Middleborough · Select Board

The Select Board and Finance Committee meet jointly tonight to recommend action on the Fall Town Meeting warrant. Four articles close out last year’s deficits. One, filed by petition, would order Flock Safety’s cameras removed and the data deleted.

John Barrella – The G.O.A.T. News · October 19, 2026

MIDDLEBOROUGH — The Select Board and the Finance Committee sit down together tonight to go through a 24-article Town Meeting warrant that asks voters to close out last year’s water, sanitation and pandemic deficits, borrow $1.1 million for a sewer line that serves Ocean Spray, bar data centers from every zoning district in town, and decide whether the Police Department may keep using automated license plate readers.

The Finance Committee opens at 6:45 p.m. in the small conference room at Town Hall, 10 Nickerson Ave., and the Select Board at 7 p.m. in the Select Board meeting room. The two boards then meet jointly on the Select Board’s agenda and the Finance Committee’s agenda. The full warrant runs 21 pages inside the new business packet. Neither agenda lists a Zoom link.

Nothing the two boards do tonight appropriates a dollar or changes a zoning line. Each article gets a recommendation — favorable or unfavorable — that voters hear before they vote. The decisions themselves belong to the Fall Special Town Meeting on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Middleborough High School auditorium.

The money: $3.5 million, and $860,000 of it is last year’s

Twelve of the 24 articles carry a dollar figure. Together they come to $3,515,132. Four of them are not new programs at all — they are bills from a fiscal year that has already ended. Article 3 draws $576,041 from water retained earnings to cover a Fiscal 2026 deficit in the Water Department. Article 4 takes $105,906 from sanitation retained earnings for the same reason. Article 5 covers $161,769.29 in COVID-19 expenses after federal reimbursements came in under what the town expected. Article 11 pays $16,920 in unpaid bills left over from prior years. That is $860,636 to square the books before the town starts spending on anything new.

The water and sanitation pieces of that are already on the state’s radar. The G.O.A.T. News reported on Oct. 5 that Middleborough must file a plan with the Department of Revenue covering roughly $682,000 in water and trash shortfalls while auditors seek town records going back to fiscal 2021. Articles 3 and 4 are those two shortfalls. Nunes had recommended in September that Town Meeting be pushed back because the fiscal year had not closed, free cash was not certified and indirect costs were still being recalculated; the Finance Committee voted on Oct. 5 to support the Nov. 9 date.

Source: Fall 2026 Special Town Meeting warrant, printed in the Select Board’s Oct. 19 new business packet. Articles 1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 carry no appropriation and are not shown. Chart by The G.O.A.T. News.

The two largest are Article 2 and Article 17. Article 17 would put $1.1 million into replacing the sewer force main on Wood Street between the Route 495 bridge and West Grove Street, with the debt paid first out of the Wastewater Enterprise Fund. Wastewater Superintendent Todd Goldman told the board on Sept. 2 that the stretch runs about 2,100 feet of a 4,200-foot line serving Ocean Spray, that sections date to 1969 and 1989, that the line carries roughly six million gallons a day, and that it has broken twice in recent years, according to the minutes of that meeting, which the town has posted in the Agenda Center under its Sept. 21 listing. Asked whether Ocean Spray would share the cost, Goldman said the company’s average sewer bill runs about $65,000 a month and that this was its position when asked in April.

Article 18 asks for $130,000 more from wastewater retained earnings on top of the $200,000 Town Meeting approved in April 2024 for secondary clarifier slide gates. Goldman told the board the first time out the town got a single bid, at roughly $430,000, and that the scope has been rewritten to replace both gates in one mobilization.

A $549,000 gap between the warrant and the minutes

Article 2 covers a shortfall in Middleborough’s assessment from Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical High School and its share of district debt. The warrant as printed moves $1,061,571 from the Debt Stabilization Fund plus $41,558 from other available funds — $1,103,129 in all. But the draft minutes of the Oct. 5 meeting, in the same packet, record Interim Town Manager Robert Nunes telling the board the figure is $1,610,571 from debt stabilization, and that the total Bristol-Plymouth shortfall is $1,652,129. The minutes’ arithmetic works. The warrant’s does not reach the total Nunes gave, and the two versions of the debt stabilization draw differ by $549,000.

