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Raynham Select Board 01/27/2026
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(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)
Growth is everywhere you look: homes selling as they’re framed, storefronts filling in, and a likely Chick-fil-A set to replace the old Party City with a smaller, high-capacity design. We break down the building department’s year-end numbers and what they signal for Raynham’s future, then dig into the policy backbone behind it all—how streamlined ADU rules can add gentle density while still protecting safety and transparency for first responders.
We also shine a light on the library, where the data tells a surprising story: print books still rule. The team is delivering big programming on lean resources, from therapy-dog reading sessions and science shows to caregiver workshops and even a collectibles appraisal day. At the same time, the director lays out the quiet cost of deferred maintenance and why a dedicated facilities function could save money and stress. Volunteers, grants, and home delivery are stretching impact, but the building still needs hands.
Civic moments matter too. We honor 16-year-old Tia LaBrecque for winning gold with the U.S. Women’s Deaf National Soccer Team, advance committee appointments under a new policy, and adopt a planning board associate member framework. On the fiscal front, repeated storms push snow-and-ice spending into a state-allowed deficit, and we talk candidly about the regional school budget: a $109 million plan that restores a handful of teaching positions after steep cuts, balances rising fixed costs, and sets a timeline of hearings and votes. With state aid in flux, we’re leaning into incremental rebuilding and clear communication.
Press play for a grounded look at housing, business, libraries, schools, and the everyday services that make a town work. If you find this useful, subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with a neighbor who cares about where Raynham is heading.
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Good evening. I'm going to call the meeting to order. I'll be Wrangham select four to on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at Western Memorial Town Hall at 558 South Main Street in Rainham. Call the meeting to order at 7 o'clock p.m. Just going to announce this meeting is open to the public. It is also being broadcast live on the Radium Channel on Comcast Channel 98 and Verizon Channel 34. It is also being recorded by Ray Cam for replay on the Randium Channel. Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.
SPEAKER_00:I Pledge Allegiance and Principle.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Our next order of business is the acceptance of the minutes of the regular meeting of January 20th, 2026. Do we have a motion to accept the minutes as printed?
SPEAKER_03:Second.
SPEAKER_01:Motion is made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none all in favor? Any opposed? So voted. Next we have department head reports, and we have first up Baba Fredi, our building commissioner, with a report for us. Welcome.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. Good evening. So I have numbers for year end 2025 to start off. Total electrical permits. This is from January to December 31st, 2025. Electrical permits 341. Plumbing and gas 400. Building permits 550. And as of the end of the year, we had 20 ADUs. So, like we talked about before, the ADUs are the thing of the future. Total revenue for 2025 was$652,398. So we had a pretty good pretty good year. As far as activity, the building department's been pretty busy. We still have those projects I talked about last time I was in front of you. Lockwood, we have about 29 building permits. That's 29 separate buildings. That's about halfway through. We've got another 29 to go. Over on Pine Street, the two big subdivisions on Pine Street, we're 16 permits in already. We have three occupancy permits. They're moving pretty quickly down there. So apparently, people want to buy those houses because they're selling them as quick as they can build them. Other big projects besides those two residential projects are the commercial projects around town. We just finished uh building on uh 140 Broadway, which is a small building in front of the Walmart that got occupied last week. Um and a bunch of other small little fill-in projects here and there. As far as the planning board goes, last time I was in front of you, I reported uh that we were gonna possibly have a Chick-fil-A at 600 South Street. Now I'm gonna tell you we probably are gonna have a Chick-fil-A. Um we had a pre-construction meeting here a week and a half ago with the developers. They're very anxious to get started. They showed us their plan. Uh the department heads had a chance to digest it, show them some concerns they had, and now they're in the process of applying for a site plan approval with the planning board. So that building, old Party City building, which is about a 12,000 square foot building, is gonna go away. The new building is half the size. It's got a double drive-through, a couple of canopies. If you know anything about Chick-fil-A and how they operate, I don't, but I guess uh we're gonna find out here in the future. Um the old dog track, um, where they had simulcast um going on for the last several years in that halfway demolished building. They decided not to continue the simulcast, and it's been relayed to me that they're gonna continue with the demolition of that building. I'm not sure how the simulcast moves to the new building, whether it moves or not. I'm I'm I'm not providing that information at this point. When I do get it, I'll let you know. I know a lot of people ask me questions about what's going on there. You should be able to get a pizza at the New Gap by April 1st. Um I'll keep you posted on that. That's not moving very quickly, but uh it's substantially complete. Um again, some old news, uh Greco Truck Center, that's all fully permitted, they're underway with construction there. Track the supply just issued a permit for the reconstruction of that building today, by the way. Um that's pretty much all I have, unless you have questions for me.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Um Mr.
SPEAKER_06:Vichito. Thank you, Claud. Just one question. Now that the dust has settled a bit on ADUs, do you envision the need for any changes to our bylaw?
SPEAKER_03:Well, as you know, we tried to push our bylaw through last year and the a and the AG's office kind of poked a lot of holes through it. So what I've done uh based on the fact that a lot of towns are not doing anything, they're just going with whatever the state allows. I do think it's important to have some kind of guidance. Uh so basically what I did is I took all of our all the points or the bullet points in the ADU byla we put forward that were approved, and I just reduced the number down to the ones that were approved, and I pulled out the ones that they had problems with to make it clean and simple. Uh so we have something we can bring to town meeting to get approved, to put on the books. Um it's very popular. We need some guidance, some guidelines, because we'll have the guidelines, you know, we're gonna have people living in sheds and it's gonna get out of control. Um good thing is a lot of the illegal units that are out there, in order to get legal, they can fall under the ADU. We can at least have an idea where they exist. The fire department can tell where they are in case they have to respond to an issue there. They'll know on the way there that they're double units and there are more people to look for. So yeah, I think we're gonna move forward with the language we had in place, just removing the stuff that wasn't approved.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Mr. Pachico, Mr. Collins.
