Select Board Meeting — May 13, 2026

Where?

Maybe that one.

Yeah, see, mine's stuck on this page.

Thank you.

Good evening everybody and welcome to the select board meeting on the 20th— on the 13th of May 2026 at the select board meeting room.

Would you please rise and, uh, join me with a Pledge of Allegiance and 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.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, under Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 20F requires any person recording must notify the chair at the beginning of the meeting.

All select board meetings are recorded via audio and video and are broadcast live on Seekonk Cable 96.

Uh, for board and committee openings, who would like to— I'll take that.

Okay.

Volunteers are needed on the Capital Improvement Committee, 3 from select board, 3 from moderator.

Commission on Disability, 6 from the select board.

Cultural Council, 1 from the select board.

Economic Development Committee, 4 from the select board.

Energy Committee, 3 from the select board.

Finance Committee, 1 from the moderator.

Historical Commission, 2 from select board.

Human Services Council, 1 from select board.

Recycling Committee, 1 from the select board.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Archambault.

For tonight's meeting, we have 1 opening for town administrator.

Uh, Mr. Gadeem took a sick day, and so he won't be with us tonight, but he'll be back tomorrow.

So, okay, priority matters.

Consider a conditional offer of employment to Adam Pacheco for the position of police officer.

Chief, good evening.

Good evening, Chairman Sager, members of the board.

On April 16th, interviews were held for the position of police officer.

The applicants were all Massachusetts POST-certified police officers and would be considered lateral transfers.

The interview panel considered— consisted of myself, Deputy LaFleur, Captain Jardine, Lieutenant Dowd, and Mr. Kadeem.

At the conclusion of the interview process, the panel members all agreed that Adam Pacheco would be a good candidate to move on in the hiring process.

Mr. Pacheco grew up in the city of Taunton and currently lives in the town of Weymouth.

During his interview, he said moving back to the area was one of the motivating factors for him interviewing with the town of Seekonk.

He also wanted to transition to policing in a municipal setting.

Mr. Pacheco is currently employed by Simmons University as a campus police officer.

He was also a campus police officer for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

He is a recent graduate of the Plymouth Police Academy.

He holds an associate's degree in criminal justice from Bristol Community College.

I'd like to request that this board extend a conditional offer of employment to Adam Pacheco for the position of police officer.

And in consultation with the town administrator today, he recommends that— moved that the Board of Selectmen appoint Adam Pacheco to the position of full-time police officer for the police department, subject to and conditioned upon his successful passage, as determined by the town administrator, of the following: completion of a satisfactory background check, physical examination with drug screening, psychological screening, MPTC physical fitness tests, obtain and maintain a Massachusetts license to carry, fulfillment of all statutory requirements set forth by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to become a certified law enforcement officer, successful verification of the National Decertification Index, Successful passage of the civil service physical ability test, completion and passage of an MPTC or approved ROC police academy.

Second.

Okay, any discussion?

Seeing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So congratulations.

Thank you.

Okay, next we have to consider a conditional offer of employment to Michael Combra for the position of special reserve police officer.

Chief, uh, during the same rounds of interviews, the panel, uh, interviewed Michael Combra from Middleborough.

Mr. Combra serves as a— served as a reserve police officer with the town of Whitman since 2012.

He completed the reserve Police Officer Academy that same year.

He has completed the MPTC Bridge Academy, which makes him a post-certified officer.

He's full-time employment.

He's a machine operator for Eversource Gas.

I'd like to request this board to extend a conditional offer of employment to Mr. Combra for the position of special/reserve police officer.

Okay, Mr. Cadime also recommends this.

So I move that the Board of Selectmen appoint Michael Cornbrook to the position of Special Reserve Police Officer for the police department, subject to and conditioned upon his successful passage, as determined by the town administrator, of the following: completion of a satisfactory background check, physical examination with drug screening, fulfillment of all statutory requirements set forth by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to become a certified law enforcement officer, successful verification of the National Decertification Index, completion and passage of an MPTC or approved ROC police academy, or verification of Municipal Police Training Committee academy exemption.

Second.

Okay, any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Sir, you've been Thank you.

Welcome.

Hello, Hector.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next, community speaks.

Anybody?

Please.

Uh, I guess not.

Okay, okay, community speaks.

Is there anyone?

Yes, ma'am.

We have one more.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I screwed up.

All right, considering the appointment of Donna Payne to the Cultural Council for a term to expire 2029.

I'm sorry, would you please come forward?

And you are Donna Payne?

Yes, I am.

Okay, so you want— you'd like to be appointed to the Cultural Council?

Yes.

Okay, very good.

Anybody have any questions?

I do not.

Thank you though for stepping up.

And thank you.

Okay, so the chair would entertain a motion to appoint her to expire in 2029?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next, uh, is community speaks.

Does anybody like to speak?

Hello, and you are?

Robin Klebeck.

Okay, address please.

372 Central Avenue in Seekonk.

Okay.

Okay, go ahead.

Yes.

Um, so my name is Robin Klebeck, and I've lived in this town for most of my life.

I'm here to speak to whichever committee or board made the decision that the hand-painted artwork of the warrior on the high school gym wall should be painted over.

I have been told the name or the mascot Seekonk Warriors is not being changed, so why destroy this courageous warrior symbol in our gymnasium?

The Narragansett Native American Council was contacted a few years ago when questions regarding the use of the warrior as a mascot came up.

A few folks in town thought it may be offensive to Native Americans in our area, but their council was not offended at all and said they have no problem with our warrior symbol and our school's use of it.

That warrior painting has been a part of our high school for over a quarter of a century, as proven by its appearance in yearbooks as far back as the year 2000.

In my meeting with the superintendent, Miss Kidwell, she indicated there was no alternative but to paint over the warrior.

I respectfully disagree.

Any painting contractor can tape off something to not be painted over.

We even do it in our own homes.

So I suspect there's another reason.

Please don't let the opinions of a small percentage of people in town dictate the decision to destroy this work of art.

The gym has been repainted several times over those 25 years, and each time people in the town valued the painting enough to block it or tape it off to preserve our schools and our town's history.

I've made copies of the photos of this treasure for those unfamiliar with the image.

My father, Norman Boland, is the artist.

Now you know why I am so passionate about saving this artwork.

My father was asked to paint the warrior by a close friend in town.

He was not paid for this work nor asked for payment.

He painted it in one day on a Sunday, we believe back in the '90s, and was honored to do it.

He is now 88 years old, a lifelong resident of Seekonk, and his love of this town, this high school, and his love of art is apparent in his reputation.

Some would even say he's a pillar of the community.

Dad was the SHS girls softball coach for 18 years and even led them to a South Coast Conference championship.

He was a member of the high school football team's chain gang for 37 years and was elected to the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

His pride in this town and in this school are obvious, and I hope by saving his artwork, his legacy will live on.

I am proud to represent my family and my father to preserve the piece of history.

I am an SHS graduate, class of '78.

My sister's class of '81.

And my son is class of 2007.

We cherish seeing our father and grandfather's work every time we step into that gym.

A suggestion was made to take a professional photograph of the artwork and place it in a digital Hall of Fame, but that would not do it justice.

Although change is a natural part of progress, maintaining our historical legacy is equally important.

I ask that folks in charge please reconsider the decision to paint over the iconic warrior in our high school gymnasium.

And I've already spoken before the school committee, and I'm hoping to be added to their agenda in the near future.

Thank you for your time.

Well, let me just say, personally, I agree with you 100%, and that would be an absolute travesty.

I agree.

And it's the school committee's decision.

It's their building.

Agreed.

But I would be willing to ask my colleagues to send a letter to them expressing dismay.

So moved.

Especially where so many of us have— I graduated with your sister.

Yes, we all graduated from there.

Absolutely.

So we'll— okay, so Mr. Healy made a motion.

I'll second it, that we'll send a letter of support to leave the Indian alone.

Thank you very much.

Okay, absolutely.

Appreciate your time.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You need the Yeah, sure, of course.

Might as well take copies.

Thank you.

I don't know what's so hard about taping cardboard over this.

It's what?

I don't know what's so hard about taping a bag over it and painting around it.

And like she said, they've done it many times in the past.

Okay, thanks.

Okay, anybody else for community speaks?

Yes, Michelle.

Michelle Hines, Ricard Street.

I also support Robin.

I went to the school committee with her, with her too, and hopefully with your letter and other people who talk to the school committee or call the school committee, they'll paint it over— not paint it over, block it out, not paint it over.

Sorry.

