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Raynham Select Board 01/13/2026
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(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)
Big decisions rarely arrive with fanfare, but this meeting delivers a clear look at how Raynham moves forward. We start with a sobering milestone—record fire calls and a 38% rise since 2019—paired with the joy of Secret Santa reaching 158 kids. From there, the highway team unpacks winter response, permits, and the slow, necessary work that keeps bridges, culverts, and roads safe. Community spirit takes center stage with a Recognition Award for Senior Center director Erin Medeiros, whose programs and monthly meals are lifting seniors and strengthening ties.
We also navigate a careful, public debate on the police chief’s three‑year contract extension. You’ll hear why the board secured leadership continuity, how union-aligned raises and merit pay were structured, and why one member abstained on fiscal principle while affirming support for the chief. On the capital front, we detail change orders, estimates, and a realistic timeline for the Public Safety Building, including temporary relocations to keep services running without interruption.
Practical choices round out the night: exempting Raynham nonprofits from town alcohol license fees, safety approvals, and drafting a letter urging the state gaming commission to honor legislation enabling a sports-betting license at Raynham Park. We approve hires for the children’s librarian and a part-time assistant, acknowledge a $68,000 school earmark for safety and tech upgrades, and address retiree health card delays with a push for clearer communication. We even tackle the latest development buzz at the Party City site, with a pre‑submission for a Chick‑fil‑A indicating real momentum.
If you care about how community, safety, and budgets fit together, this conversation lays it out with clarity and heart. Subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave a quick review—what decision mattered most to you?
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Okay, I'm going to call the meeting to order of the Rainham Select Board at 7 o'clock PM here on Tuesday, January 13th, 2026, here at Veterans Memorial Town Hall at 558 South Main Street. Thank you for joining us. This meeting is open to the public and it's great to see so many people here. It is also being broadcast live on the Rainham Channel, on Comcast Channel 98, and Verizon Channel 34. It is also being recorded by Ray Cam for replay on the Rainham Channel. Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. I Pledge of Allegiance by the United States of America. Thank you. Next we have acceptance of the minutes, the regular session of January 6, 2026, and the executive session of January 6, 2026, with the executive session minutes withheld from public release at this time. Do I have a motion to accept the minutes as printed?
SPEAKER_05:So moved.
SPEAKER_08:Motion is made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none in favor?
unknown:All right.
SPEAKER_08:Any opposed? So voted. Next we have our department head reports, our fire chief, Chief Brian Lesivita. Welcome, Chief.
SPEAKER_02:Good evening. Hey. Uh it's uh yeah. The uh uh report for the month of uh December for the fire department. Uh 100 uh fire calls, 284 medical emergencies, and 421 inspectional services. Uh last year there was a typo. Uh we did three 3,865 calls. This year we did 4,030 calls, which is uh another record year here for reign and fire. Really, it that goes smoothly because of what the guys and the command staff do over there at the fire station. That that's a pretty busy department, and just as a an aside, that's since 2019, that's a 30%, uh 38% increase in calls. So that's quite a um it's quite a jump. And the last thing I will say is Secret Santa is always a success, and I spoke about it last month. But uh I just wanted to say well, Secret Santa helped 158 children and uh 50 58 families, 158 children, and that again that that's the police department, that's the fire department, and uh guys stepping up to uh to uh try to make the community a little bit better on Christmas.
SPEAKER_08:That's great, Chief. And we love to see Santa on that fire engine escorted by uh police and fired, driving up and down all the streets in Rain. Awesome. Mr. Pachiko, questions or no questions, thank you. Mr. No questions promised.
SPEAKER_06:Thanks, Chief.
