Select Board Meeting — January 7, 2026

Okay, welcome everybody to the select board meeting, Wednesday, January 7th, 2026, 6:00 PM in the meeting room at the Town Hall, 100 Peck Street.

Mass General Law Chapter 38, subsection 20F requires any person recording must notify chairman at the beginning of the meeting.

Anybody?

Seeing none, all select board meetings are recorded via audio and video.

I call the meeting— regular meeting to order at 6 PM.

We'll have the Pledge of Allegiance, a moment of silence.

I pledge 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.

Could someone read the board and committee openings, please?

I'll do that, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Okay, volunteers are needed on the Capital Improvement Committee.

4 Board of Selectmen and 3 moderator appointments.

Commission on Disability, 8 Board of Selectmen appointments.

Cultural Council, 1 Board of Selectmen appointment.

Economic Development Committee, 5 Board of Selectmen appointments.

Energy Committee, 3 Board of Selectmen.

Finance Committee, 1 moderator.

Historical Commission, 3 Board of Selectmen appointments.

Recycling Committee has 1 open Board of Selectmen appointment.

And the Zoning Board of Appeals, 1 alternate.

And you can find the Um, talent bank form online.

Thank you very much.

Priority matters: recognition of Everett Santagata on the occasion of his retirement after 25 years of service with the town.

Everett will not be here, but I'm hoping that he's watching us because there's a proclamation from the town of Seekonk, Mass., in recognition of Everett Santagata.

Whereas Everett began his career with the town of Seekonk on October 2nd, 2000, and whereas Everett served as a custodian for the Town Hall from 2007 to 2011 and as a custodian for the Department of Public Works, providing exceptional care and service, and whereas Everett is retiring from his position as custodian, concluding 25 years of dedicated service to the town, and whereas throughout his career Everett has constantly demonstrated professionalism, punctuality, diligence, and a remarkable work ethic, And whereas Everett's attention to detail ensured that the spaces he cared for were always spotless, creating a welcoming and safe environment for all.

And whereas Everett's kindness, warm heart, and generosity of spirit have touched the lives of his colleagues, friends, and residents, making him a beloved member of the town of Seekonk.

And whereas, on behalf of his colleagues, friends, families, and the residents of Seekonk, we recognize Everett's unwavering commitment, dedication, and exemplary service to the town.

Now therefore, be it resolved on this 7th day of January, 2026, that the town administrator and the select board extend their deepest gratitude and best wishes to Everett on the occasion of his retirement, honoring his extraordinary contributions and wishing him happiness, health, and fulfillment in the years ahead.

Do you have something to say?

Yeah, I just want to be here on Everett's behalf.

Um, Everett unfortunately had, uh, come down with pneumonia on Friday.

He called me on Friday to let me know, and then was in the hospital Saturday for one day, got released back home, and ended up with the flu, with the new strain of the flu.

So he retired on the 31st at 94 years old, turned 95 on January 1st, and ended up with pneumonia and the flu.

But whether he's watching tonight or not, I told him I would stop by next week and I can present him with Well, you also have a town of Seekonk seal and a key to the town for him also.

That's great.

Okay, and I can tell you he is a very dedicated employee.

I can only remember 2 occasions when Everett did not come into work.

On both those occasions, it was because of snow, and he called me and told me that he'd be willing to come in if I could pick him up to bring him in.

Anyway, thank you.

I'm sure everyone will appreciate this.

Did Chris sign that?

Yeah, he did.

And I'm sure he'll— although, no, he always tunes into the meeting after the fact as well.

Yes.

Okay.

Thanks, Steve.

Accept the resignation of Kathleen Hibbert from her position as the Seekonk Library Director as of the end of February, I believe.

Can I get a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Chris and Michael.

Any questions from anyone?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous.

Good luck to you.

Accept the resignation of Melissa Zasowski from her position as a communications dispatcher, which was effective December 20th.

So moved.

Second.

Any questions?

Seeing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous.

Good luck to you, Melissa.

I know.

Okay, sorry.

Accept the resignation of firefighter Hayden Gallagher from the Seekonk Fire Department effective immediately.

So moved.

Second.

Any questions?

Seeing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous vote to continue to endorse Save the Pet Society.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, I got a motion and a second.

Any questions?

No.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous.

Vote to allow the town administrator to accept gifts, monetary and tangible, donated by Save a Pet to the Seekonk Animal Shelter during the year 2026.

So moved.

Second.

Any questions?

Seeing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous.

Community Speaks.

Wait, Kristen, come on.

That's okay, you get up faster than she did, so one step at a time.

All right, that's on.

Great.

Uh, hi, my name is Chris Rizzo, 305 Pleasant Street, um, and I'd like to chat about firefighter, uh, staffing.

Um, so last year in the spring town meeting, I voted for the South End fire station because it was pretty obvious to me from, uh, the town administrator had mentioned a report we had had that we were going to have a lot of development potentially in the, in the South End.

And for me, it was a question of when, not if, we would need a South End fire station.

So I voted for it.

And then we had the awful events in Fall River, which I dove into a little bit more around staffing and levels and what that looks like, and figured out that we, with current staffing levels, have a minimum staffing of 6.

And if that spread out over 3 stations, that to me became what I would consider pretty, pretty dangerous.

But in September when that came up, one of the members of this body brought up that they were committed to making sure that we did have staffing to do that.

So I said, okay, I'll vote for it again.

And I'm kind of wondering after the Quad Board meeting and what we're looking at for how tight this budget is going to be, where we're going to end up standing with that, because I don't know that we're going to have enough dollars to go around.

At the end of the day, the math has to add up.

Right.

And I'm hoping that we get to a point at somewhere where we can figure out what that looks like, whether it be alternate funding mechanisms or whatever.

But of the ones that I can think of, they all require one shot.

So we got to get it right.

And I'm hoping at some point to see this body discuss what that staffing level looks like.

Well, we can still take the momentum because politicians who are smarter than me have said that unfortunately tragedies are sometimes the only thing that get us to move.