The Finance Committee has already asked about it. On Oct. 5 the committee voted unanimously to request six items in writing from the town under Section Five of the Town Charter before it makes any recommendation. One of them is a reconciliation of Article 2 against the Bristol-Plymouth shortfall and the debt stabilization balance. The others are the indirect-cost method behind Articles 6 and 7; certified retained earnings for water, wastewater and sanitation for Fiscal 2026; the Fiscal 2026 enterprise deficit plan for the state Department of Revenue; the cost estimate, town share and financing plan for the school roof in Article 21; and the rate impact of the Article 17 borrowing.

Articles 6 and 7 are the ones with no dollar sign in the chart and the largest number behind them. They would cut what the enterprise funds pay the general fund for indirect costs: water from $1,611,355 to $1,296,636, and wastewater from $1,865,206 to $883,292. That is $314,719 off one and $981,914 off the other, close to $1.3 million that the general fund no longer collects from ratepayers. The same committee voted on Oct. 5 to endorse hiring an outside consultant to review how those indirect costs are calculated. The charges were set in the spring.

One small thing the two boards may want to fix before Nov. 9: Article 11 is written for $16,920, but the four payees listed underneath it — BLW Engineers at $9,120, the Edward Collins Center for Public Management at $6,000, Everon at $916.64 and Nemasket Week at $884 — add to $16,920.64. The Oct. 5 minutes have Nunes describing that article as $8,964.

Article 23: a petition to pull the license plate readers out

The only citizens petition on the warrant would add a general bylaw barring the town from acquiring, operating or maintaining any automated license plate reader system, naming Flock Safety, Inc. It would terminate any existing contract “at the earliest possible date,” direct the Select Board and the police chief to have the cameras physically removed, and give the Police Department 30 days to delete all ALPR data it holds and certify the deletion in writing to the Select Board. Sharing that data with any third party, including other law enforcement or federal agencies, would be barred except under a court order or warrant issued by a Massachusetts court.

The petition grounds itself in the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and two Supreme Judicial Court decisions, Commonwealth v. Augustine (2014) and Commonwealth v. McCarthy (2020), and says it is meant to keep the town out of “nationwide warrantless surveillance networks.” It carves out ordinary fixed traffic and red-light cameras that do not build historical location databases, and would take effect on approval by the Attorney General.

Town counsel has already weighed in against it. Nunes told the board on Oct. 5 that he had received and forwarded an opinion from Attorney Corbo, who, the minutes say, concluded the proposed bylaw “would likely be found to be in conflict with State law and/or the Town’s Charter, and would not be enforceable.” The petition is on the warrant regardless; the opinion goes to what the boards recommend and what Town Meeting is told.

Three zoning articles, and one hearing that is still open

Article 14 would add “Data Centers” as use 35 in the table of uses and mark it not permitted in every district the table lists — RA, RB, RR, B, I, GU, GUX, GUA, GUB and CD. It also writes a definition into Section 10.2 broad enough to reach server racks, storage, cooling, power conditioning, substations, backup generators and the buildings around them, and says plainly that a data center is not an office, warehouse, manufacturing or research use. Select Board member Brian Giovanoni noted on Oct. 5 that data centers and battery storage are both live topics and that residents may want to weigh in. The Planning Board moved to ban data centers town-wide in early August, as The G.O.A.T. News reported at the time; no data center has been proposed in Middleborough.