SPEAKER_08:Thanks, Chief, and as always, thank you for everything you and the members of the department do to keep us safe. Uh next on our agenda we have department head reports from our highway superintendent, Norm Sturdivett. Welcome, Norm.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Happy New Year. Some updates from the Highway Department for the month of December. Uh we had a busy start to the winter season with 12 snow events. One event on 1226 and 1227 required a full full plow event where Rainham received approximately four inches of snow. Uh Solid Waste Division has been busy with the holiday season. And also just a reminder to the residents that the permits, the transfer station permits, have run out. So we've been busy selling those uh in the office, and we do have some um added dates to help with those uh sales, and those will be Saturday hours, which is 1.24, 131, and February 7th to help out with those sales. Uh some other important dates. The brush pile will open on uh Saturday, April 4th, and we do have a hazardous waste day scheduled for April 4th, uh uh 26th and October 3rd of 26th. Uh our road crew's been busy with uh snow and ice repairs to the equipment, uh, some miscellaneous work order repairs around town, and some road repairs and pothole repairs as needed around town as well. Uh parks and grounds has been busy with uh fleet maintenance to the John Deere fleet and an update on some road projects. We have um still waiting on some permits for the Gardner Street Bridge and Dam, uh for the Pine Street Culvert, uh the old colony bridge, and we're working uh doing some things in between, waiting for those permits, such as easements, um, and some test drills that we'll be doing out on Pine Street Culvert in the next few weeks. Uh and that is all I have.
SPEAKER_08:Thank you. Questions, comments? No, nothing, thank you.
SPEAKER_06:No questions. Thanks, Norwell.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, and again, thank you for all your efforts.
SPEAKER_00:Sure.
SPEAKER_08:Thank you. Okay, so we have no appointments this evening. We have no public hearing. Completion of old or continuing business. Do you have anything, Mr. Pacifica? No, madam chair. Mr. Collins? Mr. Barnes?
SPEAKER_07:We had uh two hearings scheduled, uh uh which will be both held next week, um meeting involving the change of managers for two two establishments with alcohol license.
SPEAKER_08:Those are the two that we tabled the last meeting. Thank you, Mr. Barnes. And that brings us to new business. And one of our favorite things to do is our Rainham Recognition Award. And as I'm sure you're all aware, the Rainham Recognition Award is an award that was created by this board and um awarded by the board periodically to any town resident or residence, town group or organization, or town employee or town official deserving of special recognition. Only currently serving elected officials are not eligible. Everyone else? It's fine. The award could be for an individual act of courage or kindness for achieving a particular goal or accomplishment, for a worthy achievement, or for years of dedication or service. The purpose for it is designed to provide an opportunity to celebrate the positive efforts of the award recipients, thereby contributing to the goal of promoting a sense of mutual respect, teamwork, and community spirit, not only within the town government, but also across our greater community. And we did receive a nomination from the um Rainham Council page of Chairman Jantex Sarah to the Senior Center to recommend Erin Modiers for the Rainham Recognition Award. She's an outstanding director of the senior center in all the ways she plans for the seniors' activities and carries through with efficiency and style. She is well liked and her efforts are appreciated by everyone who meets her. We feel she is very deserving of this award. And as you know, Erin serves as our town of Rainham's Community Services Director, and her duties include serving as the director of the Rainham Senior Center and working closely with the Rainham Council on Aging, as well as coordinating the SAVE program for Rainham. Her duties at the Senior Center include overseeing the day-to-day operation, as well as planning and overseeing the many activities, services, and events that are offered at the senior center for the benefit of our Rainham senior population. And the board received a nomination and we enthusiastically and unanimously supported it. So we have um a certificate this evening to present to Aaron. But first I'd like to call, maybe um, since you made the nomination, Mr. Texera, would you like to get up and say a few words and maybe introduce for us the members of the council that are here with us?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I'll let them do that themselves. Okay. Okay. Paul, go ahead. Introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Paul Bowen. You're not a member, but that's my name. It's your wife. Your wife is. Hi, Cheryl Bowen. Thank you, Connor. Anyone else? Thank you so much for coming.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Uh it's well deserving, okay. As I said in the letter, she has brought a uh life to that senior center that we hadn't seen in a long, long time. Uh people are happy. People there there are so many new programs there that are just fantastic. I mean, I can't get over the one where they beat on this big rubber ball. I mean, people just love that. They go crazy for this thing. I think we saw that in Dying. Is that where we saw that program the first time? She's well deserving of it. Everyone likes her as I said. Uh, she brings in new programs every time she can. She's uh initiated uh a meal. We we don't do it very often because one of the things that as you as you noted when you visited other senior centers with us is most of the senior centers in this area provide meals every single day. We don't have the facilities for it, but she does the best she can and does it uh once a month for us, which is a great thing. Uh I mean I I'm just beating a dead horse at this point. I mean, I can't say enough about her, and and uh, I'm sure the rest of the board has the same feelings about it.