So I'm hoping that at some point we're going to have that discussion because I don't want to see any point where we need that south end station, it's built, and then some bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 24-year-old gets hurt.

And I wish I could say my concerns were overblown, but I've been there too.

And that's not a scenario that I'd like to see happening and certainly one that I'm hoping that we can avoid.

So I look forward to at some point, whether it be in the budget cycle or otherwise, you delving into that further.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your concerns.

Kristen.

Make yourself comfortable, Kristen.

Kristen LaRue, 11 Winter Drive.

For those that don't know me, I am the town clerk.

Thank you for letting me speak tonight.

I just want to give you a couple of updates and the residents updates because we have a lot of deadlines coming up.

And as you know, the annual town election will be held on April 6th, and we have a few positions open: Board of Assessors, Board of Library Trustees, and Planning Board, School Committee, Board of Selectmen, Town Clerk, Town Moderator, and Water Commission.

Nominations are— papers are available to be picked up now.

Last date to submit them is February 14th.

If you are not a registered voter, the last day to register to vote is March 27th.

And if you are an absentee or request a mail-in ballot, these requests must be done in writing yearly.

Board and committee update.

As Mrs. Posey read tonight, there are a lot of openings.

We all know that.

We've been told by residents in my office some people don't want to commit to volunteering in town because they don't want to be publicly embarrassed online or in person.

I know we as a town and those who run on committee or have boards and committees We just want to let the volunteers know that you do matter.

The community— it is important for you to serve your community, and you are needed.

For what it's worth, we thank you.

I Voted sticker contest— the deadline to submit entries to the town clerk's office is January 14th.

Annual town census will be mailed on January 22nd, so everybody in the mailbox should have them by the end of January.

Many times we are told or asked why the census is important, and this— completing the census gives us an accurate count of residents.

The information we collect is used to prove residency, update voter rolls, veterans benefits, birth records, help predict future school enrollment, establish precinct lines, and may qualify us for state and federal funding.

This year in the census envelope, you will also receive a 2-sided information sheet.

One side provides information on how to renew dog licenses, and the other side we try to include events that we know that is happening in Seaconch 2026.

So hopefully people don't say we don't know.

Town Clerk and Animal Control offices are now online.

If you have a fowl, dog license, or kennel license, you can now go online at the Seaconch website Go to animal control page and you can choose which license you would like to renew or apply for.

Anyone who applied for a dog license after this past April, you can actually renew it, but all other people will have to apply online for the dog license.

Dog tags do expire on March 31st.

All dogs over the age of 6 months shall be licensed.

Proof of current rabies vaccination must be uploaded at the time of registration.

We do understand that people do— are uncomfortable sometimes with change, and if they have any difficulty uploading applications or completing the uploading of the rabies vaccination, we have a kiosk outside our office.

And just come in, we will walk you through the process.

But this is happening because it improves faster processing times.

It's quick and easy payments.

We'll email you your reminders so you don't forget, and we can print licenses quickly.

And also, if you're at home, you— if your dog goes to daycare or border boarding, you can print your license right from home and bring it in and without a delay, especially if it's on a weekend.

Also, I want to talk about communications.

Often we're told that we don't— people don't know what is happening in town.

If you go to the website, you can click on How Do I tab on the right-hand side of the front page.

You can sign up for alerts, which will give you important announcements regarding closures, etc.

Notifications will provide you meeting agendas and newsletters.

So just plug in your email address, you will get the agendas you need.

You will be notified.

Also meet meeting minutes on Facebook and Instagram.

We have pages under the Town of Seekonk.

And all information that is shared with you tonight is in the Seekonk Reporter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming in.

Well, staying over, I should say.

Sir, please.

Robert Archambault, 17 Towering Ham Road, Seekonk.

I wanted to bring up a topic, um, that I'm very concerned with.

It was a meeting last night for the Medeiros Farm Committee.

Um, as you all know, it's been a little contentious trying to meet the demands of a very large project with a master plan matched up with the neighbors to try to make it— to make it all work.

Um, what bothered me last night, and I lost a lot of sleep over it, believe it or not, is I think the minutes were wholly inaccurate.

And I, I say that with reservation because it's— as a taxpayer and someone who's put a lot of effort into it, and the people on the committee who put tons of effort and time into it, I do not say that lightly.

It did not reflect what happened at the meeting November 10th at 6:00 PM in the classroom at the high school.

And I'll also point to some inaccuracies with the meeting we had with several of the neighbors, several of the Madeira Farm committee members, with the town administrator here in this room.

It was stated over and over last night, and trust me, I have a phenomenal memory and I take copious notes of everything I do and I redo them.

I'm not saying— I'm not here to debate what everyone else was saying last night, but I will say I find it very inaccurate.

And when I canvassed the people that I'd worked with in the neighborhood to try to put it together to see if I had missed anything, I had not.

What was being told last night was from the town administrator and the Medeiros Farm Committee that the residents, the neighbors that abut and had interest in modifying the project, had agreed and entered into a deal to rescind Articles 26 and 27 from town meeting November 10th in lieu of taking active fields off of Lincoln and Elm.

Those articles that were timestamped at 9:57 AM on October 9th were never mentioned in any of these meetings, especially with the town administrator.

He asked us, what do we need to do to make this work?

And we said, if you take the active fields off that piece, give us some spacing in the back from the abutters, from the, from the the active trails, that would work.

It was never, never mentioned, Mr.

Administrator, at that meeting with you that we would rescind those articles at that point.

Going— and these 2 meetings tie in together because they're gonna have ramifications going forward.

There's no doubt it could be financial ramifications to the town, to all the taxpayers.

Whether it be legal, um, delayed of project, inflated costs through the delays.

At the town meeting, the meeting at 6 PM, Medeiros Farm Committee at the high school, the classroom, we understood— and I have an email from you, Sean— that there would be no MOU.

That wasn't appropriate or protocol.

