even though Adam was on the job for less than a minute, understood how to get that moving and

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you know, we've I think that's just how the stuff works. Sometimes it's it's not visible to the naked eye, right? Stuff goes on behind the scenes and in this business you got to move quickly. You got to stay on top of things and I think that's the you know, that's sort of the message

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there is being able to to pivot and work quickly is really what this is all about. And so glad to see that the senator was able to advocate for us and you know, in talking with with Senator Montigny he's usually very cautiously optimistic

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when it comes to things like this. But he was he's very confident that we'll receive the $150,000 with no strings attached as a straight earmark for the town. So good stuff. So with that said, I would I would let the people know

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that obviously over the past couple years MassDOT redid Hamlin Street Bridge. Um and everybody knows and we have Miss Pauline Teixeira here today that lives on Hamlin Street. So she's she can speak first hand on how bad that road

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condition is and has been for a number of years. So I I kind of just let Adam LaMoutain know, "Look, I I don't want to get involved with the Slocum Street again. It's there's there's not enough hours in this day to get something in. So go after money for Hamlin Street." Um and that's what the board you know,

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through Adam LaMoutain decided, "Yeah, great. Let's do it at the last minute." Um and as Mr. Wonacott said, um Senator Montigny, it's looking like we're going to get $150,000 to for reclamation and paving of Hamlin Street this year.

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So It takes it it's a it's it takes a good chunk of the burden off the Chapter 90 money. Um so I was delightful that Mr. LaMoutain passed that through an email quick and off and a message got through and we were able to secure that funding. So

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um it is a big project cuz we're going to reclaim the whole road kind of like what happened on Mendel Road and what we've been doing on other small side streets where you just have you can't mill it, you have to reclaim it. Um so it's probably close to a $650,000 project nowadays.

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Um so with this 150, it'll bring down some of that, provide some relief for us and afford us the ability to go after some of the other roads that desperately need to be done as well. So kudos to Mr. Wonacott, Senator Montigny and I want to thank Adam LaMoutain for

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getting that email out expeditiously. All right. Nothing else said, I'll go to selectmen's announcements. Mr. Chairman, if I may. You may. Um as some of you might have noticed, the tree that we planted in Mr. Fredette's

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memory, Norman Fredette's memory, snapped off because of the snow. Um I [snorts] jumped on it just to kind of facilitate and get the ball rolling cuz I would I was going to ask if you guys mind if I kind of spearheaded it just to get it replaced

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cuz I think Norman meant a lot to this town and everybody in this room. Um and I asked Mr. Tripp to inquire about a price and the type of tree that it was and replace it. And about an hour after there's already a replacement tree in our garage. Roseland

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actually gave us the tree at half off because of what happened with it. And I know it's a little faster than it was supposed to happen. But if you guys would give me your blessing um 100%. I would I would like to have that follow through and replace the Brooklyn

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Street in honor of Mr. Norman Fredette. 100%. Yeah, I think that's great. That's excellent stuff. Perfect. And Mr. Chairman, if I could have one more. Sure. Um I would like to thank Selectman Wonacott for

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giving me four years of knowledge, friendship and sometimes some ribbing. And uh I I took it in stride and I learned a lot from you. And I want to say thank you for all you've done for this town. I appreciate that. Mr. Chairman, if I could

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Um I've done [clears throat] a goodbye before you know, 10 years ago. But this one really is is much different. Um You know, for the last six years I've had the the benefit of working with some really great people. And when you do something

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differently or another time, you get become and you get older, you get much more introspective and reflective on the gift of public service. And so for that um I'll just say you know, Jamie Kelly's in the audience. Jamie, it's been great to

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getting to know you and and learn from you. Uh Bob uh really have loved working with you. What I love about you is you've humanized the job. You know, you know, just really enjoyed that experience and getting to know you in

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that regard. Uh Kevin, you we've been at this for a long time and I consider you a brother. I'm an only child, right? I've just probably I've spent more time with you in some way other than other than my wife, right? And so um what I'm most proud of, I think for all of us,