SPEAKER_08:She's a welcoming attitude and atmosphere when you come here. Um, any comments, Mr. De Chico?
SPEAKER_05:No, just appreciate the feedback, John, uh, from you and your board on the observations that you folks have made and where you work more closely with her than we do, so thank you.
SPEAKER_08:Mr.
SPEAKER_06:Second Collins, thank you. And um, it speaks volumes of you know, the chair of the board that she works so closely with the group that decides to recognize her. I think that speaks a lot to our leadership and obviously the effort and fashion that you presented very much. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_08:So, thank you, John, and it says the Rainham Select Board hereby presents the Rainham Recognition Award to Erin Madeiris, her dedicated service to Rainham Senior Citizens, in her position as the town of Rainham's Community Service Director, and in her role as director of the Rainham Senior Center. With deep appreciation, the select board hereby joins the Council on Aging in recognizing Ms. Madeiris for her service. Presented on this date, January 13th, 2026, and it's signed by myself, uh Joseph Chico, Vice Chair, and Kenneth Collins, Clerk. And Aaron, we would like to present this to you.
SPEAKER_01:I just want to say a couple words first. I just it will be quick. I just want to say thank you to the COA board, the Select Board, for the Rainham Recognition Award. I'm truly honored and very grateful. This is this recognition really reflects the teamwork, support, and encouragement I've received from all of you, as well as my co-workers Paula and Laurie, um, at the senior center. None of this would be possible without the shared ideas, collaboration, and support we have as a team. I've learned so much from all of you, and I'm proud to be part of such a dedicated team here in Rainham. Um, thank you all for believing in me and for the meaningful recognition, and I'm excited to continue growing, contributing, and doing great work together as a team. Thank you again. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_08:All right, thank you. And you don't have to stay with us for the rest of the meeting if you do not want to. So thank you all for coming. Okay, and moving along, next on our agenda under new business, we have discussion and vote of the non-union employment agreement extension for David Laplant as police chief. And this is a um we have the terms of the tentative agreement with Chief LePlant. This basically is a three-year extension to his current contract uh covering the the period of time from July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. And I will just say that I think this was motivated um by the fact that we really wanted to keep Chief LePlant here with us for an additional three years. Um, I think we agree that he has done such a great job, not only with our police department, but in the community. The involvement that he and our police department have shown in our being active in our schools and in our community is phenomenal and it is so important. So basically the contract, as I said, is for three years. Effective July 1, 2026, Chief LePlant's salary shall be increased by 10% to an annual salary of$232,332.87. Effective July 1, 2027, Chief LePlant's salary will be increased by the same percentage increase that the Rainham Police Union receives for fiscal year 2028. And effective July 1, 2028, Chief LePlant's salary will be increased by the same percentage increase that the Reign Police Union receives for fiscal year 2029. There is also a possibility of a 1% merit increase for the second and third years based on uh meeting performance objectives as evaluated by the town administrator and approved by the select board. Those are the main um highlights of the agreement. We did vote to approve this in executive session. Um it was a two in favor, one abstention. And now I would just ask to revote that in open meeting and also to authorize um myself to uh sign the contract on behalf of the board. Do you either of you want to make that motion? Okay, Mr. Collins.
SPEAKER_05:I'll second for discussion.