But we had your commitment that you had the backing of the Medeiros Farm Committee.

I have that in writing.

I think you remember it.

That's why you had that meeting with us, that you had their backing, but they would have the final vote.

When we arrived in that classroom, it was clear, and you admitted it, that they— you did not have their backing.

And you said— you got up, you said, I'm a little confused what's going on here.

I thought we understood this.

And they said, no, we want to vote on it.

And they voted 5 to 2.

The articles were never brought up prior to that vote.

When that vote took place, Mr. Tosino turned to Mr. Gazarian and, and said, so you're rescinding the articles?

And he said, well, I'd like to speak to the other 40, 50 neighbors that are here about it because they're all part of this.

And he got very emotional, very upset, and stormed out of the meeting.

It was never ever part of the deal that we would rescind those those articles if those fields, active fields, were taken off that corner.

If it was, I wouldn't sit up here and lie.

I have too much respect for myself and all of you.

But it was very disingenuous last night that we had several committee meeting, uh, committee members— not all of them, several— and you, Mr.

Administrator, that stuck to that line that you agreed to this and we were duped.

We weren't there to dupe anybody.

Absolutely not.

But the town deserves better, and there was dishonesty last night in that meeting, and many of us are very upset about it.

How did the meeting end, sir?

When did it end?

How did it end last night?

Yeah, it, it ended, ended calmly.

There was really— no, no, no.

Um, was there any decision made or anything?

Because I'll tell you, from what I understood, from what people told me, because I can tell you I did not see it But what I was told today is that at the end of the meeting, they've decided to kick the ball over to us, basically, that the committee wasn't going to make any decision.

They were going to pass it over to the select board and have us make the decision.

That, that you're accurate.

That is, that is correct.

But it left people with a bad taste on that— well, the committee, I mean, it just left it where We were screwed.

We got duped.

You tricked us.

No one was there to trick anybody.

Weren't pulling the rug out from anybody.

But it all happened very fast, and that meeting that started at 6 o'clock was ending right before 7, and everybody's going out, and it was a lot of emotion going on, and a lot of neighbors weren't in tune with exactly what was going on.

But those minutes of that meeting did not reflect I'm sorry, and that's a shame that that happens here in this town.

That should never happen.

There's a minority report that was drawn up last night, as you know.

There's no way that was accurate.

And I'm not going to come out and tell people they're liars.

I'm just saying it's inaccurate.

I'll try to be nice about it.

It was wrong what happened last night.

We need honesty here in this town.

That was not honest what happened last night, trying to brand those Davis people hucksters, doobsters.

Trying to trick people.

We weren't trying to do that.

That was someone with an agenda trying to work their way in and say, see what they did to you?

So let's go do it to them.

Let's reverse this whole thing.

I know it's been kicked down the road and it's going to go to the selectmen to sit in a meeting.

And what I'm saying, is that going to change anything?

I don't know.

But it was just flat out wrong what happened.

We need honesty here.

And, and if you can't have accurate minutes to a meeting and things are made up to what really happened, where are we?

How do we move forward from that?

You know, the old, the old saying, right?

You know, it's not that you lied to me, it's that I can no longer trust you.

This is the problem.

It's not just one lie, it's trust down the road.

We all want to have a good feeling that our tax dollars mean something here and people are being honest.

That are working with the best intentions of the town, and that clearly was not the case last night.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Um, I can honestly tell you that when I went to the town meeting, I was under the impression too that those articles were going to be postponed, and then when they weren't— but unfortunately, with everything that happened, they were not, not postponed.

They were voted on and they were voted against.

Yeah, which is fine because things happen, so you got to go on.

I understand, I understand that, right?

Um, I don't think— as far as to say that possibly it was almost implied that if the vote went this particular way and made the neighbors not so much whole but worked with them to the point where it's a good compromise, it may have been in some people's minds that it was implied.

But that's not what was said last night.

It was said that you told us you'd rescind.

Never ever mentioned in either meeting.

Only Jim Tosino saying— Troiano.

Troiano.

Troiano.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

We have a Jim Tosino too.

Yeah.

So I don't know how you move forward on this.

Well, we're going to move forward.

Don't worry about that.

We will move forward on it.

I understand what you're saying and the frustration that you must have.

Like I said, my impression was at the end of— no, not my impression.

What I was told was that at the end of the meeting that the committee decided they weren't going to make a decision and they were going to kick it over to us.

Why that?

Whatever happens, whatever.

I am not even going to— I don't know.

We'll see what happens.

I don't agree with that only because a committee's formed.

To do just that.

I get that.

Thank you.

And I respect the speaker before, before us.

And I don't have any issue.

The issue I take offense to is, again, my integrity has been questioned throughout this entire process, and I'm getting a little tired of it.

And I think we just need to agree to disagree because my recollection— and I'm not trying to call anybody a liar— and when I said duped, I said that's— I can understand how committee members feel.

And I use their words.

Not mine's, right, that when we have the conversation, we had an agreement, right, that we would remove the active recreation, passive recreation, and that that would solve 90% of the issues that we had, right?

Was, was that an agreement?

We, we agree with that?

We agree with that language.

Yes.

Okay.

So we, we have this discussion, and at the very end, Nate Sosha mentioned about coming together with some type of MOA, and I said that wasn't allowable.

When we finalized the meeting, whether folks— and I don't recall the folks were getting up at the time— Mr. Kazarian was sitting there with the attorney and he said, we will, if this is the agreement, we will remove those warrant articles.

That's what was said.

That was said.

Now, whether you heard it or not, then we're going to have to disagree.

But I vividly remember that conversation.

And that is the reason from my standpoint, I have never misled anybody.

I don't have a horse in this race.

And to the point that you and I had a conversation and I said, Right from the get-go, you have my commitment to try to minimize the quality of life issues.

At last night's meeting, there are a number of members who disagree with me, and I stood up and said that I still agree with the fact that we should minimize the quality of life on this project.