Article 20 is the battery storage bylaw the Planning Board has been drafting since summer. Systems of 100 kilowatt-hours or less would be allowed by right anywhere. Anything larger would need a special permit from the Planning Board and could go only in the General Use A district, with an eight-foot fence, insurance, an emergency operations plan and money set aside for decommissioning. The setback language is worth reading before Nov. 9. The bylaw sets a 100-foot minimum from every lot line, then writes in an exception of 50 feet for lot lines that abut or sit across the street from a residential district or an existing home, and 25 feet “elsewhere,” with a 30-foot buffer inside the setback. As drafted, the carve-out for land next to houses is looser than the general rule, not tighter. Town Planner Leeann Bradley walked the board through KP Law’s comments on the final draft on Sept. 15, and the public hearing was held Oct. 6.

The shaded land is what Article 15 would move from Residence A to General Use: 26.36 acres across four parcels between Wareham Street and East Grove Street. The plan, sheet ZP1.1, is titled “182 East Grove Street” and was drawn by River Hawk Environmental. It appears in the warrant inside the Select Board’s Oct. 19 new business packet; the copy the town posted is a low-resolution scan.

Article 15 is the one worth watching tonight. It would rezone portions of four parcels — Map 65 Lot 5659 at 4.00 acres, Map 66 Lot 3342 at 5.55, Map 66 Lot 3448 at 3.47 and Map 66 Lot 5727 at 13.31 — from Residence A to General Use, 26.36 acres in all off East Grove Street. General Use is the town’s commercial district; Residence A is not.

The Planning Board’s own public hearing on that article is not finished. It opened Oct. 6 and was continued to Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:35 p.m. — tomorrow night, the evening after the Select Board and Finance Committee are being asked to recommend for or against it. The board’s Oct. 20 agenda also carries a Form A division for 258 Wareham Street, Map 65 Lots 4027 and 5659, filed by Baptiste with a Nov. 3 deadline. Lot 5659 is one of the four parcels in Article 15. Minutes of the Oct. 6 hearing have not been posted; they are up for approval on tomorrow’s agenda.

The article’s own text is inconsistent about which zoning map it replaces. The preamble says the reference changes “from October 5, 2015 to October 19, 2026.” The bylaw language underneath strikes out “October 5, 2025.”

The rest of the agenda, and where each case left off

Stipends for two finance staff. The board is asked to amend Finance Director Susan Nickerson’s employment agreement to add a stipend for the stretch she served as interim Treasurer/Collector, and to approve a memorandum of understanding with the General Municipal Employee Group for a stipend to Assistant Town Accountant Susan Nunes for work supporting the Treasurer’s department. Nunes would sign both. No amount appears in the packet for either. The board ratified Megan Crosby as Treasurer/Collector on Oct. 5; her first day is today, and an assistant treasurer/collector starts Oct. 26.

Tispaquin Pond. The board will decide whether the town becomes the permitting applicant for removing invasive aquatic vegetation. The packet holds a cover email sent Oct. 8, a signed contract referencing Camp Avoda and a notice of intent, and an Appendix A checklist certifying the work does not meet the criteria for an Ecological Restoration Order of Conditions but qualifies as an Ecological Restoration Limited Project. The signature and date fields on the copy in the packet are blank, and the sender signed only as “Joe.”

65 Claire Terrace. Collins Civil Engineering Group, on behalf of Jim Hornbeck, is asking for a local upgrade variance under 310 CMR 15.212 and a local bylaw variance cutting the required 150-foot setback from the well to 115 feet. The Health Department forwarded it Oct. 7 with a review by Eric Badger attached. The attachments are named in the packet but not reproduced in it. The board sits as the Board of Health for this one.

A streetlight at Thompson and Plain. Paul Callinan, who describes himself as an Oak Point resident of just over a year and a retired firefighter of more than 40 years, filed a request through the town website on Oct. 12 saying drivers at Thompson Street (Route 105) and Plain Street face a large blind spot in both directions. Kenneth Stone of Middleborough Gas and Electric forwarded it the next day. Because the town pays the kilowatt-hour cost, the utility needs the board’s approval before it installs anything.

Winter parking ban. The Police Department, through administrative assistant Amy Dowler, asks the board to authorize the 2026–2027 ban from Nov. 1 through May 1, midnight to 6 a.m. daily.