SPEAKER_08:Okay, um, okay. So we have a motion and second under discussion.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you, Madam Chair. I I just want to be clear to confirm and or clarify my my abstaining. Um, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and recognizing that words matter. Um, and so I I want to be clear as I think I was with the two of you during the negotiations, and I fully respect both of your opinions, that my abstaining is not a reflection on whether I think Dave should continue as chief or not, and I know that was a concern that the two of you had as well. And so I want to be very clear and unambiguous that I believe he should continue. For me, if this was a simple employment contract to renew or a financial contract in line with what we've done for other people, I would be an enthusiastic yes. But in this situation, that's not the case. And so for me, how I've always guided my decisions around fiscal responsibility and fairness, and what I mean by that is can we afford these if we do it for everybody? And the total, if we did this for everybody, meaning the 17 other non-contract employees that we have would be$135,000 in new payroll. And so uh for me that is the driving force behind my abstaining, and I'm abstaining as opposed to voting yes or no, because I I want to be clear again around what words mean and how words can be interpreted. And so I want to be clear that again I support the chief continuing to be chief, uh, but a yes vote, in my opinion, would portray my support for the financial terms of the contract, and that's not something I can do. And a no vote I fail would portray lack of support for the chief's continued employment, and I can't do that either. Uh, and so respectfully I am abstaining from that.
SPEAKER_08:Thank you, Mr. Pacico. Mr. Collins, do you want to comment?
SPEAKER_06:Um respectfully, I can easily disagree with that, but um, I would without getting into the weeds of it all, this was an easy um yes for me, and I do understand and respect uh Mr. Pachico's position. Um, what I would say to that is off rate, um, and that he should have been given what I consider a huge hometown discount and sort of put himself in a bad spot for the for the second negotiation. So um I have no problem with it. I think it's a great structure, and we have good structure outside of the union for the first time in the PDF. Yes for me.
SPEAKER_08:Thank you, Mr. Collins. And basically, I will just say that basically the terms were based on uh reading the union contract that we just negotiated. It seemed only fair that the chiefs should receive the same benefits that um union members did. And um I'm just excited about Chief Le Plant continuing. I think he's done a great job, as I said, very involved in the community, doing a great job in the police department, and I look forward to the next three years. So with that, I'll take a vote. All in favor. Aye. I'll actually do a roll call. Mr. Collins.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, aye.
SPEAKER_08:Uh Mr. Pacico. And uh Chair votes aye, so it passes on a vote of two in favor and one abstention. Thank you so much. Chief, do you want to comment?
SPEAKER_06:Thanks, Chief. I just thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_08:All right, thank you, and thank you all for joining us this evening. Okay, all right, so continuing now, and again, you also don't have to stay with us. Thanks for having me. Um, continuing with our agenda, next we have discussion and vote on chain or change orders with Dor and Whittier and Pomroy Associates for the Public Safety Building Project. Uh, Mr. Barnes, what can you tell us about this?
SPEAKER_07:Uh Doran Whittier is our designer for the public safety project, and um Pomroy is our uh uh uh owner's uh project manager for the project. Uh so these are two uh change orders involving the project. They have to they relate to the fact that rates have changed and also some changes in in the project itself. And I both I uh recommend both of them. I've had uh a number of meetings uh in which this has been discussed and uh asked uh a great deal of questions. Um most of these costs are already reflected in prior estimates of the of the project, so we're not expecting this is going to change the bottom line estimate. We are expecting in the next few months an updated estimate, and uh ultimately the goal at this point is to have a uh bid in hand by late October, early November, and to be able to go to town meeting uh to uh address any uh the the fall town meeting to address any uh remaining deficiencies and to start construction in January, February of 2027. Uh the plan would be uh currently that the the fire and the dispatch will stay in the existing structure. The majority of that structure will be torn down. The police will move over to the North School, which will become the temporary headquarters for the police, and uh in near near the location of where the fire and the dispatches will be built the new building. Um and ultimately once that's completed, the the remaining part will be torn down and that will become part of the parking lot. So again, um things are moving along, and uh this is uh with any of these projects you have many changes.