So if I was trying to dupe anybody, if I was trying to mislead anybody, if I was trying to create, uh, you know, some types of lies or not be truthful in any type of nature, why would I be saying that?

I still stand by the commitment that I have given you, that I think we should minimize the quality of life issues if we can at that location.

I've already gone above and beyond to try to tell you that I will go out to your, your yard, put the, uh, you know, the buffer zones that we need to do with additional vegetations, and I still stand to that commitment.

So, you know, I would just, I would just ask and hope that moving forward, if, if we just agree, uh, if we disagree on items, then let's just say we disagree, but But the fact to say that I'm trying to mislead people or I'm being disingenuous or lying, or— that's, that's not the case.

That's my recollection.

And I don't know why I would say that the warrant articles are going to be removed, because from day one, the warrant articles, as I said before at yesterday's meeting, did not provide the neighborhood with the safety net that you folks think you had.

It didn't, right?

So from my standpoint, I was still trying to minimize the quality of life.

No, and I can appreciate that, and I think that's, in my view, partially correct.

But the bigger point was that we were— the neighbors were made out to be, um, disingenuous, trying to trick people, that we got what we wanted and we still went after the Farm Committee, which, which really is not the case.

There was just too much activity going on at one time to rush into that meeting.

You know, look, looking back at it, could have been done differently.

Of course, hindsight's always 20/20, right?

It's always easy to go back.

And I don't disagree with you with the November 10th meeting.

The tone is what set it off, right?

The way it started off, it kicked off.

I've said it to, to members on this board that that's what, that's what drove that, that tension, because the atmosphere in there that we had when we left the, uh, the you know, I call the small group session, right, was complete, was, was fine, normal.

We go into there and it was, it was completely different.

I don't disagree with you, and I was feeling frustration at the same point, which is why I, I interjected and said, can we at least talk about what the compromises are?

And we stopped, we started listening.

I, I get the frustration from the neighbors.

You can see that would sow mistrust when they turn— it seemed like they were turning on you, like what you had told us didn't, didn't really count, right?

So, so I, I recognize that, but I, I just, I do take offense when, when people are saying that I'm lying or doing anything I have never done anything like that in this town.

Um, and I, and, and I'd ask board members, I mean, I, I'm consistent across the board.

I don't have, uh, issues telling people if I disagree with things.

And if, if I do something wrong, you know, I acknowledge it.

No, I know.

And I'm not saying I'm perfect by no means.

And we tell them too.

Yeah, no, I know it was early in the meeting with Sean when you made the statement yesterday that some people find you to be untruthful.

You just came out and said that about yourself.

No one said that about you.

You said some people find you to be untruthful.

I don't know you that well.

I didn't call you untruthful.

I'm just saying the content of what was going on there did not reflect the accuracy of what it was.

And, and sure, there's a group of you.

And at that night there, there were 45 of us in that room.

And people are not recounting what the other committee members were saying last night, that we said, will we send those articles?

Vote goes our way.

But I don't want to keep rehashing it.

No, I'll make my point.

Hopefully I did.

Thank you.

You did.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for coming.

Do you want to say something?

Yes, Madam Chair.

I, I was not here.

I watched the meeting from home, and I would encourage everybody, this board and everybody in the town, because at the beginning of the meeting the chairman was not going to allow any public input.

And then he did at the end.

And it's the first time that I think the neighborhood has been properly heard from, and I thought that they were very credible.

All right, at the end, it was almost like certain members of the committee wanted to— there was an effort to rescind the vote.

All right, it was almost going to be done to be punitive towards them, and they ought to read the charter and Robert's Rules of Order.

Because if you're going to reconsider a vote from a previous meeting, it has to be the first order of business, and it has to be initiated by somebody that voted on the prevailing side.

They had neither.

So in the end, they came up with a big scheme that they were going to take— and I should say scheme— a plan that the chairman of that committee and the vice chairman, along with Mr. Gadeem, would meet with the chairman of the Board of Selectmen and the vice chairman and hash out the issues that concerning Medeiros Farm.

Well, I am totally, 100%, vehemently opposed to that.

Why then?

Why?

Why?

No, that hope— that the best thing that happened last night was finally that was put on cable TV for the whole town to see.

And you're right, there was members of that committee that were arguing about what the minutes from previous meetings is.

The beauty of having it on video is, is, you know, And then the champ— the representative of this board asked if he could attend the meeting, the select meeting, and was it going to be open to the public.

And I said no, I, I'm yelling at the TV, no, because no, I mean, the best thing that— let's face it, let's call it what it is— that project's been going on for 5 years and the town has allocated $3 million.

And if you looked at that meeting last night it took on a circus format.

That's a shame.

Well, it is.

And the only way it's going to get fixed, to me, if they want to have a meeting, is with this board, the committee, and open to the public, and hash it all out once and for all.

Well, we'll see what they say, because that's— if that's going to happen, that's fine with me.

I mean, I— whatever.

And we'll get the facts, and we're not going to get any screaming, because That's good, and we'll figure it out.

If they're not gonna— if the committee's not— I don't know why they'd want to be on the committee if they're not going to make a decision about stuff.

And remember that in the end, it goes to town meeting and they decide.

So, but if they want to come in and see us, I'm not going to refuse that.

As far as I'm talking about the Medeiros Farm Committee, the whole board Yeah, joint meeting.

Try meeting.

Joint meeting.

Joint meeting.

Joint meeting.

Maybe I don't hear so well.

Yeah, if that's what they want, that's fine.

Got to contact the town administrator's office and we'll go from there.

Anybody else from the community?

I'm still thinking committee.

Sure, Chief.

Your community.

Good evening, Madam Chair.

Good evening, good evening, board.

Sean Whalen, Fire Chief.

I just wanted to announce an initiative the fire department is launching.

We're calling it our Bucket Brigade Salt for Seniors.

We are able to give 50 buckets of salt out to our community through a great partnership that we were able to line up with J&J Materials out of Rehoboth.

They gave us a very generous discount on the, the pallet of salt that we have available.