SPEAKER_07:The only question I had was along the line of the ADUs too.
SPEAKER_03:No, 20 permits that have been approved. Of those 20, um, top of my head, there's probably six that were illegal that got brought into conformance with with a with a permit. Okay. So now we have paperwork saying that this location does have two dwelling units. By the way, the state does allow an ADU now in a multifamily house, so you may see ADUs in you know two or three family homes for an additional unit. That's just what we have to deal with, so we're dealing with it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Mr. Collins, are they in any particular area or throughout the town?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. I have a list of locations, I'll gladly share them with you. They're not going to go away. They're allowed in every every so in every is any every zoning district in in town you're allowed to have residential. You may not be able to have a residential subdivision, but you're allowed to have single family or residential. And a lot of the zones we have have you know pre-nonconforming uh dwelling units. So every there's no specific site for an ADU, it's allowed throughout the town.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you for your report.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, next we have Karen O'Brien, our library director, with her quarterly report about all the exciting things going on at Iranian library. Welcome.
SPEAKER_04:All the exciting things. Good evening, everybody. I have something a little different tonight. I thought we'd just ask it up with a bracket.
SPEAKER_05:Nobody wants to read more of the statistics, so now you get to see it pretty graphically. This is uh close at 25. Um, so things have been providing us some info that I think everybody will find fascinating. There's probably a few as well. If you need a digital copy, you can email me and I'll buy Wikipedia. Thank you. So um you can peruse this at your leisure, but I I will point out a couple of things. Everybody's always talking about the public library, and oh, nobody reads books anymore, and you can clearly see over a hundred thousand items have circulated, and the majority of them are books. Hardcover books, paperback books, e-books are also very popular, but really people are still looking for physical materials at the library. The other thing, too, to note here, I think which was interesting, is the um the Wi-Fi logins that's in the building, that's um per person. So anybody that um comes to our library and sits in our parking lot can access our Wi-Fi, which a lot of people don't realize. Public libraries all across the country do this. It provides a service to the community for those off hours. Um, it's an extremely valuable service. So if you ever hear anybody talking about e-rates or statewide e-rates and discounts, we're part of that program as well. Um a few things I just wanted to mention off the top. Um the board of library trustees and I have been working hard maintaining the building and um prepping it for the fall and winter. I'm just gonna cover my glasses. Um I'm sure other departments have brought this up, but um, I'm I usually I'm I'm so used to having my sunglasses on my head. Um I'm sure other departments have brought this up, but I love my job, but I probably would not put building maintenance in the top ten reasons why I love my job. I spend an extraordinary amount of time, energy, and money maintaining the building. Stuff breaks all the time. We do not have somebody who maintains our buildings. So we when I speak me, Aaron over at Council on Engineering, we're always looking for a handyman, an electrician, the door broke, um, a repair on the wall, I mean all kinds of miscellaneous stuff. And we often have to pay really high rates for people because it tends to be an emergency situation or they're not like a regular contractor that we have. So if we had somebody to maintain our building, it it could potentially save us a lot of money. Um, Bob actually has been super helpful to us. He has literally come over in the middle of the day to repair like something in the bathroom. Um, Norm has sent guys over to do stuff for us, but again, I'm sort of relying on the kindness of staff that work for the town that is not their responsibility to take care of these things. There's a lot of stuff that I can do myself, and I have. I've done all kinds of things, but there are also things that I can't do that are either I'm not qualified to do, that are not safe for me to do. I'm I mean, I've rewired Ethernet cables, I've moved furniture, I've assembled heavy things, I've repaired door handles. I've most recently I just moved the circulation desk. I mean, if we had somebody that maintained our building, it would be helpful. And I'm sure other department heads would agree. Um I would be remiss if I didn't mention the big shout out to Norm and his people for taking such good care of us. Everything was plowed and cleaned, but in addition to that, I often have to call him to come on over to either haul stuff away or do something special for us. So we are eternally grateful to the highway department for all they do for us. Um we did a little collaboration with the health department. I don't know if Paula had mentioned it in her update, but she got a grant, uh, the opioid addiction grant, and we ended up buying, I don't even know, maybe 25, 30 books, this huge uh mini-library of addiction books for kids, teens, and adults of all ages. We the staff put out this huge display, it had pamphlets, it had book lists. So if anybody's not already aware, we do have a small collection over at the library that the health department was kind enough to have set up with us. And we have lists available so you can find those materials, but in the interest of um, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can also search our online catalog for any of those materials. Speaking of our lovely