SPEAKER_05:orders uh i believe uh the doran whittier one is uh the number the tenth change order and the the the palmroid one is the fourth change order change order and finally moving forward after much delay many delays mr be cheaper motion to approve and second the motion has been made and seconded any discussion hearing and all in favor all right any opposed so voted thank you all right next we have review in uh a discussion and review of draft policy on alcohol licenses and fees and mr barnes i believe a more comprehensive policy is being crafted but in the meantime we have a proposed policy that any rainham based nonprofit be exempt from any type of alcohol license fees charged by the town of rainham yes we are in the process of creating uh uh a policy and it seems every time we come up with a few things we add a few more things this is meant to be a policy that we give to all the those who apply or renew so everyone is clear on what is expected of them you know who who uh the the license goes for uh sign off how much the license is um it you know makes uh uh a relationship with the state that oversees this whole process so uh we're still in the process of updating that but we do want to uh make it clear based on past practice um that uh uh uh uh reign and nonprofits are exempt from any fees thank you mr burns mr collins i'm sorry mr collins this head call that's right no that this is what i was asking for last week uh and as i said i didn't need to see the rest of the policy but i just want to make sure that we're moving forward with this thank you mr collins would you look at a motion yes and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor any opposed so voted next we have discussion and vote on the 36th annual Rodman ride for kids which would go through part of the town and this is from May 16th 2026 um this is an ongoing annual event it's been going through town for many years yeah motion to approve of police and fire and second okay so this motion to approve contingent upon approval by the uranium police and fire all in favor and opposed so voted next we have discussion in vote on a letter in support of Rainham Park yeah Madam Chair I had brought this up last week as I had mentioned to the two of you um they're at least right now in a temporary closure to do some renovation but uh longer term the the viability I would say of their operations are pretty bleak uh I had a meeting with some of their stakeholders Representative Gallagher and Senator Brady recently uh and and there's a lot of moving parts to it um that I won't bore the board with in terms of the intricate details but long story short legislation had been passed four years ago that provided for spedding um licenses to be given to brick and mortar establishments and in that legislation specifically Rainham Park was called out as being eligible to receive one of those licenses uh and certainly it's a far cry from their original uh attempts to get a slots parlor license but uh it's something that again allows them to maintain some viability uh and complement the uh off track betting that they have in terms of trial casting in other states and here we are four years later and that still has not happened the gaming commission seems for whatever reason uh not interested in moving that forward and so uh I think it's long time that we uh at least in my opinion offer our support to them uh by sending a letter to the gaming commission asking the gaming commission uh to adhere to the legislative prerogative absolutely do we have a draft of the letter or we're just voting I told Mr. Barnes that the two of you were in agreement that I would work with him to draft it as I have all the info upstairs.
SPEAKER_08:Sure sure so this is just a vote to um send a letter yes correct and a second sure absolutely second discussion hearing and all in favor the opposed so voted thank you uh next we have discussion and vote on filling the children's librarian position and also a part-time library assistant uh Mr.
SPEAKER_07:Barnes uh in both cases we've had resonations uh uh one is going to a job in their hometown the other one is going to a more lucrative opportunity um and uh these are considered to be both critical positions uh which the library wants to fill as soon as possible sure thank you I know particularly the children's librarian Jesse McKinney's been there for quite some time and she's done a phenomenal job so that will be a huge loss. Yes uh the the uh uh children's component of the library is a very big component of the library and this is the one position that's dedicated toward that I just re-emphasizing these are not new positions they're filling vacancies I would motion to approve thank you motion has been made and seconded any discussion hearing and all in favor any opposed so voted um next we have on the agenda town administrative performance review and I believe we're looking for a motion to table this yes madam chair I know there's uh some additional back end work that needs to be completed by all parties and so I would uh motion to table this until such time as that can be completed.
SPEAKER_08:I'll second that motion is remained and seconded any discussion hearing and all in favor? Aye any opposed so voted and that takes us to town administrators report Mr.