So I just wanted to announce it publicly.

We have some signage that are going to go up in Human Services, and we'll also put something up on the town's website hopefully very soon.

But we just were able to secure that salt, so I'm very excited about it.

I just want to get it out there now so we can go ahead and start distributing.

So how does that work?

So we have the first 50 people that apply to us— we only have 50 buckets to give out at this point.

It's a bucket of salt.

Yeah, we call it a bucket brigade, you know, fire department, but also it's a Home Depot bucket filled full of salt.

We're going to give that to all the residents that meet the criteria based on the flyer that we're going to pass out and the information that we have.

So I'm excited about it.

I think it's going to be a great thing and we'll deliver it right to the resident's home so they have it for the winter season.

Oh, you don't come over and salt the driveway?

No, but I just wanted to put that out publicly before actually the, uh, the program and the flyers get out so you guys know about it and everybody on the TV knows about it as well.

But, uh, so you will see that very shortly.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I think it'd be apropos for a firefighter to come over and show us how to throw the salt all over the driveway.

I'm sure there's a lot of seniors, including me, who would not argue with that.

Oh, anybody else?

Nope.

Okay, general business.

Discussion of an Open Meeting Law complaint filed against the select board by Dorian Taylor dated December 23rd, 2025, received on December 23rd, 2025.

Acknowledge receipt of complaint, review and discuss response, and authorize submission of response by town council Votes may be taken.

Okay, the description of alleged violation is from August 4th, let's see, 2021 to June 22nd, 2022.

There are a minimum of 6 executive session meetings held, chaired by Justin Sullivan.

The discussion centered around the purchase of farmland real estate in the amount of $2 million.

The owners of the property were not present for negotiating purposes.

Topics discussed during these sessions were as follows: information for field use, naming the athletic fields, preserving buildings for 30 years, parking spaces, ADA compliance, field rentals, using community preservation monies for turf fields, field lighting, meeting with the neighbors, curfews, designing fields and parking spots, and questions surrounding adding more fields if needed.

After reviewing 29 files of agendas and minutes, including executive session, it is discovered that there were no discussions or votes in open session taken to assign the purchase negotiations to the CPC chairman according to the SEACOC Administrative Policy Number 14 for purchasing real estate responsibility belongs to the Board of Selectmen or its designee to waive the acceptance of 2 property appraisals in lieu of 1 as required by SEACONC Administration Policy Number 14.

CPC has an application process to request funding.

There is no vote discussed or taken by the Board of Selectmen to do this.

The $2 million application was submitted by Conservation Excuse me, submitted by Conservation, not the executive board.

Attempts to bring these issues forward in open session with a discussion of my first open meeting law complaint were listed on the agenda by Chair Michelle Hines for 12/17/25.

There was no discussion except to say through town council in the ready-made letter there are no specifics somehow Town Council had a response before the board collectively had a discussion.

Town meeting approved the creation of the Munaris Farm Committee.

However, none of these volunteers were appointed according to Seekonk Town Bylaw Category 2A in an open session with a vote.

So that is the complaint.

We are all in receipt of the complaint.

Review and discuss if we want anything to discuss.

And I will admit that one of the spots here that mentions my name, I did not handle the last open meeting law violation probably correctly, and that is on me, and I admit to that.

But that's already gone by.

Um, anybody else have anything to— do you just want to add in what the corrective action she's looking for?

Okay, into the record, Madam Chair.

Okay, uh, this is what action do you want the public body to take in response to your complaint?

Until the Madero's Farm Committee is properly appointed according to the SEACOM bylaw Category 2A, spending money should be suspended.

Justin Sullivan, who held the position to manipulate manipulate this project from the start and continues today should resign from the Medeiros Farm Committee immediately due to his conflict of interest.

Board of Selectmen Christopher Zores should be sanctioned for his remarks in executive sessions as they were inappropriate.

Former Selectman David Andrade should not be allowed to serve on a governing board for a minimum of 4 election cycles.

Former Selectman Justin Sullivan should not be allowed to serve on a governing board for a minimum of 10 election cycles, the town administrator should be directed to create, present for approval, a clean policy for acquiring real estate going forward.

Okay.

So anybody besides me going to say anything?

We obviously have already discussed the Medeiros Farm Committee and what what was discussed last night, and we've already discussed that we probably will end up having a meeting with them when they request it, because that's the impression that I have.

Mr. Sullivan was appointed and reappointed, or not taken off, however you want to put it, for that committee.

I personally am not going to remove him.

I have no idea what Mr. Zari said, because he doesn't usually say stuff that's inappropriate, um, to limit somebody's governing board to serve on a governing board.

I would absolutely not agree with that because we— that's really up to the town if they decide not to elect them.

And I'm not putting stipulations on you can only work 3 or you can't read re— yeah, re-up to be elected on a committee, but you have to wait election cycles.

That is not something I'm going to do.

A clean policy, so we have one already.

Well, policies are always reviewed, so I'm not worried about that.

You have the KP's response.

Yes, we do.

Do we have any more review and discuss response discussions?

Anybody?

Okay, so now I have the response from KP Law.

Yeah.

Let's hold on.

Okay, so the response from this, uh, no, we are discussing this now.

No, we are discussing this now among the board.

Um, the response from KP Law: Please be advised that this office serves as town counsel to the town of Seekonk, the town select board, is in receipt of an Open Meeting Law complaint sent by Miss Doreen Taylor and received by the town on December 23rd.

I read you the complaint.

There's a complaint attached to this.

On January 7th, the board met at properly posted meeting notice for such purposes to discuss the complaint and consider its response.

Board members had all been provided the complaint as well as Town Council's draft proposed response.

Both of which were read into the record by the board chair, and the board then authorized this office to submit a response on its behalf.

In accordance with General Law Chapter 30A, subsection 23, and 940 CMR 29.055, the board's within response to the complaint is based on information provided by the town.

As an initial matter, it must be noted that the December 23rd complaint continues Ms. Taylor's issues with certain board matters occurring between August 4th, 2021 and June 22nd, 2022.