staff, um, as you are both as you are aware, we have two vacancies in the library right now. Unfortunately, our children's librarian has moved on and moved out of and is taking a job out of state. Um, so we will be posting that shortly. We were so sad to see Jessie go. She was amazing and very well loved in the community. We still are gonna have plenty of children's programming, so even though Jessie's gone, we'll have music and movement and story time, so bring your kids, come on down. We're gonna have them on Mondays and Thursdays, we're gonna have baby time still on Fridays. We also have a few big programs to look forward to with the children's department. We're gonna have an animal visit, and science heroes are coming that we paid for with a mass cultural council grant. Um, I've applied for four grants, and all four of them have come through from our local cultural council. We're gonna have two kids' programs and two adult programs. And we've also added read to a dog. If you have not come by and met Mabel, our therapy dog. She comes once a month, and it's for kids who are reluctant readers or even just want to practice their reading. They get to sit with Mabel one-on-one and read to the dog. It's a very popular program. It is free. I know somebody over at the Dog Bones Therapy Association that is volunteering the time to come down, so we're very lucky to be able to offer that to the community. And also, speaking of our staff, if you happen to see Melissa or Debbie out on the road, you can congratulate Melissa on her 13 years of service with the library. Debbie has been with us as a library assistant for 11 years, and as you know, Melissa is our adult services librarian who plans all the fabulous programming that we have going on. We're also making really good use of our teen volunteers. We have a teen advisory group, probably a good dozen or so kids that come in and they clean, they organize the shelves, they help with crafts, they attend children's programming and help us out. We love our teens to pieces. And we are also going to take advantage of the Save Volunteer Program. Um we had Joan Sullivan the last two years, and Joan's looking forward to coming back. We are happy to have her. And I'm actually meeting with somebody else next week to potentially add another SAE volunteer into the mix. There's a lot of things that volunteers can do for us, and they they love being a part of uh the library and coming in and helping us. We've had some really popular adult programs that uh Melissa has been working hard on. We had to help your parents with dementia program. We've oddly we've had these UFO and Bigfoot programs, which are really popular with the community. I don't know if that has to do with like the Bridgewater Triangle, is that what it's called? Um, but those are super popular and very well received. Um we're also looking forward to having a collectible appraisal program where you can bring in your items and have them appraised. We have somebody coming for like half of a day, so that's gonna be really popular. A sourdough starter program, and also our home delivery service is expanding. More and more older people who are homeboying up, and word is getting out. Um, so we're super happy to be able to serve the community in that capacity. And our spice kits are continue to be extremely popular. We have a Recipes from the Dead program coming up in celebration of women's history. We're gonna be delving into some community and church cookbooks written by women of the past. So you're gonna want to sign up for that because I'm sure that's gonna fill. Our Friends group has been very busy. We've had book sales and jewelry sales, they usually rake in a few thousand dollars for every one of those. It's an extraordinary amount of work. We're eternally grateful for everything that they do. And their annual meeting is actually scheduled for next Tuesday. It was postponed, it was supposed to be today. But you can come to the library meeting room for the Friends Annual Meeting, and everybody is welcome. If you're not already doing it, you can follow us on social media, on Instagram and Facebook. Sign up for our eNewsletter online, which you will get ahead of all the programming, so you're not going to miss out on anything that gets filled fast. And you can also find out how to access books, audiobooks, magazines, and more all for free. Give us a call or log on to our website and look on our events page.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you very much, Mr. Pacico.
SPEAKER_07:No, no questions, thank you. Mr. Collins? Thank you very much, Karen. Presentation is good information. One of the first things you said is what came to my mind. I was gonna say, like if you know you drive by that small building, everybody just thinks, oh, nobody ever uses the library. So nothing's further than the truth. And I just real quick, I wasn't being rude, I was using my calculator on my phone, and um you said 95,000 items were borrowed, and that's close to 250. It's wild, isn't it? 365 days a year. Absolutely wild. There's clearly a lot of use, and even just the visitors. 48,000 visitors, and divided that by 300, it's taking off weekends and stuff, and it's 150 people a day.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and it's nice that we're we're able to open days, nights, and weekends because you know we can serve the working and every age, senior citizens, kids, working parents, you name it, and they're popping in for one reason or another. And if they're not popping in, they're hanging out or giving us a call or logging online. So it's really, really nice. Thank you very much. And it's a um huge, it's just amazing. This community, there's 15,000 people in this town, and about 4,000, almost 5,000 of them have library cards. That's really unusual. You don't you don't get a third of your community having a library card, so they love the staff. We love our library, they love our staff, so I'm through for it.