Okay, um, I did come here tonight not only for that reason, but I've been here at the last 2 meetings and we were discussing, um, I was discussing the fact that the city of Attleboro was dumping wastewater, sewage water, into our Ten Mile River.

The Ten Mile River that goes behind the— goes from the Attleboro line behind houses down through the houses of the North End and Pond Street, Maple Avenue, where we own property.

And, uh, off into across Central Avenue into Pawtucket.

And as of the last time I was here, nothing official was done by our people.

So now, Mr. Kadeem, I can't ask him, he's not here right now.

So I don't know if any of you have heard anything except for the letter that you— that the article that you gave me, which I'll mention.

But has our Board of Health, anybody from SEACOC gone and looked at this?

The last I think he said it to me, Mr. Dean, was he basically referred it to the Board of Health.

Have you spoke with the health agent?

I haven't, no, no, no, I didn't.

That's not my place, that's the town administrator's place to get the Board of Health out there to check it out, to talk to the, um, the residents that abut that place, abut the river.

I mean, I don't know if this is the first time Attaworlda's done it, but I don't— if they're— I don't think it's going to be the last.

And I would just refer to an article that, uh, Mr. Sagar gave me, that the discharge of partially treated wastewater into the Ten Mile River for 2 weeks has ended, which is nice to hear, but that does not mean that it's not going to continue again.

Uh, it says wastewater officials began partially diverting flow through the online sand filters at the Attleboro Wastewater Treatment Facility on March 17th through March 30th.

Um, at the time of the discharge, Larry Dumont Attabro's acting wastewater superintendent declined comment on the situation, deferring to Mayor Kathleen DeSimone, who also said she would not speak on the issue.

Not a great article to read.

So I'll say something's fishy when I could say something else, but I'm not going to let this drop.

This is not something that needs to continue.

I'll be here every week before somebody from this town actually goes and not just does a phone call to this— to the city of Attleboro, but actually goes down and talks to the people that abut this flow of wastewater out of Attleboro.

It's detrimental to our town, and it needs— it needs to be looked into by our town officials.

I believe that article that I gave you from the Sun Chronicle says that after 48 hours the danger was eliminated.

A friend of mine used to be the superintendent of the wastewater treatment, and he said in their trade they have a saying: the secret to pollution is dilution.

And it's been so long now, I, I— it's a non-issue.

There was a news story last week in Providence where they had a pipe break and they 800,000 gallons of untreated sewage in the Seekonk River.

That was far, far worse than this.

So I don't think— I don't think it's an issue anymore.

I think it's an issue.

And if it's not the pollution is an issue, the issue that Attabro is allowed to do that and it affects our town and the waters in our town, and nobody here— nobody here is being sent down there that should be sent down there to see what's going on.

And I don't think it's right.

I live in the North End, you live in the North End, and if that— that river is closer to your backyard than it is to my backyard, and I would think so anyway.

It's closer to mine.

Well, you too.

Yeah, well, I would be— I am upset about it, and it's not as close to mine.

I mean, this is another city.

Dumping their wastewater that's coming into our town, and nobody here seems to care except for me.

I mean, you did give me the article, yes.

So I still— we will refer to the town administrator and ask that he have the health agent follow it up.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is anybody else?

Nope.

All right, next we have a public hearing to consider the request for a 1-day special event permit for Love Lives in Secaucus to hold a family-friendly Pride event with children's activities, food trucks, music, and entertainment at the Newman YMCA, 472 Taunton Avenue, Secaucus, to be held on Sunday, June 14th, 2026.

So I'll, uh, open that public hearing at 6:18.

So moved, Chris Zorra.

Second, Michael Healy.

Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Okay.

And so for the record, if you would please identify yourselves.

Sure.

Kristen Lyons, 25 Mill Road.

Pam Gonzo, 59 Mayfield Street.

Okay, so this is an event you've held a couple times in the past?

This would be the third one.

Yes, third one.

Okay, is there anything different from what you did before?

No.

Okay, essentially the same event.

All right, this is rain or shine.

Rain or shine.

Okay, pray for— we are praying for rain.

We are not.

I mean, no, no, no rain, no shine.

Sorry, you're getting me confused.

She just jinxed us.

Sorry.

Okay, okay.

All right, does the board have any questions?

There's been no issues in the past.

I'm good with it.

Fine.

Good.

Yep.

Okay, so what I have to do is scan the audience.

So is there anyone here to speak in favor of this petition?

Anyone to speak in opposition?

Anyone with general comments or questions?

Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to, uh, close the public hearing.

619, Cruzora.

Second, Michael Healy.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Okay, the board has voted 5 in favor, 0 opposed to— No, no, now you need a motion to approve.

Oh, I'm sorry, I was getting ahead of myself.

I'm sorry.

All right, so I'd entertain a motion to approve the license as submitted.

So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Now it's official.

Thank you so much.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, next is a public hearing to consider requests from the Holy Ghost Brotherhood of Charity to waive the strict compliance of the— compliance of the requirements including the application fee from the one-day special event bylaw and to conduct the annual procession from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church to the Holy Ghost Club and Rehoboth Mass in August.

Okay, and your name is please?

Rosemary Reese.

Okay, address please.

24 Cameron Drive.

Okay, just open the public hearing.

Yep, I'm sorry.

Uh, so I'll open the public hearing at what time, Chris?

6:20.

Chris Zorai.

Okay, second, Mike Leary.

Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Okay, I'm sorry, would you start over?

Uh, your name again?

Rosemary Reese.

And your address?

24 Cameron Drive in Seekonk.

Okay.

And this has been going on for not years, decades.

Over 100 years.

Over 100?

Wow.

Now I'm told that in addition to waiving the app— we also— this year you're asking to waive the application fee.

The fee and the notification to the abutters.

Yes.

Okay, so that's 2 waivers you're requesting, the fee and the notice to the abutters.

You haven't notified the abutters, you've waived that.

They've waived that for years, correct?

I've never done it, no.

Okay.

I think because of this new system in the computer now, they ask you to do that.

Yeah.

Okay, any questions of the board?

No.

No.

Okay, let me ask the audience, is there anyone here to speak in favor of the application?

Seeing none, anyone in opposition?

Anyone with general questions or comments?

All right, the chair would entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

621, Cruzora.

Second, Michael Healy.

Okay, all in favor of closing the public hearing?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And on the request for the 2 waivers, what's the pleasure of the board?

Yes.

So moved, Mr. Archambault.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second, Liz.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Uh, the board has voted 5 to nothing to grant your request for the waivers.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Have a good day.

All right, okay.

License hearing.

Consider request from Four Echoes Vintage Shop, 380 Fore River Avenue, for a 1-day liquor license for a hero's dinner celebrating Seekonk Fire and Police Departments on May 30th, 2026, for a wedding on June 5th, 2026.

Okay, so for the record, would you please Please identify yourself.

Sean Smith.

Carl Pelletier.

What is that?

Carl Pelletier.

Carl Pelletier.

Addresses for you gentlemen?

Sean Smith, I live at 83 Water's Edge, Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Okay.

Carl Pelletier, 3— uh, no, not 390 Far Rock Avenue.

Uh, 52 Jerome Street, Berkeley, Massachusetts.

Sometimes I live at 390 Far Rock Avenue.

You are requesting a 1-day liquor license on 2 occasions, correct?

Okay.

Now, when reviewing the packet, I raised the issue with our administrative assistant.

I didn't see any, uh, liquor liability.

Yeah, Chris called me today, so I reached out to our insurance agent.

I think it's like a 200-page document, so they said they'd look into it.

They're going to get back to me tomorrow.

Um, if there's something that they can add to it, they, they will.

So on our end, I'll do whatever I have to do to, um, you know, to get that passed.

Okay.

I just don't have the information tonight.

Okay.

So the event, the first event is on May 30th, correct?

So if the board approved it subject to— because you have to have that liability insurance in place.

Okay.

I do have a question.

Yep.

You guys did this before.

You used the Grist Mills, I believe, right?

You fell under there.

We've, we've never done anything fully with liquor on that property.

Okay.

I thought you guys did something with each other.

Uh, we didn't, we didn't actually go through the process of serving liquor over there.

No, we did it on our property on the patio.

Okay.

I thought I remember something familiar.

You guys are doing something in conjunction, and you guys are on the liquor license for the packet, I believe.

So we had come to do that, and then I think it was like the meeting turned it down, and then we had to come back again.

It was too late to do it, so we never went through.

That was like the first fall gala that we did, like a couple years ago.

All right, I'm trying to remember.

Okay.