SPEAKER_07:Barnes uh yes uh we received word from the state as to we I had already known about this but the state kindly provided a sixty eight thousand dollar earmark to be expended by the Rainham Public Schools for capital improvements, technology upgrades, security camera upgrades and sprinkler head replacements. There was some uh issue as to who the monies would go to both Bridgewater that got 70,000 and us agreed that uh the schools themselves should be the lead finance entity in this so uh we have uh put that toward the schools who have agreed to take that role and again it directly benefits uh the schools and and and uh by extension this grant for rainham the 70 additional thousand and above the 68000 for for bridgewater so we're thankful for the uh state legislature for those um uh for those uh uh earmarks um there was an incident today involving a uh uh just one second here uh on Broadway there was a car uh that uh did um uh go into a house um I understand Peters here that the uh there may have been a medical incident involving the um uh driver um but uh the driver is going to survive uh yes okay so and then um finally um uh we're having a pre-submission meeting for a new building proposal for Party City tomorrow this is an internal thing and I know there's been a lot of speculation as to what might go there uh the latest proposal and believe me there's been many proposals is a Chick-fil-A so we'll see if that actually goes for before that there was discussions of a raising cane before that we had uh uh uh O'Reilly uh and it started off as a uh um Texas roadhouse so it's been through a lot of uh different uh um ideas but we're hoping the fact that this one has uh it's going a next step that this is more serious than than the others when is that meeting or is that when when was that meeting uh it's tomorrow I believe at 10 o'clock so thank you Mr.
SPEAKER_08:Barnes any questions comments from Mr. Barnes Board Report Mr.
SPEAKER_05:Picture thank you just uh one item a quick update from last week as the board's aware and I think Mr. Barnes has provided you all some updates but uh I've received a few calls from our retirees around uh the transfer of insurance from Aetna to Blue Cross uh and so Greg and I have had uh more conversations on this topic than I would like um but long story short uh we were able to ascertain through our partners at the health group that Blue Cross had only sent out the prescription cards and not the health insurance cards and so uh even though we were aware that not just rainham retirees but other retirees were being impacted um we were under the incorrect impression that the cards had been sent. And so uh as I understand it and Greg correct me if I'm wrong but now they're looking at about another nine to twelve days for those cards to be resolved. And so Greg has assured me that he and Kelly are working to enhance our internal communication process with our retirees moving forward to prevent these types of guessing games from happening but um it is certainly a uh a widespread issue across the entire health group and not just affecting our Rainham retirees so thank you Mr.
SPEAKER_08:Pacico Mr Collins do you have anything? I've got to report okay I just have I attended last week um another thing that Aaron Madeiris is working on is setting up a Friends of the Rainham Council on aging. Actually the group has already been set up they've been in in existence for two years but the leadership um decided they didn't want to continue so they're in the process of trying to recruit seven new members to serve on the board of directors they had a meeting um last week and they got a good turnout they're still looking for more people so they've continued their efforts until the second Thursday in February which is February 12th they'll be meeting at 230 at the senior center and again they're just looking for support this although it's it's a separate 501c3 nonprofit organization it can be a great support for the Council on aging and for the town. They can provide financial support in the form of fundraising to renovate possibly and even and enlarge the building currently housing the Renium Council on aging they can also promote programs that benefit and assist the senior population encourage and foster and stimulate the social and economic lives of the 55 plus population serve as a source of volunteers to support the programs of the Council on aging and act as a liaison between the Council on aging and the public. So that effort goes on if anybody is interested you can contact Erin at the senior center. And that is all that I have this evening I'm continuing with the agenda we have under correspondence a letter from Judy McDougall at the superintendent's office at the central office at Bridgewater Rainham Regional School District and this is to invite the Bridgewater Town Council, town manager, Rainham Board of Selectmen, Rainham Town Administration and Finance Committee to a joint meeting on January 21st that's next Wednesday at 7 o'clock to preview the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget. This meeting will be held in the library of the Edward O'Donahue Middle School located at 166 Mount Prospect Street in Bridgewater. So we'll be attending that and giving a report back Mr.
SPEAKER_07:Barnes to check yeah I just want to note I will be posting that meeting so it will so if there's any kind of uh uh discussion amongst the board it will be legal thank you very much and with that that takes us to uh press time we have no one from the press emergency business mr mr collins mr barnes I'm all done okay citizen and community import anyone wish to move to address the board all right just want to report for performance of administrative duties that I and the um town uh finance director have reviewed and signed off on the payroll warrants and invoice warrants dated Tuesday january thirteenth twenty twenty six and with that I'm looking for a motion to adjourn at 733 p.m.
SPEAKER_08:Any discussion hearing all in favor any opposed so voted thank you for joining us