SPEAKER_01:Great report. Thank you for it. Obviously, our library is the happening place, the place to be. Thank you. Okay, um, that's all we have for department head reports. We have no appointments this evening, we have no public hearings scheduled, completion of old or continuing business. Do you have anything next to Pacifica? Hi, Madam Chairman. Mr. Carlin? Mr. Barnes? And that takes us to new business. And first we have the resignation letter from our Council on Aging, just immediate past uh Chair, John Texera. And it's addressed to the Select Board. After more than 15 years, as a member of the Rainham Council on Aging Board of Directors, I have decided to retire from my position effective December 31st, 2025. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve on the board and to see the great advances at the center. To the board members, thank you for your continued support of the center and the unending hours of your time volunteering to support the activities. To Erin, our director, you have been a bright light to the organization, bringing new and invigorating activities to the center and ensuring its continued success. I wish you all continued success. Yours truly, John Texara. Um and obviously John has been a mainstay on that board, chairing that for many, many years. Um, while he has been on that and uh I know he intends to stay involved, possibly with the friends group, but um always there is a resource if uh the council members need. So we're looking for a motion to accept with regrets. Motion is made and seconded to accept uh with regrets. All in favor? Any opposed? So voted. Next we have discussion and vote on advertising openings in the council on aging, cultural council and cable advisory committee consistent with the policy on appointment to town boards. As you know, we recently adopted a new policy, and these boards have openings. So um I know we had mentioned the cable advisory committee before, but that was several weeks ago. So um we will contact the two individuals that indicated they are interested to see if they want to keep their names forward. Motion is made and seconded. Any discussion? Um I would just say under discussion, maybe Mr. Barnes, maybe we could send a copy of the new policy to our different committees and count and councils, uh commissions and committees, so that they will, you know, know if they have any openings, the procedure to follow. All in favor? Any opposed? So voted. Uh next we have discussion and vote on Rainham Recognition Award. This obviously would be for February because we had our um January award a few weeks ago. And this nomination is actually presented to us by Mr. Collins. We thank you for that. It is for Tia Lebrec. Um, and the uh summary is just at 16 years of age, Tia Lebrec was selected to represent the United States women's deaf national soccer team, which afforded her the opportunity to compete in the 2025 Deaf Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, the highest international level of competition for deaf athletes worldwide. Distinguishing herself as the youngest member of Team USA, Tia started in all five matches and contributed four goals and three assists. Through extraordinary dedication, perseverance, and athletic excellence, Tia helped Team USA to a gold medal victory. Accordingly, Tia is a worthy recipient of the Rhenium Recognition Award for her outstanding accomplishments and for representing Rhenium so well and so proudly on the world stage. So this comes to us as a nomination. Looking for motion to approve. Motion is made and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none all in favor and opposed. It is so voted. Again, thank you, Mr. Collins, for doing the uh the groundwork on that. And we will now send a letter of um knowledge and uh congratulations to Tia and schedule a time in February for her to uh join us for that presentation. Certainly a very worthy young lady, accomplished so much at her young age. Uh next on our agenda we have discussion and vote of policy on appointment of planning board associate member. As you know, we have voted to approve this, and the news is that our planning board at their recent meeting also voted to approve this. So now it is uh we can, I think we can finally approve it. We didn't actually take the vote to approve it, we forwarded it to them. Um so now we can vote to approve it, and a great opportunity. I mean, example of our committees working together for the benefit of our town. So motion is made and up and seconded to adopt the town of reinium policy on appointment of planning board associate member. Any further discussion? Hearing none all in favor, any opposed, it is so voted. Okay. And that now brings us to the town administrator performance review. And as you know, this is um an annual performance evaluation of our town administrator. We are actually a little bit late on actually getting this on the books because this is actually for our town administrator's third year of employment, which actually ran from September 1st of 2024 through August 31st, of 2025. Um, it is the evaluation form that we have used for the last two years. Actually, I believe we used it before then, but definitely for the last two years. And it is uh contains rather several categories of evaluation criteria, with each category containing a statement to describe a performance standard in that category. For each statement, the following scale has been used. One is for poor, rarely meets the performance standard, two is below average, usually does not meet the performance standard, three is average, generally meets the performance standard, four is above average, generally exceeds the performance standard, and five is for excellent, almost always exceeds the performance standard. Um we are asked to please note that one and two are considered marginal, three is considered average, four and five are considered outstanding. In an effort to more accurately and fairly depict a summary of the individual evaluations submitted by all three select board members. An additional 0.5 option has been added for each category when the average falls within the larger categories. The first area is leadership criteria, and first is leadership with selectmen, and the summary rating is 4.0, which is above average. On the individual criteria, it was received 34 out of a possible 45 points, and obviously the 4.0 above average generally exceeds the performance standard. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included maintains consistent availability to the select board, possesses the ability to recognize the select board's direction despite possible differences from his own view advisor views, and successfully executes their policy or directive. Ensures that all select board members receive information on an equal basis. Areas identified for improvement included, ensures select board members are thoroughly informed in a timely manner of key plans and activities of the town and staff through town administrator reports, memoranda, and personal briefings. Follows up promptly on select board's requests for information or action without having to be reminded. Agenda items and supporting documents are appropriate and brought to the select board in sufficient time for our deliberation. Comments included. And Mr. Barnes is easy to reach and makes himself available when needed. He always seems to have a good understanding of where each board member stands and does a good job of balancing the three opinions positions. The next category is leadership with employees. And for this, Mr. Barnes received a summary rating of 3.5, which is average plus, generally meets or at times exceeds the performance standard. And on the individual criteria, he received 18 out of a possible 25 points. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored average or above included effectively motivates and gains employees confidence and respect through demonstrated performance and decision making, guides staff so they work together as a team toward common objectives, delegates responsibilities, and directs work activities of staff so they effectively accomplish town goals and effectively cross-communicates between the department heads and the select board. Area identified for improvement included mentors, department heads in a consistent and realistic manner to assist in further developing or maintaining their performance standards. Comments. Mr. Barnes has the respect of staff, however, he needs to continue to improve with timely follow-through on certain issues that he may deem lesser in priority, especially when dealing with department coordination and ensuring that issues brought to his desk are handled promptly. Mr. Barnes does a good job staying in close contact with the department heads. In many instances, he is asked to bring department heads less than ideal feedback from the select board, which can lead to some difficult conversations. And Mr. Barnes maintains an accessible and inclusive approach. Regular department head meetings keep the lines of communication open and guide staff to work together as a team. Establishing an annual employee evaluation process has been identified as a goal by the select board to assist in mentoring and further developing or maintaining performance standards. The next category is leadership in the community, for which Mr. Barnes received a summary rating of 4.5, which is above average plus, generally or almost always exceeds the performance standard, and he received a total of 25 out of a possible 30 points. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included is respected within the town and makes a positive overall impression by conveying professionalism through respect, courtesy, and sensitivity to the public, thinks and behaves in a manner that reflects an attitude that select board members, staff, or citizens' perceptions and satisfactions are key, provides an effective level of responsive and vital customer service, including timely follow-through on citizen requests, disputes, and complaints, maintains visibility and identity in the community through an appropriate level of involvement and communication with community organizations and businesses. Areas identified as generally meets the performance standard included, represents the select board's positions and policies accurately and effectively to the public, has generated overall community satisfaction with the town's administrative and service obligations. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments. Mr. Barnes goes above and beyond with his community involvement. Whether it's Rainham Community Day, Read Across America, or Trunk or Treat, Mr. Barnes is always involved and easy to approach. His wholehearted approach to our community is his strongest attribute. Mr. Barnes has demonstrated a genuine interest in being involved in a leadership role in the community. He actively participates with appointed committees of volunteers, finance committee, capital planning, economic and business development commission, and when he has the opportunity to participate in community events, he has enthusiastically done so. Mr. Barnes cares about the town and the community senses that. Next category: leadership with other governmental entities and the news media. Summary rating, 3.5, average plus, score of 11 out of a possible 15. Generally meets or at times exceeds the performance standard. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored average or above included establishes and maintains a liaison with other governmental jurisdictions, especially with regard to those areas of service that improve or enhance the town's programs, maintains effective communication with other governmental jurisdictions with which the town is involved, or interfaces and skillfully and favorably represents the town to the media, anticipates sensitive topics that may eventually reach the media, and initiates communication to minimize potential misinformation or misrepresentation and negative impacts to the town. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments. Mr. Barnes continues to stay engaged with surrounding communities. He meets regularly with Bridgewater Taunton and Bridgewater Rainham officials and stays in contact with CERPED representatives and others. He has also met with state officials to represent the town's position regarding Route 138 improvements and other town interests and concerns. Mr. Barnes has shown shown a willingness to engage with partners, and this willingness has been a positive for Rainham. Increasing the use of all forms of media to accurately report and explain town policies, procedures, and positions and the reasons for them could lessen the spread of negative air or false information. The next major category is organizational management, and first is general, for which Mr. Barnes received a summary rating of 3.5, which is average plus, generally meets or at times exceeds the performance standard. Score of 12 out of a possible 20. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored average or above included overseas ongoing programs and services to the town to ensure continued effectiveness as well as ensuring implementation of new programs adopted by the select board, and ensures organized responses to public requests and complaints as well as to concerns brought to the attention of staff by the select board. Areas identified for improvement included ensures that staff provides timely and objective policy information for the select board to consider and manages the staff to implement select board policy decisions, effectively plans and organizes work resulting either from policies adopted by the select board or direction given by the select board and ensures that it is carried out in a timely manner. Comments. Mr. Barnes's time management issues bring down his overall rating here as it has been a sustained issue that has not shown measurable improvement. Mr. Barnes needs to make measurable improvement in this area moving forward. Mr. Barnes meets the benchmarks in this category, except for timeliness. Time management is his greatest challenge. Mr. Barnes is a dedicated employee and tireless worker who has shown exceptional commitment to the town and to his role as town administrator. Next category is fiscal, for which Mr. Barnes received a summary rating of 5.0 or excellent, almost always exceeds the performance standard, a score of 41 out of 45. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included possesses sufficient knowledge of financial matters, manages the financial resources of the town to ensure the town maintains a sound financial condition and continues to receive clean audits from the State Auditor's Office. Has a good approach to the budget preparation and review processes, effective in controlling costs through the economic utilization of manpower materials and equipment, and provide sufficient information on the current financial status of the town. Areas where Mr. Barnes also scored above average included effectively works with the finance director and finance committee in developing a realistic budget that meets the select board's goals, sees to it that the budget is submitted on time, communicates concerns in a timely manner to the select board regarding issues that may significantly affect the town fiscally in the foreseeable future. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments. This continues to be the town administrator's strongest area of competency, and the town is well served by Mr. Barnes here. Mr. Barnes's strongest skill set is on matters relating to fiscal management, and he excels in this area. He has streamlined and improved the budgetary process while working in close coordination and cooperation with the Finance Director, Finance Committee, and Capital Planning Committee. Mr. Barnes' efforts regarding fiscal matters, working with the Finance Director and Finance Committee and preparing and presenting reports, projections, and analyses have been very helpful. Next category is personnel, where Mr. Barnes received our summary rating of 3.0, which is average, generally meets the performance standard, score of 18 out of 30. Areas where Mr. Barnes generally meets the performance standard, included effectively selects and places personnel, effectively manages personnel to maintain high staff morale and to minimize the risk of adverse personnel actions or rulings, normally maintains an appropriate work-life balance and encourages the same from staff. Areas identified for improvement included assures that every town employee received a written, receives a written annual performance review, evaluates department heads in a consistent and realistic manner, and appropriately and promptly addresses disciplinary problems and takes action when warranted. Comments. Mr. Barnes is performing at an acceptable standard, though more work remains, including the implementation of annual written performance reviews. Mr. Barnes has done a good job navigating most personnel ish situations. He is able to listen to both sides of a disagreement and clarify how to handle similar situations going forward. Next category: community and economic development, summary rating, 4.0 above average, generally exceeds the performance standard. Score of 8 out of 10. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included continues to implement improvements to the development process to expedite new development, provides an active liaison with the business community to assist in maintaining current businesses and attracting new targeted businesses to the town. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments, Mr. Barnes maintains contact with business leaders by regularly attending and participating in Economic and Business Development Commission meetings. Next category knowledge and advice, summary rating of 4.0 above average, generally exceeds the performance standard, score of 19 out of a possible 25. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included, possesses adequate knowledge of municipal affairs, high quality analysis normally accompanies recommendations, considers alternatives before making recommendations. Areas identified for improvement included, plans ahead, anticipates needs, and recognizes potential problems, has a good sense of timing when bringing issues to the select board for action. Next category: productivity and productivity and quality, summary rating 3.5, average plus generally meets or exceeds the performance standard. 24 out of 35 for a score. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored average or above included, invests sufficient time and effort in performing to the board's expectations, develops and carries out short and long-term action plans, able to analyze problems or issues to identify causes, reasons, and implications. Areas identified for improvement included, sets appropriate priorities in work plan and utilization of time, organizes or assigns work so that it is performed efficiently and effectively, pays sufficient attention to detail to avoid error or having things slip through the cracks. Next category, communications. Summary rating 4.0 above average generally exceeds the performance standard, score of 17 out of 20. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored highest included skilled at verbal and written communications, easy to talk to, show sensitivity to the concerns of others. Areas where Mr. Barnes scored average or above included verbal and written communications, are thoughtful, clear, and to the point, skilled at listening and isolating key points or issues. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments. Mr. Barnes' oral and written communications are well developed, explicit, and comprehensive, if not always concise. And Mr. Barnes is easy to talk to. He is open, non-confrontational, and very approachable. He does tend to be talkative and to dominate the conversation at times. Next category. I believe this is the last one. Individual quality. Summary rating 4.0 above average generally exceeds the performance standard. Score of 46 out of 55. Areas that scored highest included displays interest and enthusiasm in performing his duties, demonstrates integrity, loyalty, and honesty. Decision-making process indicates fairness and impartiality, and is based on logic and reason, self-confident and accepts criticism. Areas that scored average or above included, personality is generally well suited to effectively perform his duties, creative, anticipative, and innovative when dealing with issues, problems, and unusual situations. Possesses the ability to cope with stress, maintain self-control and composure, even under pressure, effectively mediates and resolves problems even under strained and unpleasant conditions, applies common sense, tact, and diplomacy. No particular areas were identified for improvement. Comments, Mr. Barnes cares about the town, its staff and citizens, and demonstrates his concern for others. Mr. Barnes possesses a skill that can't be taught or learned, and that is passion for the community and for the job. Mr. Barnes continues to be a team player and displays an undeniable commitment to the town, dedication to his position, and admirable work ethic. We also have goals and objectives that Mr. Barnes has submitted. We can do those now, or should I do the summary score first, please? All right, let's go with the summary score and then we'll go back to the goals and objectives. Summary score was in conclusion, Mr. Barnes scored average 3.0 generally meets the performance standard in one category, and above average in all other categories. Average plus 3.5 generally meets or at times exceeds the performance standard in four categories. Above average, 4.0 generally exceeds the performance standard in five categories. Above average plus, 4.5 generally or almost always exceeds the performance standard in one category. And excellent 5.0 almost always exceeds the performance standard in one category. For the individual performance standards, Mr. Barnes received a score of 273 out of a possible 355. For the 12 main categories, Mr. Barnes received a score of 46.5 out of a possible 60 or an average of 4.0, which stands for above average or generally exceeds the performance standard. And then we go to the statement of the goals and objectives submitted by Mr. Barnes. Mr. Barnes, do you want to read through those or would you prefer that I do that? You can do that. One, continue to work with owners, project manager, and relevant town departments and committees towards the goal of constructing a state-of-the-art combined facility for the police and fire departments that addresses current deficiencies and meets future needs efficiently. Significant focal areas in this effort include putting forth a detailed plan of action and recommendations as to how to address any remaining funding deficiencies and serving as a facilitator in an effort to have the project advertised bid by February 2027 with construction to begin in spring 2027. Key tasks to be accomplished include additional site review, completion of the design and engineering, creation of construction procurement documents, and award of the contract, as well as setting up a temporary facility for the police department where they will be headquartered during construction. Two, accelerate efforts to review the town's information technology. IT with focus on the following four