Is it, is it, uh, liquor for sale, or is it open bar.

What's the— what's your setup for that?

It's open bar.

Okay.

Any other questions?

No, that's it.

I'm good with it.

Okay.

Pleasure to the board.

Oh sure.

Um, is the Grissom providing the food for the— we're catering.

Yeah, catering.

Okay.

And this may sound— so for those who can't attend, who might be on duty Does anybody provide anything for them, like at the stations?

Oh, are you saying like we'll bring food to them?

I'll bring it.

We didn't think about that, but we could do that.

We want to make sure that they're included.

Yeah, we can.

We could definitely do that.

We'll make sure they get some food.

I will.

I will.

I'll make sure.

No, they— I mean, because if they're not— if they can't attend, we don't want them to feel left out.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, we need to.

Yeah, food only, no alcohol with it.

Yes.

No, I'm not traveling with any open alcohol.

Just put it on the record, I'm not traveling with any open alcohol in my vehicle.

Um, but yes, I would, I would, I think everybody here would appreciate that.

We can make sure that I will avail myself to do it if it's possible.

Okay, thank you, thank you so much.

All right, so the chair would entertain a motion to approve with the stipulation that the applicant provides the proper liquor liability insurance prior to the event.

So moved.

And a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yep.

See you guys.

Okay, license hearing.

Consider request for a mobile food truck permit for Marina Lopez, Hector Marina Food Truck LLC, doing business as La Lechoncha Food Truck, to sell food at the Secaucus Speedway, 1782 Fort Worth Avenue.

Hello, sir.

Okay, your name is, uh, Hector Aquino.

Okay, and you wanna sell food at the Secaucus Speedway?

That is correct.

Okay, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Um, well, me and my wife own the food truck, and we do a little bit of American and Spanish fusion So we sell burgers, Philly cheesesteak, chicken tenders, chicken wings, hot dogs, and then we go from tacos, pupusas, and we're looking to add some tamales.

Like, we're from Guatemala, so we're going to look to add some tamales to the ratio of the Spanish side of the food.

Does anybody have any questions?

Okay, they have the liability insurance and the permission from the Speedway, so I'm good.

Yep, good.

All right, so, uh, can I entertain a motion to approve the license?

Motion to approve.

Okay, second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you, sir.

Good luck.

No, thank you.

Next is to consider a request for a mobile food truck permit for Ashley— Ashley Blazewicz, Saxony's Hospitality Group, DBA Barrels and Boards, to sell food at the Secaucus Speedway, 1782 Fore River Avenue.

Hi, sir, it's H-Man and Ashley Blazewicz for the Saxony's Hospitality Group.

Uh, we're just requesting a permit for our food truck to be operating at Seekonk Speedway on special events.

The Saxony Hospitality Group has 2 restaurants operating in the Rainham area.

We've added a food truck to the portfolio last year, and we're looking to expand our offerings with that this year at the Speedway.

Ashley is the manager, and she's been doing a successful job with it for the last 2 years.

Thank you.

Now, being the manager, you're the cook?

I can do everything.

Oh, I'm certified to do everything.

Good answer.

So if you want to know what we're selling, what our restaurant's known for is our candy bacon, our bourbon marinade steak tips.

We do candy bacon loaded mac and cheese, buffalo chicken nachos.

So we're just taking the best of what we offer in our restaurant, in our market, and we'd like to sell it at the Speedway.

Okay.

As soon as you said bourbon, you got— there you go.

We all kind of perked up.

Everybody got a little more attentive.

Well, I don't know, the candy bacon did it.

Everything's better with bacon, so basically it's on every item we sell.

Yeah.

Is there any any questions of the board?

Nope, nope.

Everything's in order.

Looks good.

All right.

Make a motion to approve.

Second.

Movement seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you and good luck.

Thank you.

Thank you for your consideration, guys.

Thank you.

These are also for you guys.

Okay.

Show information about what we asked.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I want to make a trip to the restaurant, Marine.

Really?

Okay.

On item F, the animal control officer asked to table it because there was some mistakes in her report, so she wanted to correct them.

So we'll table that and move that on to the next meeting.

So moved to table.

Second.

Want to vote on that?

Just official?

Sure.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And to accept the resignation of Margaret Perkins from her position as Community Liaison Coordinator on Human Services.

So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

We thank her for her service.

Next is consider accepting the 2026 Student Awareness of Fire Education, the SAFE grant, the amount of $5,304.44, and the Senior SAFE grant of $2,254.38, totaling $7,558.82.

Chief Whalen, good evening.

Good evening, Mr.

Chair, select board members.

I come before you this evening Just as formality, in hopes that you would accept the money presented before you this evening for the SAFE and Senior SAFE grants.

This is a grant awarded to the town of Seekonk and all the municipalities that apply through the state of Massachusetts to provide services not only to the students inside our school districts, but then also any preschool programs or any daycare programs.

That reach out to us, and this is a program where we enter into their lives, if you will, teaching them about Stop, Drop, and Roll, the 911 system, and the hazards of day-to-day activities that surround their lives regarding fire.

And we've also expanded the program with the Senior Safe Initiative, which allows us to provide things to Human Services and the residents of our community with carbon monoxide smoke detectors pill separators, the blue and white signs that you'll see in mailboxes, safe lockboxes for homes that have elderly families in them that just don't have a 24-hour care provider there for them.

So we would have access to a key so we don't have to do any damage to their property.

So it's a very good program, and I just ask through you that we accept the funds before the Okay, any questions?

No.

So I would entertain a motion to accept the grants as listed in our agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

When you got the second, just for the note, Rob.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And discussion of the fire department's America 250 50/ot contest?

Evening again.

We were trying to come up with some creative ways to get some community engagement with the fire department.

We had the Shovel a Hydrant campaign, which really kind of took some stronghold in the community.

That was probably one of our highest-rated Facebook posts and activity to date.

So through administrative assistant's creative, creative blood that she has running through her, She came up with a solution to try and capture celebrating America's 250th.

So we're launching a coloring contest.

It would be eligible for every student in the town of Seekonk between the kindergarten and 6th grade timeframe or grade range, and the theme is America's 250th, celebrating firefighting through past and present.

So that's what the the art idea should be.

It should be an original piece of art, should be presented on an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper, should be submitted to our Facebook page, the deadline being June 1st, with the winners being identified June 8th.

And we plan on having a pizza party along with a fire station tour for all of the winners.

And we're also hoping to have the winners artwork posted on the Town of Seekonk's website for everybody to see.

So I just wanted to promote that project, wanted to get it out there just to let everybody know, at least put it on public access so the people at home sitting tonight can hopefully find our website, the Seekonk Fire Department page, and submit a, submit an art contest or submit a piece of art to celebrate the 250th of America.

Chief, are the schools going to work with you for the elementary to distribute this so kids are aware of it?

We will make sure that they know about it.

Yep.

Any questions of the Chief?

Nope.

Okay, thank you, sir.

And just before I leave, again, like I always do with all of our grant money and applications that we get, uh, that have money coming into the community that are outside of our operating budget, I'd just like to commend Lieutenant Kyle Laprade and David McGovern, Firefighter David McGovern, for working so hard on the Safe and teeny safe programs.

Perfect.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you.

Okay, next item J, discussion on Old Town Hall rehabilitation and consideration of applying for grants.

That would be Mr. Archambault, owner's project manager, the OPM.

No, we're going to continue that.

That's not on here.

Well, they amended the agenda.

Oh, I don't have the amended agenda.

It's on your desk.

It says, um, consider awarding the owner's project.

Consider awarding the owner's project.

Yes, and I had a conversation with the, uh, town administrator and he said it'd be fine to continue it to the next meeting.

Okay, so we're going to continue it.

Do I have a right to oppose that?

Nope.

Okay, just get a copy of the amended one.

Okay, thank you.

So he said to— there's no timeline or anything, so he said we can move it to the next meeting.

He said we can move it to the next meeting.

He had— he did some negotiations with the owner's project manager to reduce the number, and, uh, I asked if it would be okay if we continued it, and he said that would be fine.

So, okay, good.

And if you want, I mean, that was an option, so Uh, no, I'm just making sure, that's why.

Well, no, I would like to hear from the administrator what he negotiated, what the original price was down to what he negotiated it down to.

That's all.

That's just from my standpoint.

No, I agree.

I just said I don't have that information either.

Does the chairman— you don't have that information, right?

Was it an email?

No.

At one point, yeah, it wasn't, wasn't an email.

Yes, I agree with you, Mr. Healy.