Even if, if these matters involved alleged open meeting law violations, which they do not, a complaint must be received by the subject board within 30 days of the alleged violation.

Moreover, some of these same issues were also the subject of Miss Taylor's complaint received December 8th, 2025, to which the board responded by letter dated December 19th, 2025.

Rather than repeat the subjects of that complaint, the board's December 19th response, which was filed with the division, is enclosed with in.

The only open meeting law issue in the current complaint involves the board's December 17th meeting, at which Ms. Taylor's prior complaint and the response to it were reviewed and approved.

First, Ms. Taylor complains that the board only read her December 8th, 2025 complaint into the record but not her accompanying letter.

In fact, the board chair read the entire entry in the description of alleged violation section of the form into the record, as well as the entire proposed response from town council.

This firm frequently provides draft proposed responses to our municipal client boards, which they generally approve as is or revise before approval.

The board was not obligated to read Miss Taylor's letter into the record, nor was it required to engage in a detailed discussion of either the December 8th complaint or the response, and the board's actions on December 17th fully comply with the law.

See OML 2024-127.

Therefore, proper procedure required that the committee review the complaint before an individual such as the chair or legal counsel responded on its behalf.

See OML 2017-132, OML 2012- -95, OML 2011-6, OML being Open Meeting Law.

Once a public body has reviewed a complaint during a meeting, its discussion— its discussion to simply refer the complaint rather than discuss its substance is the public body's prerogative.

See Open Meeting Law 2019-40, Open Meeting Law 2017-96.

In addition, forwarding a complaint to legal counsel prior to a meeting does not violate the law as long as the public body reviews the complaint and any draft response during the meeting, approves the draft response during that meeting, and then either decides to send the response itself or authorizes legal counsel to send the response.

See Open Meeting Law 2018-134.

As it's December 17th, 20— at its December 17th, 2025 meeting, the board did not just review the prior complaint and Town Council's proposed response, but in fact read both out loud into the record before voting to authorize Town Council to file the response with the division.

The board's December 17th meeting may be reviewed at the following link.

Oh, I'm not reading that.

But it's on Cable 9.

With Ms. Taylor's complaint and the response reviewed between 1:14:35 and 1— what's that, 1 minute 14— 1 hour?

Okay, 1 hour 14 minutes 35 seconds and 1 hour 24 minutes and 30 seconds.

In summary, the board's actions on December 17th, 2025, in reviewing and responding to Ms. Taylor's December 8th complaint fully complied with General Law Chapter 30A, subsection 23B, and 940 CMR 29.055.

The balance of the December 23rd complaint concerns matters outside the Open Meeting Law and need not be considered.

It is well established that the division does not review allegations— alleged violations of other statutes or procedures.

See Open Meeting Law Declaration 121/2014, Open Meeting Law Declaration 10/4/2011, Open Meeting Law 2018-89.

No remedial action is required.

So now I need a motion to authorize submission of response by town council unless somebody's got anything to say.

So give me a motion to authorize submission of response by town council.

So moved.

Second.

Any other questions or any statements or anything?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, I'm going to vote present.

Excuse me?

I'm voting present.

You're voting what?

Present.

Present.

Present.

Okay, Mr. Segarra is just voting present.

All others in favor?

Okay.

Consider accepting the open session meeting open session minutes of December 3rd, 2025.

So moved.

Second.

Oh, hold on.

Okay, any— I got a motion and a second.

Do I have anything— excuse me, any corrections or additions or anything from anyone?

Seeing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nope.

Okay, unanimous.

Consider accepting the open session minutes of December 17th, 2025.

So moved.

Thank you.

Second.

Okay, I got a motion and a second.

Does anybody have anything, questions, anything?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none, unanimous.

Open— oh, sorry, consider accepting the Quad Board meeting minutes of October 15th, 2025.

So moved.

Second.

Any questions or anything from anyone?

Seeing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Abstain.

Oh, you're going to abstain?

Yeah.

Were you not at the quad board?

Oh, the quad board, she was not.

Okay, any opposed?

He's abstaining.

Thank you.

Everybody else, 4 in favor, 1 abstention.

Thank you.

Are we caught up now for 2025, you think?

I think so, yeah.

Is think so, with all of them, even executive.

Yeah, yeah, that'd be good.

Community speaks.

Do we have anybody?

Come right down, please.

Doreen Taylor, 101 Forsyth.

I was only going to ask for clarification on whether I am going to be afforded a copy of council's opinion before you said no.

I just wanted to know if I was getting a copy.

May I give a mind, Madam Chair?

She gets a copy when it gets submitted.

When it gets submitted?

When the— when council submits it to the state?

Yeah, you get a copy.

I will get it.

You receive the whole packet.

Okay, that's all I wanted to ask.

Anybody else?

Seeing no one, thank you.

Uh, other business?

Anybody?

No, we're good, right?

For the business, town administrator's report.

Uh, just an update on the library RFQ for for the OPM, Owner's Project Manager, contract for the Library renovations.

That was available yesterday.

We had about, I think it's about 6 vendors that have asked for copies of the bid proposal.

2 of those that are on that bid list are just services that reposted elsewhere.

So we probably have 4 firms that are interested as of today.

The bid was closed, will be due on February 4th, and then the committee will review all the proposals that have come in.

The only other thing, I guess this will also go under the liaison report, was just the Medeiros Farm.

As the committee is aware— as the Board is aware that the committee met yesterday, there were 5 firms that have submitted for their bids for the design of services.

The Board has chosen Uh, or the committee— I'm sorry, the committee has chosen to interview all 5.

Uh, that will take place on January 26th, uh, and at that point, uh, they'll make a determination based on the rubric that's been provided on, uh, the top, um, choice that they have to be submitted to the Board of Selection for approval.

And they moved that meeting to 6 o'clock, right?

6 o'clock instead of 7 o'clock.

That's all I have.

That's all you have?

Okay.