Appointments. Emily Surette returns to the Cultural Council agenda for a term ending June 30, 2029. The board moved to appoint her on Oct. 5 and then rescinded the motion because no letter of interest had come in; she emailed the next day. The board also takes up Conservation Commission appointments for Phil McNamara, to June 30, 2029, and Shea Hilton, to June 30, 2028, both recommended by the commission on Oct. 1.

7:30 p.m. hearing. Jason Youngquist of Outback Engineering seeks a Water Resource Protection District special permit to restore 800 square feet of previously disturbed land inside the 25-foot no-touch wetland buffer at Lot 9 Christina Way, Map 66 Lot 448, in the Residence Rural district and WRPD Zone 4. The supporting material is in the hearings packet.

Morton Estates. Article 16 would accept Morton Street and Grace Street as public ways. The Planning Board recommended acceptance on Sept. 15 and cut the subdivision’s surety to $5,000 after PMP Consulting wrote that the work was complete. The Select Board closed the layout hearing and signed the order of layout on Oct. 5.

Water agreements. Article 19 would let the board enter a water supply agreement with Carver and Bridgewater running more than two years, under Chapter 14 of the Acts of 2012. Nunes told the board on Oct. 5 that the town has had trouble locating the signed Carver intermunicipal agreement from December.

School roof. Article 21 funds repair or replacement of the roof at the John T. Nichols Middle School, 112 Tiger Drive, and notes the project may draw a Massachusetts School Building Authority grant capped at 58.37 percent of eligible approved costs, with the town carrying the rest. No figure is attached.

Nemasket Park. Article 24, from the Park Commission, would move care and control of the park at 48 Wareham St. and on Don Boucher’s Way from the Select Board to the Park Commission under state law, for recreational uses including skate parks, playgrounds, boat launches, pavilions and public restrooms, and would authorize a home-rule petition under Article 97 if one is needed.

How the town announces its own meetings

Article 22, sponsored by the town manager, would rewrite Chapter 78 of the town code so notice of a town meeting is given by posting at local post offices, the public library, the Town Clerk’s bulletin board and the town website rather than by newspaper publication — seven days for annual meetings and elections, 14 for special town meetings. The clause it strikes still directs the town to publish in “the Middleborough Gazette or some other newspaper in general circulation.” The warrant that carries it is itself to be published in Nemasket Week on Oct. 22, per the return signed by Police Chief Robert Ferreira. Article 11 pays Nemasket Week $884 among the prior-year bills, and the Planning Board’s Oct. 6 agenda lists another $150 invoice from the paper for legal advertising on Grace Estates.

The board itself

Teresa Farley chairs; Thomas White is vice chair; Brian Giovanoni, William Pike Jr. and Tracie Craig-McGee fill out the board. All five signed the warrant, though the signature block prints Craig-McGee’s first name as “Trade.” Robert Nunes has been interim town manager since mid-September.

Nunes’s report for Oct. 5 through Oct. 16 lists meetings on the fire chief hiring process and timeline, a Town Accountant job posting, two union grievances, the permanent MCCAM director and a reorganization there, the Oliver Estate, Chrome Book procurement and the Nichols roof with the interim school superintendent, and the town’s insurance coverage. It also records a MUNIS team meeting on data conversion, tax title and collections, and go-live preparation, and a call with Mass Highway District 5 about state highway access permits for 504 and 508 Wareham St. The report names the subjects only; it carries no detail under them.

Item 6e is a Town Manager Search Committee update. Nancy Kefalis delivered the last one on Oct. 5 in the chair’s absence.

Barrella serves on the Middleborough Finance Committee and the Town Manager Search Committee. The Finance Committee is one of the two boards meeting tonight and votes on recommendations for every article described above; he moved all three of the Finance Committee motions recorded in the Oct. 5 minutes cited here, including the Section Five information request. The town’s minutes spell his surname “Barella.” The Town Manager Search Committee has no role in the warrant.