I just was— yeah, I'm good.

I don't know if there was a timeline that we had Yep.

There was no timeline then?

In his text to me, he said, I just sent you an email about the library building project, just wanted you to have the information.

Uh, and I said to him, can we continue or do you need action tonight?

He said, we can continue.

And I said, that would be my preference, either with your blessing.

And he said, that works.

So So we will— now that I got the right agenda, item J, uh, so let the chair entertain a motion to continue item J to the next meeting.

So moved.

A second?

Second.

All, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Okay, item K, discussion on Old Town Hall rehabilitation and consideration of applying for grants.

Mr. Archambault.

All right, I have a short presentation, but I'll, uh, I want to start with— was it 10 days ago you put an invitation out to Board of Selectmen, Department of Public Works, and others in the construction trade to take a look at the old town hall, to do a walkthrough, because it was recommended, I think, during the public speak a couple weeks ago that I should do the due diligence and take a walkthrough before making any consideration.

It was certainly worthwhile.

So we, uh, we, we have the due diligence report from Stonefleet, which was done 10 months ago on a sunny day in June in 2025.

So I'll go over a little bit of that as a recap.

Um, as we As we walked through, uh, Mr. John Alves was also there, and we got a little bit of a history lesson along with all of it.

And he had— he endeared me and Elizabeth with, with his life's work on the Seekonk Town Hall, which I've— I spent a good 8 hours going through every page of it.

I mean, he's, he's got notes and everything, every article, warrant.

And, uh, what stands out to me is how much time so many people over the decades have put into this.

I mean, it's like the who's who of Seekonk.

You go through and Alvis, Wyington, Sullivan, Horton, Dressler, Levant, John Turner— it just goes on and on with so many people who put so much passion and energy into preserving that property.

And, and the ideas over the decades.

A craft barn, a farmer's market, full library extension, cultural— again and again, cultural, Native American, another meeting room, museums, kids coding, artist enclave, classes, lectures, candle making, a spot for musicians, a spot for artists to— struggling artists to do their thing.

But what stands out to me is so much intellectual capital and time and energy and funds have been put into this to try to really make something meaningful of it.

It really has not come to fruition, unfortunately.

Pieces here and there, and going through it historically, it's a lot to go through it.

And a lot of people aware of it, and I was not aware of everything that's transpired there.

So Elizabeth, 2 weeks ago, had an interest in doing a, uh, working with Mr. Alves and others to, um, possibly do a museum, Native American theme at that location, you know, cultural center.

And, uh, as I looked into it.

I had an additional piece to add on, which I gave to the board members that were at the, at the town hall that night.

Um, and my reasoning behind adding— and I'll go into in the presentation— of a STEM Innovation Center and workplace pipeline.

The reason I took that tack is what I thought was missing from all this, besides all the great ideas and compassion and energy.

What was missing is a viable funding path, okay?

Because to take on a project of that size and that scope, it requires a lot, not just piecemeal.

People talked about fundraisers and donations and reaching out to philanthropy, and a lot of that has been tried throughout the decades.

In this folder here, but never really met the task.

You really need the funding.

So I tried to develop an idea that would encompass itself with grant funding.

And a lot of that grant funding, as I did the research, you just can't do an enrichment for the kids in Secaucus, STEM innovation and things and teaching, and just for Secaucus kids.

To get the real funding, um, you have to go on a regional approach and you have to target what's LMI, low and middle income, to which we have 31% here in Seekonk.

We meet the criteria by itself, but to get the real grant funding, you have to make it regional.

You have to allow in East Providence, you have to allow in some kids from Taunton.

You just can't cut it off and say Seekonk only.

You'd never get funding.

And it wasn't just the research.

I reached out to Southeastern Regional Planning that we rely on, and we get municipal assistance 40 hours each year.

When I reached out to them and threw this at them, they were pretty excited about it, and they said they wanted to sit down and talk about it face-to-face and go over it.

They said there's some real potential here.

But we're talking about a significant amount of money estimated to do this project.

You know, this isn't just a $600,000, $700,000, $800,000 project that would just be a patchwork to that building.

We're talking about a full-blown renovation, classrooms and everything else.

So as you'll see, it breaks down into 4 separate grants.

It's called braided funding to the grants.

Again, This is early on.

Um, what I'm getting at to the board is, uh, not to ask for money, not to make commitments, but to get an approval to work toward and work with Southeast Regional Planning to work on the grants to see if we can get this location funded to build to rehab the whole building.

Honestly, early on, you're probably talking in the neighborhood of at least $4 million to do it right.

You're going to need a new septic.

It's all mechanicals.

It's got to be gutted.

You'd have to redo the whole front to make it the way it should be.

It's a complete redo, okay, to do it right, and it would require that federal— that funding.

So Let me show you a little bit on the slideshow of what we're talking about here.

All right, that's tough for them to read, but I'll read it from my sheet just so it's in the, uh, in the record.

Select board members, from Robert Ashmore and Elizabeth L. Mason to the select board members, the rehabilitation of Old Seacock Town Hall into a vibrant multi-purpose community hub.

This project will serve our residents across generations, providing STEM— science, technology, mathematics— job training, after-school and summer youth programs, in a dedicated Native American Town Hall History Museum Library.

That would be a modest small section as you enter the building, a history back to 1812.

Grant planning and application efforts are anticipated to begin if we move forward this summer.

Requesting the board's endorsement of this initiative so we can move forward with confidence and community backing.

The project overview you.

The rehabilitated town hall will serve as a centralized community resource with 3 core program ideas.

STEM job training— and this is critical to getting the grant— you have to work with local companies that have a job gap: robotics, AI, mathematics.

So you work with companies— we need at least 3— that would write letters— not letters of dedication, letters of endorsement that the program we're building, we're attempting to build, trains and meets the needs of the people that would go to work for them.

It's a very important piece to getting the training, to getting the funding.

Dedicated space for workforce development programming focused on robotics, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics serves adults, young people seeking skills for the modern economy in partnership with local employers.

We'd also be partnering with the vocational schools and regional colleges as well.

Second piece, after-school summer and youth programs— safe, enriching program for Secaucus youth outside of school hours, including academic support, arts, recreation, STEM activities.

Summer programming will ensure continued engagement and opportunity during school breaks the children and teens across the community.

The third piece, which— Bob, could you scroll that so that the people at home can read it?

Thank you.

The third piece, which I recently found out I didn't know, the Madeiras Farm project is going to incorporate the Native American history into that side of the project.

So not to duplicate things, but that can certainly be amended there.

But we have a library with cultural educational space honoring the indigenous heritage.

Museum— museum will serve to display the rich history of the town from the 1812 incorporation from 1897 forward after the building was erected.

Museum and library will preserve and share the history of the native peoples of the land we steward, creating a place of learning, reflection, community connection for all ages.

Anticipated grant funding— this is, this is the whole thing right here.

Without it, it doesn't work.

We intend to pursue a diversified grant targeting— grant strategy targeting 4 major federal funding programs.

These are endorsed by Southeast Regional.

This is the— this is what they've told me so far.

This is how you get— this is how you get it done.

Planning applications will begin midsummer 2026.

Overview of each grant.

The first is the EDA.

EDA's Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs provides capital investment for the infrastructure that drives the development, the rehabilitation of old Town Hall, particularly the STEM job training component, aligns directly with the EDA's mission to support communities in building long-term economic resilience.

Again, providing the jobs that the companies need now, that skills gap.

EDA grants can fund construction, renovation, equipment for facilities that create or retain jobs and strengthen local communities.

These EDA grants give you a portion of the money.

This one was estimated— we get a quarter million dollars strictly for the planning, the mechanicals, the electrical, the design of the rehabilitation of the building.

They'd also supply a couple million dollars to build a building.

Again, this is, this is early, early on estimates.

The second grant, National Endowment for the Arts.

The NEA's Town Grant Program supports creative placemaking projects that integrate arts and culture into community involvement.

Development.

Our proposed Native American museum and library combining indigenous cultural heritage storytelling, community arts is an excellent fit for this grant.

NEA funding can support planning, design, programming, community engagement activities that make cultural space an asset for Seekonk residents as well regional people who come into our building.

The next one, the IMLS grant.

You get this grant if you're setting up even a small, modest library, I was told.

IMLS Library Services and Technology Act, the LSTA.

IMLS administers the Library Services and Technology Act, which funds projects that expand access to library and museum services and digital literacy and community learning.

The Native Library and the broader educational mission of the REHAB Project align strongly with the IMLS priorities around equity, access, and lifelong learning.