areas a license and permitting software. Further evaluate possible alternatives to current vendor to be and focus on expanding use to the use of software to cover the majority of departments involved in licensing permitting. Current software covers fire, town clerk partially, and building. Expand to include select board, town administrator, board of health, conservation, planning, and zoning board of appeals. B website. Work with our vendor to upgrade the current website, which is programmed in a legacy code in the process of being phased out. C. IT operations. Further evaluate current IT operations and vendors associated with those operations with the goal of increasing efficiency, achieving cost savings, and eliminating redundancy. Provide select board with a plan of action and recommendations no later than April 30th, 2026. As time permits, expand review to include non-computer information technology, phones, printers, and copiers in particular. D, budget for replacement of server, computer equipment and associated text desk, excuse me, associated desktop software, which is nearing the end of its life cycle. Three, work with the town's finance director and human resources coordinator on a comprehensive review of the town's written finance and personnel policies with a goal of revising policies to reflect current best practices or creating policies where lacking. All new policies resulting from this effort will be presented to the Select Board for adoption as official town policy no later than the end of the calendar year. Four, undertake performance evaluations of all department heads in accordance with employee agreements, a task to be completed no later than April 30th, 2026. Five, work towards creation of a personnel bylaw meant to cover the majority of non-union personnel with the goal of presenting to the select board in time for consideration as an article for the annual town meeting in May. Six, review all town leases to make sure all leases between the town and an outside entity using town property are current, compliant with the law, and limit the liability of the town. Seven, training for managers and or staff. Formulate in consultation with the Human Resources Coordinator a schedule of staff development and training seminars to be provided to staff periodically through the calendar year. Eight, further evaluate and advance efforts for the replacement of lighting and HVAC systems in town buildings, town hall, and senior center in particular, with a goal of achieving greater energy efficiency, greater comfort, and reduced costs, not just in energy usage, but reduced main need for maintenance. And nine, further efforts towards the creation of river access area for the public on the Taunton River, located near the South Street East Old Colony Bridge, with focus on completing the feasibility analysis, conceptual plan, and identifying monetary sources to finance the plant. With that, we go to comments, Mr. Pichico.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you, Edmund. Yeah. Um I I would say I think, you know, having now had the chance to review this, it seems like generally speaking, the three of us came at this from the same perspective, which I think is good to see. And I think uh the overarching themes that we recognize Greg's commitment to the town, uh his abilities and skill set in the host of areas, uh, and what I would just call it as this conversation, the area where he needs to continue to improve is in the time management piece. You know, my education effort in nature always has taught me to make sure that it tries to ever put folks around those situations. So anything that I work in here should like work is talking about privately, so I know this is surprised again. And I think to encourage credit he has the airs he needs to improve what I found over the years of steps. So I can correct credit for having accomplished that now. I would just like to see him take the next step of that management piece. And then I think he would really um the absolute bold standard for what is having illustrator is uh with that being said, I look forward to continuing to work with Red and hopefully in the short term we can come up with a contract extension.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Mr. Pachenko, Mr. Alex.
SPEAKER_07:Every aspect of it. I'm very grateful for the regret. I don't see the same thing. Incredibly, incredibly intelligent man, and where's his heart on the sleeve and his really solved in our community as a team because he's grown up here. Um I absolutely love how it would love the job and how because everything is the community.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would agree with both what both of you said. Certainly, I don't think anyone could work any harder at the job than or be more dedicated than Mr. Barnes is, but again, to his credit. I think the statement of goals and objectives, you know, covers all the areas that you know we had mentioned, um, where we could do a little bit more work and many more, and extremely comprehensive, and this is uh a lot to do and a lot to work forward, and we'll make some incredible progress if we can uh follow on this, Greg. So I would just you know thank you for that. Um do you have any response or any comments?
SPEAKER_08:Well, I I thank you for your comments. Uh I I do always I believe in the concept of uh total quality management. There's always room for improvement. Uh the two themes that I keep hearing as mentioned, time management and more specifically performance reviews. That is an area that the town has been latent in. It's a lot of work, and I will double up on that to get that through. Um you know, I I think my prodigal is to make government as efficient, as effective as possible, and uh I hope you you seem to understand that that is certainly my uh objective, and and I I do whatever is necessary to do that, and certainly to the degree I can take this performance review and learn ways to better effectuate that goal, uh it it will it it it is uh aid in that that effort.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Okay, so with nothing more to say on that, we can go forward, and actually, next is our town administrator's report. So we go back to you, Mr. Barnes.
SPEAKER_08:Uh yes, um you may be aware that we've had a number of uh snow and ice events uh this year. Um by last count at least 14. Um unfortunately with uh these snow and ice events comes uh monetary appropriations. Uh it looks like we will definitely be well exceeding our original budget of 150,000. It used to be required that you needed a vote of both the select board and the fincom, then they changed the law to say only the select board, and more recently they changed the law to allow me to authorize deficit spending as the chief administrative officer. So I'm informing the board as chief administrative officer. I am authorizing deficit spending in the area of snow and ice. Uh the state's very stringent in terms of where one can deficit spend, uh, very, very limited areas, but the biggest one by far is snow and ice, and the reason for that is it's completely unpredictable, and certainly uh the storm over the weekend demonstrated that. And I'm sure the board is going to follow up with this, but I have to say it. Um highway did an excellent job given the amount of snow, given their resources available. Keep in mind, like many towns, uh we deal with uh there's been severe staffing shortages when it comes to plowing, and uh they really went above and beyond not just the highway workers, but other workers who who moonlighted to make sure that our roads were uh were passable. Um I'm hoping this is the apex of the storms for the year, although I'm understanding another storm may be coming. We don't want to it's one of those things you just can't predict.