Select Board liaison reports and comments.

Accounts payable warrants and signed.

Anything from TV9 liaison?

Nothing new this time.

Nothing new, thank you.

How about our Bristol County Advisory Board?

Nothing new.

Okay, so we got Madeira's found, the library's off, and now comments.

Uh, Mr. Sega?

Okay, thank you.

You recall at the meeting of The 17th of December, I brought in my, um, Christmas list.

Christmas list.

And one of them I asked to, uh, on during the month of January, which our next meeting is 2, I guess, 2 weeks from tonight, I'd like to have a discussion and a possible vote on putting a ballot question on the Eagle ballot for the Sultan Fire Station.

So if you could accommodate that, Madam Chair, that would be great to have that discussion.

And what's the date for our next meeting?

Uh, January 21st.

Um, plowing and sanding procedures.

Who makes the determination if we plow or sand?

Is that you or Mr. Cabral?

Uh, Mr. Cabral.

So anything over 3 inches.

So anything under 3 inches is just sanding operations.

Because, you know, we had a snowstorm a day or so after Christmas and they went out and plowed.

They did a great job.

This past storm, a lot of the side roads didn't get done, and then they're driven on and then they're packed down.

And I have a lot of people that walk by my house all the time, a lot of them with dogs, and it just— it's— the side streets are like skating rinks.

So if they're not going to plow, I think they need to do a more aggressive sanding.

Sanding operation.

Now I know it's, uh, it's a state light and everything, but there's been a lot of discussion about the light at County Street and 114A.

Uh, I believe Mr. Cabral had a discussion at the planning board back in November, and a town resident by the name of Roger Stolte showed up.

And I think Mr. Stolte is a— is an engineer, or he's a former DPW in a neighboring town.

He's a town resident, and he came up with a couple of solutions.

I grant you it's the state that's going to have to do it, but I think we're going to do more than just meet and talk about it and come up with a plan of action one way or another.

Because I've seen it from County Street— on County Street from Luther's Corners, it goes all the way back to Mill Street, and, uh, the traffic's never going to get better there.

So if there's— if there is something we can I'd like to see us initiate it.

And we've tried a couple times to get the state to do something.

They've been out, they've changed the timing on things.

But if you recall, when it first was finished, the traffic was actually significantly better.

And then, you know, I think that was good for about 4 months or something like that.

And then was that before the Washington Bridge?

Well, yeah, so the Washington Bridge is a separate issue, but it lasted like maybe 4 or 6 months and then it changed, and then it would just went back to where it was, and that's just, to me, worse.

Well, we can ask Mr. Cabral because I know he has a connection with this state.

So maybe ask him to come in and, uh, just to talk about that, just so he can update the newer board members for what has been done.

Yeah, I'll send out another letter to, uh, MassDOT District.

Maybe we could reach out to that Roger Stolte.

I mean, if you'd like to come in and chat with us Stu?

Yep.

When Mr. Cabral's here.

You said he was— he showed up to what meeting?

Did he show up to— he was at planning board.

Planning board.

They have his contact information.

I got another letter from someone else.

Okay, I got, I got a handout from my last item, so I'll, uh— Chris?

Oh, we get handouts too.

Thank you.

Okay, you know I've spoken several times about doing something with Wheeler School.

Well, just to give you a little update, watching the meeting last night.

On Madeira's Farm.

Um, I think one of the most well-spoken persons and made a lot of common sense was the gentleman from CPC, Mr. Willett Mason.

And he was talking about the cost factor of this and, um, big discussion about fields and whatnot.

So the interesting thing with Wheeler, just diving into their website is they act— they're actively marketing.

And I'll just read it for the people at home, and anybody can go on their website and pull up Wheeler School fields and facilities.

The 120-acre Wheeler Farm in Seekonk is home to athletic fields, the Van Norman Field House, forest and farm days for early childhood, the 6th grade farm program, a summer camp, ropes courses, and more.

8 outdoor athletic fields and the Van Norman Field House at the Wheeler Farm at 640 Prospect Street, Seekonk, Mass., are available for rental use by selected groups and organizations.

The campus is powered from a solar array on the roof of the field house.

The 4 soccer fields, 2 field hockey fields, softball field, and a baseball field are open for use April to November.

And an all-national turf field was added in 2018.

The multi-sports Norman Field House is available for rental year-round.

It has 3 basketball courts which can easily convert for soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball, baseball, and Ultimate Frisbee.

There is also a low and high element challenge rope courses available for corporate and community events, and please contact.

Then they recently— and this, this is mind-blowing— they're doing a major expansion there, and in the tune of $11 million, and they were able to apply to Mass Development.

They issued an $11 million tax-exempt bond to them, which was underwritten by this Berkshire Bank.

How a Rhode Island supposedly nonprofit gets Massachusetts subsidies is beyond me, but it did happen.

I think I mentioned to you before about my granddaughter plays in a girls' Saturday morning recreation basketball league.

It's, it's not under Parks and Rec, but it's a separate recreational league, and, and they pay $175 an hour to rent the gymnasium.

So they pay us— Willow School pays us nothing.

They're gaining subsidies from the town in the form of not paying us anything.

They're charging our student athletes to participate there, and they're gaining financial considerations from the state.

So I— watching last night in the debate at the nearest farm about active versus passive recreation, I thought, why couldn't we do a different kind of a pilot instead of payment in lieu of taxes?

We'll call it playing in lieu of taxes.

No, no, really, no, think about it.

They're actively marketing it, right?

And they've got these facilities available, they're all built.

Let's work out a barter system, if you will, where in lieu of them paying us a dollar amount, we get the use of their facilities.

I mean, long-term, I mean, it's all certainly the devil's in the details.

But, and I just don't want to sit around and talk about this because this, this really bothers me.

All right, so I would like to, and I guess we'll put on an agenda item, have a discussion.

And I'd like to see like a subcommittee with Mr. Kadeem approach them.