Grants can support collection development, digital resources, staffing, and public programming.

What's the slide?

Yeah, go one more.

It's the last page of this.

The last grant is a 21st Century Community Learning Center, the 21 CCLC, and a lot of— and these grants I'm talking about, uh, this money, even though the federal government is jigging around a lot of numbers, these grants are still funded.

The money's still available.

So the 21 CCLC, U.S. Department of Education, is the primary funding source for after-school and summer learning programs, supports academic enrichment family engagement, youth development for students in low-income, middle-income, and high-need communities.

This is the LMI component that you must have, and as I said, Seacock already meets that at 31%.

We have that component to do it without the region, but you get the big bucks from going regionally.

Our proposed after-school and summer youth programs at the Old Town Hall would be directly eligible for this.

Funding.

The CCLC '21 CCLC grant funds staff, programming supplies, and facility costs related to youth out-of-time school— out-of-school time activities.

Next steps in timeline grant application planning is set to begin in midsummer 2026.

In the coming months, we will be researching the best way to craft these grants for success, conducting community outreach, preparing letters support and documentation needed for the application.

The board's formal endorsement of this project will be a critical component for the grant narratives that demonstrate municipal commitment to funders.

Of course, we'd need the board to buy in to even get involved, entertain working with the Southeast Regional to start to craft the grant.

We wouldn't do this on a whim, we'd all be on the same page.

Request for board action: respectfully request that the select board formally endorses the Old Seacock Town Hall rehab project as a priority, authorize the pursuit of the EDA, NEA, IMLS, LSTA, and the 21 CCLC grant opportunities outlined above, direct staff support planning process beginning this summer, provide a letter of support to the board to accompany future grant applications.

In closing, this project represents a rare opportunity to honor the town's history, invest in our youth, build a stronger economic future for all of Seacock.

From myself and Miss Almation, which are trying to do something with that property, this last slide is an honest rendering Uh, in scale might be a little bit less of, of what that project, if it, if it was ever to come to fruition, would somewhat look like.

A little bit narrower out in front, but you would have classrooms in the basement, you would have classrooms in the midsection.

Most likely, if you've been in the building, the floor joists would be lowered to build out the second floor where the detective storage used to be.

So there is quite a bit of space there.

It's a pretty big footprint, but it's a vision.

It's an idea.

It's one idea.

Other people have ideas as well.

We're not trying to trump any other idea.

We're not trying to step on anybody else that had something in the works.

It is An idea and a vision is just that, and the support we're looking for is just to get an okay for the board to work with Southeast Regional and try to pursue the grants to see if it's viable starting this summer.

Would they be writing the grants?

They've offered to write the grants with us.

So we get 40 hours of municipal assistance.

They told us that we would not be using the 40 hours of assistance assigned to SEACOC for this project.

They would, they would write the grants with us outside those 40 hours, so we wouldn't be using our assigned time that we would use for GIS mapping, drones, and things that they, that they ordered the town.

So we wouldn't be hitting that, but this would strictly be Is this funding a reality?

Can it be available to us for a project?

Uh, nothing more than that at this point.

I would think without the grants, this project wouldn't see the light of day.

No, no, many have tried to do quite a bit from, from everything I've read through, and it— you need the money.

No, you can have all the great ideas in the world if you can't get the funding.

And then sustainability is another sustainability after the funds, the grants run, right?

You need to fund it into the regular budget going forward, right?

Upkeep, maintenance, personnel.

That's why.

And that's always been the problem, right?

This is great.

It's always been the problem with— I mean, just ADA compliance is a million dollars worth of work.

But looking at this too.

There— I mean, this is very similar, or there's some similarities.

Yeah, but there are other, um, programs in the works from what I understand.

So other suggestions?

Yes.

Um, but that may take a few months for presentation.

So I mean, we could certainly start on the grants.

Yeah, we have to get The board would have to— because timing to do it right, the grant would have to be put in in the summer for the EDA grant.

Is there a deadline on these grants?

Well, yeah, they want, they want it in before the fall, uh, to get it going because it would be issued by the— pretty close to the end of the year for the EDA grant.

The CCLC grant is issued in spring.

That's why we're not even in the window for that.

But you need design and everything else.

I mean, at the end of the day, you get a building that is worth, who knows.

I mean, the building and the property, I, I just throw a number out there.

Let's say it's worth $300,000, $400,000 as it stands.

It— I know you talk about the sustainability going forward.

To build this project, we'll look at 18 months to 2 years to build it, and then the programs will start in 2028, and the CCLC funds you for a director, the instructors, maintenance It gives you up to 8 full-time equivalents for this size project.

It funds it at $600,000 for the first 3 years.

So 5 years from now, if we couldn't get another grant, we would be on the hook to keep this program going.

It would be a for-pay.

But as bad as that sounds, if we got jammed up in 5 years, we'd have a building that was worth— a multimillion-dollar building that's completely updated and renovated at that point.

So it, you know, our component of it would be, from what I'm being told, is 20%, which should probably come from CPC.

Or, or as Mr. Alves said, the pathway is bonded through CPC, um, and it would be 20%.

So that's another piece of it.

But we're not committing, in my mind, a nickel until we know we're going to get the grants and they issue the grants coming through and they say, okay, you guys got to come up with 20%.

That's a— that'll be the, the real discussion at that point.

Bob, what is the commitment after the grants run out?

You start to say, because we have to keep it going because they just spent a lot of money on us, so they're going for a couple years.

After that, is it like a 20-year period we have to keep this building going for what they just threw millions in for?

No, that conversation hasn't been had yet.

I asked that question.

They, they want to get into the details when we sit down.

It's just so early in the process, you know.

What are, what are our commitments, right?

You know, I just want to put the cart before the horse when, you know, yeah, no, taxpayers, we have $10 million projects going on and they're going to say, yeah, no, no, this, this seems to me, if it, if it was the path we ended up going and successful, that we'd be putting in 20% The government would be putting in 80%, and, and we would end up with a rehab property at a minimum in 3 years of programming.

And yeah, it might be tricky from there if, if the grants didn't keep rolling.

There's no guarantee of that, that we'd have to find a way, you know, to fund the project.

But I mean, this is just so early in the process.

Would you think SERP would be willing to come to a meeting here and meet with us?

I could ask them.

That makes sense, right?

Yeah, see what they're thinking.

For that meeting, should other stakeholders be here?

Historical commission members, like other people, so we can ask questions if other people have questions?

Well, like a joint meeting type thing, or almost like a mini quad board type thing, so you have all interested parties here so we can— we could have meetings or something like that.

We'd have it on an night and just have a meeting dedicated to that.

All right, well, I know, uh, you put a lot of effort into this.

Yep.

Oh yeah, and there are others that have proposals as well.

It's just the money.

The money's been an issue.

Yeah, it is everything.

It is the money.

And that, you know, you look at it, you say, yeah, if I could come up with a half million dollars, I could do something with that building.

I don't know what you're going to do with a half million dollars over there.

You know, you— not much.

The scope— we're talking millions to really make something of that building.

Yeah, that's a commitment that's tough to get, right?

Like I said, ADA compliant, just to get people in the building legally.

Yeah, that's your biggest— new parking lots, new everything.

It's got— it's a— it's But if you go to the stone fleet, yeah, the structure of it, I mean, they grade it from good to fair to poor, and they're saying it's in fair shape.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right, so, well, this will be a continued discussion.

Sure.

All right, and if you would reach out to Seraphim and ask if they would make themselves available, then we can continue to go from there.

All right, but thank you to both of you for doing that.

Yeah, it's a lot lot of work in a short period of time.

It was fun doing it.

Okay, next is— you're the devil again.

It's okay.

Item L, discussion and assignment of the select board members to Madeira Farm Committee representative liaison.

Uh, Mr. Gadeem told me that he did in fact send a letter to— excuse me— Mr. Justin Sullivan, and he declined a hearing.

So, um, I know Liz had expressed an interest.

Yes, she did, in being the Medeiros farm.

So I'd like to make a motion to appoint Liz as a liaison for the— from the select board.

Yes, I'll second that.

Any discussion?

No, I just have to say I think, uh, Mr. Sullivan has done a tremendous job on that committee, and he's helped that committee move right along.

Now, he's been honoring what town meeting voted for from the first presentation we got from the Parks and Rec director and the conservation commissioner.

I just would hate to see him go because he has put a lot of time and effort into that board and helped that board a lot by moving on.

That's my take on it.