SPEAKER_00:So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Barnes. Um report, Mr. Pacico.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you. Uh as uh Mr. Barnes noted the good work Willem and his team again did, uh, and I just want to uh kind of highlight and accentuate uh his comment about plow drivers. Um I spoke to the superintendent a few times over the weekend and I actually was actively making trying to assist because of the lack of drivers that we have, certainly through no fault of our uh recruitment efforts. We've signed such great tests. This happened for months and it's a great cost of this is um problematic just here, but really speaking. So if anybody is at home watching, uh listening uh preferable for Sunday. Um next up for me, uh the government has announced her um host two budget for next year. Um proposal which still requires hostile approval proposed increase supposedly, which produces$35,360. Uh so another um challenging everything for us in terms of the budget we suspect, and that might inch up a little bit when it gets to the legislature, but certainly uh to a point that's gonna uh really um change the budget we have stage for us as we get to FY27. Um the final piece I think was a few weeks ago or last week I think it was. We voted to send a letter to the game commission about squat spending for premium. Um we have the incredible get this mail done tomorrow. Um it says commissioners with radium selectboard review today, we're gonna be uncertainty around radium target property licensing for sport spending, extra weight, premium target for the local institutions that have uranium for decades, employing thousands of individuals and generating significant revenue for both the town and the copper. At the time of inflation, job loss throughout the property, and cities and towns in need of new tax revenue streams to ensure our schools, roads, and town halls are properly funded. Times now to move forward with licensing of reading empowerment. We hope that you will give weight to the perspective of those of us on the ground and take a fresh perspective at the proposal. Thank you for getting some boy.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Mr. Pachico. Mr. Collins, do you have anything force this?
SPEAKER_07:Just real quick. Awesome work. Thank you very much. Um actually got it quite a bit also. I wonder if we stay having hard time just taking care of that. Um also take out the hybrids. It makes all the different departments affects everybody back up and running at the time. Um another note after consideration, I think it's important that everybody knows that I decided not to run for re-election in people, so I don't want to give anybody a chance to think about running for selection the opportunity. Um quite a long time uh discussing my family and friends, and um was an honor for experience and for somebody else. Uh support time. So that anybody else want to consider ample time.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Mr. Collins.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I'll try not to go too long because you heard enough of my voice this evening, but just wanted to report that the Bridgewater Regional School Administration provided the first look at its proposed preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027, which involves the next school year, of course, at the joint meeting held last Wednesday with the school committee, our select board and finance committee, Bridgewater's Town Council, and Rhenium and Bridgewater Town officials. At this stage, the total proposed budget would be$109,025,687, which reflects a 4.9% increase over the current budget. However, due to capital requests and debt services being lower, the overall increase is actually 4.5 percent. This proposed budget would restore 10 teaching positions of the 70 plus positions eliminated over the past two years due to budget constraints and account for inflationary factors as well as contractual obligations, fixed costs and benefits. According to Superintendent Ryan Powers, it is a financial plan that manages significant nondiscretionary increases in fixed costs, particularly for health insurance and retirement benefits. These increases are offset by targeted savings in administrative and operational areas alongside strategic reinvestments in instructional services, including the restoration of the 10 teaching positions. It maintains the district's current programs, but falls short of being a fully needs-based plan aligned with the goals of the district's strategic plan, the student success plan. It is not structured to address the specific evolving needs of schools or programs. As Mr. Powers pointed out at this time, it is difficult to predict the state aid allocation, but it is important to note that the local government contributions from both towns account for approximately 60% of the district's funding. Mr. Powers also pointed out that the Bridgewater Radium District is the second largest regional school district in the state, and it has experienced enrollment increases over the last several years. The official October 1, 2025 enrollment pre-K to grade 12 was 5,458, which is less than the previous year for the first time in five years. However, the needs of students remain high, with over 41% of students considered to be high needs, therefore qualified for special education assistance. The proposed 10 teaching positions are to be restored are listed to include in the elementary grades in Rainham, I mean I'm sorry, in Bridgewater, one third grade teacher and one fifth grade teacher. In Rainham, one fourth grade teacher, two fifth grade teachers, and one seventh grade teacher, and that is based on projected class sizes. At the high school, four positions would be restored to lower class size, as well as restore some of the elective electives lost. The results of the independent financial and operational review, which the towns of Raining and Bridgewater provided the funding for, have not yet been received. The review is still ongoing, but results are expected next month. Obviously, the strategy for this is to build back over a series of years to where the school district would like to be rather than, as last year, proposing one increase rather than operational override to address the issues at once. The timeline projection for budget meetings at this point includes Wednesday, February 4th. The school committee will review and vote to adopt the preliminary budget. That obviously is the meeting open to the public. They'll have their regular school committee meeting on February 28th. The public hearing on the budget will be Wednesday, March 11th, and the school committee will vote to adopt their budget on Wednesday, March 25th. And obviously, it then goes to the town of Bridgewater's Town Council and to the town of Rainium's annual town meeting for approval. And of course, you should already have your calendar marked that our annual town meeting will be the third Monday in May, as always, Monday, May 18th. And just one note from our senior center, seniors can receive in-person tax assistance from its tax season coming up from the AAR AARP Foundation. This is offered free of charge to anyone ages 50 or over with low to moderate income. You must make an appointment, however, and you can do that by calling or stopping by the senior center. Appointments will be scheduled on Mondays only from February 2nd through April 13th. The number to call for the senior center to make that appointment is 508-824-2740. And that is all that I have. We have no correspondence this evening. We have no one here from the press. Emergency business institution. Mr. Collins, Mr. Barnes, Emergency Business. Do you have any emergency business?
SPEAKER_08:I do not. I do not.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, then we have no citizen and community input at this point. Just want to report uh approval of Town of Rain invoice and payroll warrants that I and the finance director have reviewed and signed those dating Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. And with that, I am looking for a motion to go into executive session in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 21A2, to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel, or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel, specifically the FARC, and to return to open meeting for the sole purpose of adjourning with no additional business to be conducted. And a second. Roll call vote, Mr. Bachico, Mr. Collins, Chair of Ozai going into executive session, coming out then just to adjourn. Thank you for joining us and stay safe out there.