And if they're not agreeable to do something to help the town, then I know, uh, I've had many conversations with our state representative, Mr. Howitt, if the town wanted to file, we'd have to go to town meeting, a home rule petition.

And then he was looking at asking for a special law which may eliminate out-of-state charities from being tax-exempt.

So I think we should move on this and do something, and hopefully they will be agreeable to doing something for us.

But just think, if we could work out a deal, we get nothing from now so we get some use of fields and other facilities, it would save us millions upon millions of dollars at the Madeiras Farm or anywhere else building fields that's going to cost us a lot of money to build and more to, uh, to maintain.

So I think this may be an idea.

We'll see where it goes, but I think it's worth pursuing.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

This is— yeah, uh, just one thing that was in our packets here about this Mass Historical Commission funding grant program.

I don't know if it's applicable to any of the buildings or properties we have about— and I know, you know, we have the old town hall that we said we were going to keep— if this is something that could be applicable to that.

So But it says it only applies to sites listed in the State Register of Historic Places.

So I don't know if the town hall is on there or not, but it's not.

It's not on that state one.

Okay.

No, but we might have— but yeah, if there's anything else in town that is applicable to or anything, but it should be something to be looked into and not just put that aside.

So yeah, no, the Historical Commission should have that letter.

So we just want to find out if they got it.

Oh, they do.

Oh, good.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay, good.

All right, good.

That's all you have?

That's all I got.

Chris, you have anything for us?

Uh, just one thing.

If it's possible to reach out to Bransky-Levington about the marijuana, um, grow facility.

I believe it was a year ago that they said that they'd be back in a few months as they had, um, they were reworking some things.

I'm not sure what their plan is to do with that license.

I'm not even sure that license is still in demand by other people now that the market's flooded.

Um, just when they stop— they stopped doing anything with that, didn't they?

Yeah, they were gonna— they were gonna change buildings and buy something else, this and that, and they asked for, uh, extension.

Yeah, that was— that was a long time ago, so the extension's going to be over.

Yep.

I wonder if the license— if it's over.

I'm not sure.

I don't Okay, do you have anything else?

No, that's it.

Michael?

I don't have anything.

You don't have anything?

Um, I just have 2 things.

One thing is I did put post on Seekonk Shares Monday morning the number for MEGA trash.

There's a lot of trash issues, and I can tell you personally I had a trash— trashish— I'm going to say trash instead at a refuge or whatever you want to call it.

It's trash.

Anyway, MEGA comes to pick it up on your assigned date.

We did have a problem on the street I live in because for, on, for whatever reason, they did not pick up the recycle.

So I did call DPW first, and in their recording they have MEGA's phone number.

So I did call them, the phone number, and I've posted it a couple times, and I posted it Monday.

But for those of you who didn't see it, the phone number for MEGAR is 866-420-6342, and it's extension 7.

If you call them before 5 PM on your trash day— well, for me anyway, it was like 10 minutes of 5, 5 PM— a lady answered, very nice, took down the information, everything.

She could even see where the trash truck was.

Well, the trash truck did not pick up our trash or our recycles on that day, but before they even started their rounds on Tuesday, they had picked it up.

So, um, you need to call them if they have a person that answers the phone at extension 7 before 5 o'clock.

Otherwise, they have an answering machine And they listen to the answering machine, so please call and leave the message.

DPW is just going to tell you to do that.

Even if you leave a message at DPW, they're going to have to call them.

Cut out the middleman, go right to MEGA, 866-420-6342, extension 7.

You want to change your seat, Michael?

Just coughing my way.

Put the mask back up.

I can't cough and do that too.

I know, I only have one more thing.

Gonna make it?

Maybe.

I ain't calling 911.

They're watching.

He's got to know how to do everything.

Communications is watching.

Chief's in the back.

Yeah, he'll call for help.

Okay, the last thing I had was I learned this week that Sergeant Richard Garrett had passed away.

Now, a lot of people that are here probably won't know who Sergeant Garrett was because he took— he retired in the early probably the mid-'80s.

But I have to say, I'm that old that Sergeant Garrett was one of the OICs when I started working.

He was dedicated to this town, and he worked— I don't even know how many years he worked here.

He was here forever.

He was here when I was a kid.

He used to chase me around in his police car.

And then when I got on, we used to have, uh, discussions about our hair.

And at the time when I got on, in ancient dinosaur times, police officers had to have short hair.

You couldn't look raggy and all that kind of stuff.

So of course my hair was longer than his, and he was a bit put out that I was allowed to have long hair and he was not.

Of course, I was appropriately, appropriately attired and my hair was put up and all that kind of stuff, so But we used to get into it, him and I. I used to dispatch a couple nights a week when I first started.

And he would come in and sit with me.

And we've had— I don't think it was much of a discussion, but we used to go back and forth, back and forth.

And he lived a real long time, thank God, after his retirement and ended up in Attleboro.

And they didn't have any kind of a funeral or a wake or anything.

But they have his obituary online, so I put a little thing in that.

But I have to say to his family, your thoughts and prayers are with us because Sergeant Garrett did a lot to bring up the police department and to protect this town, and he honestly loved it.

So I just wanted to make— give him recognition for that.

Oh, I'm glad I got that out.

Okay, you can do it.

All right, I'll, um, entertain a motion to adjourn to our next meeting on January 21st, 2026, to enter an executive session, not to come back into open session, correct?

No, not me.

For item A, consider the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 21A, as having the discussion in open session would be detrimental to the negotiating position of the town— of the town schools, 2 North Street.

B, to consider the purchase, exchange, lease of real property pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Subsection 21A, as having the discussion in open session would be detrimental to negotiating position of the town, 320 Pleasant Street.

C, consider accepting executive session minutes of December 3rd, 2025.

Indeed, consider accepting the executive session minutes of December 17th, 2025.

So moved.

Second.

Roll call vote, please.

Gary Segar, aye.

Campose, aye.

Chris Orr, aye.

Michelle Hanks, aye.

Michael Healy, aye.

And that'll be at 7:13.