I mean, regardless of the rumors, how people say he's in it personally for making his own personal backyard soccer complex, which he's talked about multiple times at public meetings, that is not true.

And he said why.

And people in the audience, which were neighbors, actually agreed with everything he said.

So it was nothing personal.

He was trying to make what the town voted on, um, at town meeting and on the back.

That's, that's my, my take on it.

Okay, Chris, I'll agree with you.

Justin's done a lot, um, but obviously, you know, he decided not to come tonight for his— for whatever reason and stuff like that.

I will say one thing that I will ask you, try as, as fast as you can learn all the inner workings of that purchase and sales agreement because there's a lot of stipulations that— right, he, when he was chairperson, he worked with the family and that's in there.

So he understood a lot of it, what can be done, what can't be done.

So that's just one thing I hope you really look into and work on, which I'm sure you will.

So yeah, good luck.

If I can just say, put this out there as well, it's there has been anyone that's listened to rumors, it's been me, especially going through the campaign, uh, process.

And, you know, it came down to— I had said to people openly, reach out to me if you have any questions.

And then a couple of days before the election, it was just, you know, what's your take on Madeira's farm?

And my whole thing is, really, that's one component of this entire town, and, and it's going to come down to that.

And I know by asking to be put in this position.

I'm putting myself in— I'm really putting myself in an awkward position because God forbid if anything happens to this project or anything changes, I'm gonna get blamed for it.

I already know I am.

That's what I just need to put out there, that I'm not looking to change anything.

I never have been, I never will be.

I want to make sure— I mean, I Um, I'm going to put it out there, it hasn't gone before zoning yet.

That, that's my biggest— that's my only issue at this point.

And the fact that he's been absent from meetings, where do things stand?

I mean, if he's the liaison, he's supposed to come periodically.

I would like to know what's going on.

Um, but regard— you know, despite whatever rumors are out there, um, and there have been many And I'm sure there'll be an article floating around by the ghost soon, um, that, uh, I'm not looking to change anything.

I'm just looking to find out what's going on.

And like you said, learn.

I, I'll get it, I'll learn it, I'll read it thoroughly.

And I'm not looking to change anything, not at all.

I think everybody thinks people have their own agenda.

I don't have an agenda.

Welcome to politics.

Yeah, I mean, if people think I have an agenda, please fill me in on it because I'd like to know what it is.

But, um, no, that's— I, I'm not discounting what he's done.

I would just like somebody to be present and keep the board, uh, apprised on things.

That's all.

Is that all?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Aye.

So 4 in favor, 1 opposed.

You've been appointed to the Medeiros Farm Committee.

Who made the second?

I got it.

I made the second.

Okay, discussion of Springtown meeting.

Okay, Michael, you want me to go first?

You want me to go last?

Um, overall I thought it went well, um, for a 6 o'clock start.

Um, we had what, around 200 people at the beginning of the meeting, I believe, just shy of that, which was— which I thought was pretty good.

Um, I do like some of the things that the new moderator instituted to streamline some things that used to take a little bit of time that jammed up the first 20 minutes of the meeting.

Um, overall, I think things went pretty smoothly.

The only thing that, um, kind of set me back a little bit was we met with the school committee several times about their budget, about their capital items.

And, um, you know, we discussed them at length, you know.

And obviously one of them was the paving of the Montesku project, which, you know, you made very clear was overpriced and everything like that.

But at the end of the day, we decided to go forward and support it as is, um, to, to, to, um, support it.

And, you know, whenever the bids came in, if they were lower, then the money would come back to the general fund anyhow.

Um, the other night Unbeknownst to me, they come up and cut that in half, and then they decide to take the project and cut it in 2 halves, which they also publicly stated that at some point they discussed it with this board.

Um, I don't ever remember having a meeting with them discussing that they were going to lower the price and cut it into 2 separate sections.

Okay, that's problem number one.

Problem number 2, we also supported the $100,000 for the, the school locks at the Hurley Middle School.

Now, we discussed that at length.

Not once did they ever say that they were going to add other facilities to it and other larger venue areas that they missed in the other schools.

So that was problem number 2.

And then third, at the very end of the meeting, they come up and they decide to reconsider an article, to, to change pretty much the scope of how the article was written in the warrant to just go for engineering services.

To me, this is why people, one, don't go to town meeting, and the people that do go to town meeting get disenchanted because at the end of a meeting you can just go up there and submarine an article and get it back the way you want it.

To me, they lost that article.

They should have went back, regrouped, come back in the fall and said this— we're going to ask for money for the engineering design of that parking lot.

So for spending all that time with them and trying to, you know, work together and stuff like that, I felt personally we didn't we didn't look very good as a board because in the middle of a meeting the moderator had to take a break to discuss the article.

And we're up front in front of, of the town people that we asked to come to a meeting when we should have our stuff together.

And it did not look professional, it didn't look good.

And then we went back to the original article and that ended up failing.

So from my standpoint, collaboration is great, but if that's how collaboration is going to work from them to us I'm done with them.

I'm done collaborating.

For me personally, that just was not— that did not sit well with me at all.

Okay.

Yeah, I was disappointed as well that we were— it was the school committee's project, the paving project.

And as the superintendent said, they've been working on this for 3 years.

And I don't— and it is needed.

I've walked the site.

Multiple times.

I mean, they're right, it's necessary.

It does flood out everywhere.

It's necessary for safety, for the maintenance of it.

But if you've been working on it for 3 years and you still don't have a comprehensive plan, estimates, drawings of pretty much what this is going to cost at this point, it's very difficult to sell that to the assembly.

And they, and they were not buying it that night.

And like you said, Mike, the project was cut in half.

We had no idea when you're throwing out a number as the school committee and everyone in the crowd is saying that's not the numbers we have in our paperwork and it's not the numbers that the board had.

So the school committee is working with the finance committee and they certainly were not working with us.

And, and it was apparent to me, and I've seen this, this played out last year when I was a resident, when the assembly or the town loses confidence in what's being presented to them, it's going nowhere.

It just gets shut down.

Absolutely.

And, and they— people sit back and say, you don't have your act together, come back to me when you have your act together, when you get your numbers straight, when you have a cohesive plan for what you're doing, and then I'll be willing to work with you on that.

But everyone was not working with us.

The other part with the, with the FINCOM recommendation to start cutting, uh, firefighters out without even considering, um, that we lose 2.5 firefighters every year.

So I ran up the 10-year spread after the meeting when I went home So looking back 10, 15 years for Seconic specifically, on the town website, we've lost about 25 people over the past 10 years alone.

I'm not cherry-picking a segmentation to look at a trend.

I'm looking at the reality of the past 10 years that there's attrition.

People look for greener pastures where they can make more money as young firefighters, not the senior guys.

But people are going to be retiring.

If you just sit there and say, I've got a fleet of 45 guys Like I have a fleet of 45 cars and you're asking for 4 more shiny brand new cars.

That's not the situation here.

These are human beings and there will be attrition.

And to sit there and say we're not going to fund it this year, well, you're going to end up being at least 2.55 at the end of the day.

So there were some things I, I wasn't happy with.

I think there needs to be more cooperation between everybody, and I think that the, uh, the residents would appreciate that well.

Liz?

Um, I pretty much what Michael said.

And just for me personally, um, that April 8th meeting, um, at the Senior Center where both the board and the school committee met for a first meeting sitting on this board, that was quite interesting.

And, um, a lot of things were said.

And after the fact, when we found out they balanced the budget, I'm like, okay, there's going to be no more of that.

And then that occurred at the meeting.

And I was like, I thought we were past this.

So I didn't appreciate it.

We should have been made aware of what they were going to do.

And just to touch upon what Bob had just said, with the Finance Committee, I appreciate them meeting beforehand.

I appreciate that they didn't make a recommendation to shoot it down, but they still got up, got up to speak.

You know, you need to look at where we're going to be.

Well, let's take a look at where we are with being down the number of firefighters that we need.

So yeah, I mean, the meeting went okay.

It's just a couple of things that I think could have been better.

This is the first time that— and the Finance Committee, as we found out at that meeting, did things differently than what they usually have been.

It's the first time that I could ever remember that on the town budget that's published in the warrant, the column for Finance Committee recommendation was blank, right?

Yeah, I've never remembered— I've never remembered seeing that.

So yeah, no, and, and I can agree with a lot of the sentiments that you guys have already said.

Chris?

I agree with a lot of it.

Uh, it was definitely— you were just touching on FinComm, and we We met with them, even their own vice chair and members were confused because for years they've always met with every department and for some reason this year they did not.