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and we've had our disagreements and at sometimes it's you know, it's it's cool to say, "Wow, we disagreed, right?" And that's a big thing in politics or these days like how people brag about how they disagree. But what I'm most proud of is how much we've actually agreed on. Right? And then the

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times we've disagreed um we forgive and we forget. Correct. And so that's been what this last chapter's been about. And so I'm very appreciative, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. So it has been my distinct honor and

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privilege to serve with you for so many years on the board. And we just we decided we'd make you a little gift of memory here. So what we did is we created a little certificate of excellence. It says, "This certifies that David E. Wonacott showed a legacy of leadership and community dedication

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to the town of Acushnet as a member of the Board of Selectmen." Given on this day, April 14th in the year 2026. With Mr. England and myself signature. Thank you. THANKS AGAIN, GUYS. >> [applause] >> THAT'S REALLY KIND OF YOU GUYS. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT.

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SO IF YOU want to read my agenda now, you can on what I wrote inside. >> [laughter] >> Selectmen's announcements. There we go. New citation for David Boyd. Thank you. Yes. [snorts] So, good news is is you're not going anywhere and I know where you live and you know, we'll always be

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friends, my friend. >> Yeah, no, I appreciate that. >> That's what it's all about. >> Yep. So, with that said, there's no other business, Mr. La Mountaine. Do you have anything under um town administrator's report? At this point, I'm just meeting with all

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the departments one-on-one. I should be finishing up be there tomorrow. I think my last one and I'll be going out to I already have the golf course scheduled. I'm going to be meeting with Mr. Menard with the department of public works. So, it's really getting used to figuring out the whole structure and

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understanding how we can make improvements and efficiencies for the best of the town. >> [cough] >> Thank you and the board for your support and confidence and I look forward to continuing working with you and we'll go over the agenda, I guess, soon before you know it so we set the agenda you set the agenda by statute and

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we'll move on to the next meeting, I guess, April 29th, 2020. Yeah, so so unless there's something that comes up that's that's needed actions needed by the board. I have haven't had a conversation with Mr. Resendes and he would prefer and I I

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think it would work better for my my family's schedule to go to Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. If that's okay with you. I know they were supposed to reach out to you and talk to you about that. >> They did and I am okay with that. So, we'll try that schedule out and see how that works out and if we need to modify

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it moving forward, we can do that as well. I've always been open to accommodating my schedule for board members. So, You did it for me. That was nice. Um Do it for her. Are we are we going to do a meeting on the 29th for sure? The day after the election? Yes, sir.

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Okay. I've already talked to Ms. LeBonny and make sure that the the votes will be certified for Wednesday so she can come 10 minutes, 15 minutes before the meeting to swear in Mr. Resendes as long as he wins the election. One vote?

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>> [laughter] >> So, yeah, I'm glad you said that. I just want to say a couple of things. One to Adam. Um I I I feel incredibly um at ease and comfortable moving on to become a private citizen. You know, I've gotten to know Adam

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for the last few weeks and I think, you know, when we were going through that search, through the search process, the the the preeminent thing that I was looking for was somebody who is part of the town, who lives in the town, who's going to be here. Um and Adam, you've checked that box.

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You you've you've moved to Acushnet, right? Like that's that's outstanding. Um and to Ryan Resendes, who's the presumed successor. Um you know, I've gotten to know Ryan over the last several years and I think he's going to do a fantastic job. He's got, you know, a great combination of uh

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understanding the issues and detail, being detail-oriented. And I think the three of you gentlemen will work really well together with Adam. Um so, I'm super excited to be a private citizen, not because of the private part of it, but just to really watch you guys in action. I think it's going to be a a

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real outstanding outstanding team and a force of nature. So, best of luck to you, Adam, and to your family. Welcome to Acushnet and to Ryan, best of luck to you uh when you assume the seat. I have my pickleball racket ready for Ryan if he causes any disruption. I think you'll do a fantastic job.

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All right, with nothing else being said, is there a motion to adjourn the selectmen's meeting? So moved. Would you like to hear about the CPC application? Just give them to them so they can review them. All right, cuz these are my copies. Is there a second? Second. All those in

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favor? Aye. We are now adjourned. >> [music] [music]