They didn't know why and we didn't know why because Sean had even said it, I never told no department head or anything not to go to you guys.

I guess normally they set it up.

They haven't, they have some, a new board this year, people in different positions.

When they brought up the school parking lot and they mentioned that we had met with the finance and select board over this number, I actually said out loud, when did we meet?

And Mr. Healy looked at me like, I don't remember that either.

Because I actually said to Ms. Kidwell that to separate that project in half is one of the stupidest ideas.

It's cost prohibitive.

To bring the machines back on site to redo it again is— I think you touched on it, same.

That's ridiculous.

They're already in the ground with the drainage.

One touches the other, keep it going.

So I never agreed to that.

I believe they said FinCom recommended it, but once again, they informed to tell us any of this stuff.

Um, so it was different.

It was a little different.

And for people keeping track at home with the 6 o'clock attendance, as of 6:10 PM that night, we had 161 registered voters checked in.

At 7 o'clock, that number went up to 200.

Then between, by the arrest of the meanie, and a couple people came after 7 o'clock, so we had 212 people.

So just about that 6 o'clock early start, I'm sorry, yeah, the 6 o'clock early start.

Some people, not everyone made it by 7, not everyone made it by 6, but you did get up to 212 people at the conclusion of the meeting.

I think the 6 o'clock start is a success, in my opinion.

I'm curious to see what the survey says.

Yeah, I'm curious to see how the survey— yeah, see what the people say.

No, you're right, if they take the time to do it.

Yeah, you know, yeah, I, I know there was some— I'm not a big social media guy, but I, I was told from a few people that there were some people that were upset, um, to the change.

But like I said, let's see what the survey says.

Few people don't make the majority.

But some people apparently couldn't make it.

Some people obviously, by the numbers Chris gave out, arrived late.

So we'll see what the survey says.

Either it's like if they do, they don't, they don't.

They figured either traffic getting out of work, or they still thought town meeting was at 7.

Yeah.

But if people, and just myself included, if you're working at Providence or Warwick or Cranston, you're not getting over that bridge and getting home and then to the meeting by 6, correct?

You're just not.

That's, that's just awful, that situation.

Yeah.

Well, other than that, that's all I have.

All right, anybody all set?

Okay, consider accepting the open session meeting minutes of April 8th, 2026, April 15th, 2026 and April 29th, 2026.

So these are split, right, Chris?

You had one and I had 2 of these.

Um, I think you had the 8th, I had the 15th and 29th, if I'm correct.

Oh, April 8th, I believe.

I mean, I did it, but I'll, I'll make a motion to approve, uh, April 8th.

Second.

Uh, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

What about April 15th?

A motion to approve.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And April 29th?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

All right, next, community speaks.

Yes, ma'am.

These chairs get away from you sometimes.

Doreen Taylor, 101 Forsyth.

Um, I missed town meeting Monday night, um, for a family emergency, and it was funny because the police chief said he sent 4 cars out looking for me, but for a wellness check.

But I did watch from home.

I did.

And I think overall, coming out of the gates, I think Mr. Durkee did a wonderful job as the new moderator.

I am very confused with the Finance Committee, and I have been very upset with the way the Finance Committee functions as a group.

Reason being, I have 6 years experience on the Finance Committee, and I learned from the best in Beverly Hart.

For them to not hold departmental meetings and to vote to reduce the fire department's budget by $210,000— where were they going to put that money?

They never said.

They did.

At the meeting beforehand, they did.

It was beforehand.

Beforehand.

Right.

But the thing of it is, is that if you don't look at their budgets and you don't study their budgets on a regular basis, how can you make any valid recommendation with confidence at town meeting.

Um, I spoke with Mr. Durkee, who as moderator appoints the FinCom.

I offered some ideas which he was very open to, but if that Finance Committee as is expects to get any credibility and any confidence out of the town's people.

They need to do their jobs.

I couldn't tell from home watching it who was speaking on behalf of the Finance Committee.

When one member spoke about the fire department, I was like, wait a minute, is he the majority or is he the minority?

What's his point?

In the absence of a chairman for the Finance Committee, the vice chairman is the one that leads the pack at town meeting.

Now, if a member of— a member of the Finance Committee disagrees with a vote, they are welcome to present a minority report at town meeting.

I've done that before, and then— and it was in writing.

Signed and dated, and you hand that to the town clerk to make it part of the town meeting records.

I have never seen anything done like that before with this group.

Um, the fact that they collectively— I guess the majority of them were the ones that were, um, wanting to dish on fire department, then the responsibility of the vice chairman should have been to explain it, not the member.

It should have come from the vice chairman.

We voted this way and we voted this way because— and enter it into the record.

That was just a complete mess.

A complete mess.

And I am passionate about that, as I am with everything that's labeled SEACOC.

But do your jobs.

And if they're not certain what their jobs are, then it can be very simply outlined for them.

But to not hold department head meetings I will just go on record and say that when I served, there was a liaison from the FinCom to every department.

Budgets were looked at at every FinCom meeting, and the liaisons who met with department heads would come back and give a report.

This is where this budget stands.

This is where the department head is going.

Mr. Healy, you know this from being the fire chief, right?

And that's how they function.

Mr. Jutras took care of fire and police, and we would sit at our meetings, and if there were any questions by any of the membership of the FinCom, that liaison went back to the department head And by our next meeting, we had answers.

And there was never any issue with any department head working with the FinCom.

This is what they need to get back to.

Their core responsibility is to watch those budgets.

If the expense column, when it gets to a percentage that's creeping higher and higher, like 50% is gone and they're not halfway through the, the fiscal year yet, red flags went off.

Ask what's happening.

You know, could have a very good reason.

But that way, when FinCom goes to town meeting, they can support the department heads or not, but they would have good information, current information.

It's their responsibility to the public.

That's what they're there for.

And everybody can say, oh, they're just advisory, they're just advisory.

They need to be listened to, but they need to be listened to if they're doing their jobs.

And I'm sorry, but this crew is not outside of the vice chairman.

I don't know what the game plan is, but this is not good.

And they need their credibility restored because they are a vital part of serving the public, even in an advisory capacity, because they are supposed to be looking at that budget at every single meeting.

That was it.

I got lost with the timeout because the screen went blue and I was like, timeout?

Who's misbehaving now?

I'm not even there, you know?

And I'm like, I don't— I didn't understand what was going on.

Oh, we didn't either.

But, uh, I really— I agree with you all.

You got blindsided and that That wouldn't sit well.

And if the Finance Committee made the recommendation to the School Committee to split that project— that's what we were told— and that means that's true, then you know what?

Again, that's not their job right there.

Not their job.

They need to pull together as a team.

They need to have their leadership in line with chairman and vice chair, who speaks, who doesn't speak.

And actually, you know, their reports are supposed to be in writing.

Their recommendations are supposed to be made public 14 days prior to town meeting.

We question that.

It's not directory, it's, it's advisory.

It's not that— it is, it is advisory, but their are advisory.

All their recommendations are advisory, but they're not held to the 14 days.

Then I, I'm sorry, Miss Almeida, then why is it in the bylaws?

I question that myself, and Town Council did come back to me and explain it to me that it's not regulatory for the 14 days, it's advisory.

And that was my issue because in looking at the charter The wording needs to be changed then.

Exactly.

And that leads me into another topic of comparing charter to bylaws.

There's contradictions in the documents, and I know we've tried to rewrite the charter many times and it has failed, but I think, in, in just my opinion, your starting point has to be comparing the 2 documents and words being used in both are listed and written the same in both.

No, I agree.

And when there's a reference to Mass General Law, there needs to be a chapter and a section included.

Simply throwing out words— Mass General Law, Mass General Law— you know Miss Almeida, the library with Mass General Law is to hear from the moon, you know, to the moon and back, and to find something is difficult.

So if the average person is looking at the charter and it says Mass General Law, it would be helpful to have the chapter and verse to go with it.

But I don't think I'll miss another town meeting unless I'm dead, but I'm sorry I missed this one, but watching it from home was different.

It was very different.

And I really feel bad that you guys got blindsided because you went out of your way this budget cycle to welcome the school department, to speak with them, let them have their say, whatever, however.

And you guys, you did— you got run over.

By a bus.

Okay, end of story.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else for community speaks?

Seeing none.

Okay, other business.

Any topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours before the meeting?

There is none.

I do have something.

Okay.

Um, but the police chief— no, when you get the selectman's comments, you can select them.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Yep.

Town Administrator's report, there is none.

Uh, accounts payable warrant, that's taken care of.

TV9, Michael, nothing at this time.

All right.

Bristol County Advisory Board, nothing at this time.

All right, so why don't we start with Chris?

Chris, do you have any comments for tonight?

Um, I was just going to say, moving forward with the Finance Committee, to have some joint meetings as they proposed, which I don't know if that would have made a difference, um, before that meeting, but I think going forward, once we are outside of a cardboard meeting, maybe we should have a joint meeting with them at some point in the following year, next year.

And also, um, I'd like to see us have a joint meeting or ask people from the Water Commission either the actual employee.

I don't— they mentioned Rob Bernardo's name the other night in town meeting, but I think he's been out of the picture for a few years now.

No, no, he's back.

Oh, he is back?

Yeah, on an interim basis.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, I know we've had a rocky relationship with the water district over the years, um, with— as far as projects go in this town, it's always been us versus them.

I get it, they're separate identity, they're not part of us, but I think we should establish a good relationship with them.

I don't know if they're interested or their elected members are interested in coming in and if we have questions for them to ask.

If not, I know they had a meeting the other night I was unable to attend, but I just think to rebuild the relationship, 'cause I thought Mr. Cooper was in charge.

He's been there for a couple years now.

He left.

Oh, he left, okay.

Yep.

All right, I know when Mr. Sullivan was chair, we had talked about rebuilding the relationship with them, with Mr. Cooper, and— but he was brand new, so we had talked about it at some point, reaching out to them and having a productive conversation.

And so we're on the same page, no more them blaming us for stuff and back and forth stuff with, uh, the history of the town.

Okay, that's all I have.

Michael?

I don't have anything at this time, Mr. Chairman.

Liz?

Um, I had a resident reach out to me, Mr. Mr. Benoit from Brown Ave with complaints about the trucks and the speeding on Brown Ave, the trucks coming from R&L and just the speeding in general.

He said that they had a digital radar speed sign up and then it disappeared.

And they would like that replaced.

They would like— they're requesting police to have more of a presence over there.

He was under the impression that when R&L moved in, they were told or were directed to use Pine Street instead of Brown Ave.

I don't know about that, if there's any way of finding that out, but they're having a major problem with speeding.

The original trucking company that was there was called Kawari Freight, and they went bankrupt, and then R&L bought that out, and yes.

All right, well, they're having— like I said, they're having, um, a real problem with the trucks flying down there, and the tandem trailers are just making everything shake.

Their houses shake.

And I, and I, I'm in agreement, that street isn't built for commercial transportation.

So would it be possible for someone to reach out to the police chief to discuss this and to possibly get that digital speed radar sign back.

That sign they move around town for different streets.

We have 2 of them, I believe, 2 or 3, and they put in different, different areas of town so it actually catches people's attention to say, oh, I'm speeding, right?

What they found is that if you leave it there too long, people just, they block it out and it no longer is effective.

So that's not a permanent sign.

They actually move around on purpose in different neighborhoods and stuff.

I don't think it collects the data though for that.

I think it was just the new trailers we bought.

I'm just— I think it only collects the type of vehicles.

Is that what it was?

It doesn't take anything.

I'm not sure though.

But so for that resident that had it there 100%, you know, all year round, that digital sign, they found this not really effective.

It might as well just be a standard sign, non-digital, for speed.

Well, can we, um, in the alternative, because it's going to be a town expense if that— if if Brown Ave starts eroding because of the weight of the trucks, can we write a letter and reach out to R&L and alert them of this so that maybe, maybe they can— I think that's a simple meeting by someone going down there and letting them know.

Someone of authority.

Why don't we have a conversation with the police chief first?

First, okay.

And go through Mr. Kadeem.

And okay, so do I have permission to contact— like, do you want to contact Mr. Kadeem, or can I?

No, you do it.

You I'm sure you spoke with the gentleman, the resident.

And I agree about the sign.

It's not permanent, but I think if we can put it out there— I mean, we don't know, I don't know how long it's been since it's been gone.

Right, right.

But, you know, maybe new drivers.

But I mean, I live right on Newman Ave across from R&R Farm, and I see the trucks flying by.

And they do fly by Brown Ave.

They do.

They fly down there.

And I don't want to see that road take a beating.

Um, and you've got the sanctuary over there too, you know, the, um, yeah.

And it's like, yeah, so all right, I'll email.

So they're coming from Newman down Brown Ave?

Yeah, just shortcuts.

Because when they get to Baker's Corners, for them to take the right onto Pine Street is very tight, right?

And anybody that knows this town, that pole that's on that corner has been hit repeatedly, right?

Right now there's a big chunk out of a brand new one they just put up not that long ago because it's just too tight.

They're flying down there.

Yeah, so they, they've learned to get on Brown Avenue.

It was a quicker and easier way and everything like that.

But I agree with you.

I mean, this issue came up a couple years ago about traffic on Brown Ave, and it's, it's real simple.

Get the sign back out there.

Yeah, police presence out there a couple of days and everybody will slow down again.

Okay, easy fix.

Okay, then I'll email him.

Okay, all set.

Thank you.

Yes, Bob?

I'm good.

Okay.

So last meeting I read this announcement from John Orban of the planning department, and he wants me to do it again, announcing the roundtable discussion being held by the planning board on May 19th at 7:00 PM at the senior center.

It's to review the master plan and elements currently adopted and convene a discussion on appropriate goals, objectives, and strategies regarding the town's public services and facilities, as well as transportation issues, challenges, opportunities, and future needs.

They're extending invites to all town boards and the professional staff to be there.

So it's 7 PM on the 19th of May.

All right, you heard me speak before about having an early quad board meeting, so I would like to suggest, looking at our calendar and looking at the school department calendar, and I'd have to certainly talk to the Finance Committee and the School Committee, but would Monday night, June 29th, at the Senior Center, would that work for you guys?

A quad board?

Yeah.

For what?

Just because we're already in this year's budget?

I thought you were talking about like next year, like earlier.

But the problem is when we do meet in— what is it, September, October— the numbers aren't even out then.

No, no, I don't want numbers.

I want to have a discussion on— first of all, I mentioned about— I think we should have a good conversation about maintenance and how we could maybe merge some of them.

I know Bob, you and Liz during your campaign said you'd really like to delve into the town budget and see where all the spending goes.

That's an area that can be done.

And I'd also like to do a deep dive, and I've had conversations with some of the school committee and the vice chairman of the school committee, of the finance committee, to do a deep dive into special education.

And the cost associated with it.

So I think if we start early, just have a conversation and see where it's going to go.

If everybody's buying in and they want to really get into this and see what we can fix so that we, we learn the lessons from this past budget cycle, let's hope we can make it all go better going forward.

So does that date sound decent?

It's a Monday night.

Sure, yes, at 7 PM.

Yeah, I would say so.

Let's collaborate.

That's what— let's collaborate.

Common sense night.

You can't even say the word.

Yes.

Okay.

And I mentioned before, at our next meeting, I'd like you all to come in with our goals and objectives for this year.

Um, I think that's— that would be helpful.

I would say the 29th is the week of the 4th, so the 4th is Saturday, so correct.

So businesses honor on the 5th, so maybe people won't even be around that week.

I will, but I'm saying if people take vacation on the 4th— well, the 4th will start the holiday.

Yeah, we'll see, we'll see.

We're saying as far as trying to get all those members— yeah, there you go.

Talk about May 27th.

No, June.

Oh, June.

June 29th.

June 20th.

No, I got that one.

I— oh.

I know you said the goals and objectives.

Oh yeah, yeah, yes, yes, for the next meeting.

Yes.

And I, I threw this out just for the heck of it, of just something to think about, and we can talk about it again next meeting.

Maybe moving the start times to the Board of Selectmen to 5 PM and see where that goes.

And maybe try it for the summer and just see if that's something that works, or if it doesn't work, or see the pros and cons and go from there.

And the vote we took, Liz, to write the letter to the school committee about the Indian— would you like to write the letter?

Sure.

Okay.

And of course they'll all sign it.

Well, I'll sign it.

Absolutely.

Okay, that sounds like something.

I'll run it by you.

I'll prepare it and then I'll send it to you, make sure.

Yep.

Okay, you're okay with it.

And then, yeah.

Is there anything else?

If not, entertain a motion.

Chief, oh, just wanted to remind everybody, uh, in the town, Saturday, May 23rd, Memorial Day Parade, step off at 10 AM from the Seekonk High School.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, I entertain a motion to adjourn at 7:38 PM.

Chris Zorra.

I'll second that.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you.