Hopedale Special Town Meeting Weighs Budget Supplements, Select Board Advances Interim Administrator Search

Hopedale’s Special Town Meeting convened June 23 to consider supplementing current-year operating budgets and transferring water and sewer department retained earnings, while the Select Board moved closer to naming an interim town administrator and prepared to accept a $47,894.58 donation. The flurry of activity capped the fiscal year and set the stage for leadership and financial decisions in early July.

Special Town Meeting

Voters at the June 23 Special Town Meeting were asked to approve several financial articles: supplementing fiscal year 2026 operating budgets, transferring retained earnings for the Water Department and the Sewer Department, and reducing the Fire Department’s salary line item (220) for fiscal year 2027. The Finance Committee met on June 25 and again on June 30 to review the warrant and was scheduled to make recommendations on articles 2 and 3, though official minutes had not been published by week’s end. A related stabilization fund discussion also appeared on the June 25 Finance Committee agenda.

Interim Town Administrator Search

On June 29, the Select Board interviewed three candidates for interim town administrator: Nathan Bodreau, Michael Gallagher, and Kelly Grant. The board was also scheduled to vote on a new contract for Deputy Fire Chief McMorrow covering fiscal years 2027 through 2029, appoint Emily Boutin as assistant treasurer collector, and accept a $47,894.58 donation to the town’s legal donation fund. Minutes of that meeting were unavailable. A final vote on the interim administrator contract is expected July 6, when the Select Board is slated to approve and sign an agreement with Gallagher. That meeting will also consider accepting the resignation of Firefighter J. Cote, effective Aug. 16, 2026.

Park Commission

Meeting on June 25, the Park Commission had two votes on its agenda: one on hiring legal counsel and another on budget expenditures. No outcomes have been released.

Council on Aging and Finance Committee

The Council on Aging Board met June 25 to review year-end financials for fiscal 2026 and the new fiscal 2027 budget. Members also discussed the July and August 2026 activities calendar, senior center social media strategies, and local partnership opportunities. The Finance Committee, meanwhile, dedicated portions of its June 25 and June 30 meetings to the fiscal 2027 budget, transfers, and the Council on Aging’s spending plan.

Regional Transit

On June 23, the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority’s advisory board discussed and planned to vote on a fixed-route network redesign and the final fiscal year 2027 budget. The board also considered the administrator’s fiscal year 2026 performance evaluation, an optional performance bonus, and held an executive session on pending litigation.

Draper Field and Park Projects

The Select Board reviewed a proposed layout for the Draper Field project on June 22: a new varsity baseball field and a multi-use sod field. Change orders two and three for the Town Park project were also reviewed. Appointments for Police Sergeant Jeffery Dean and Communications Call Taker Dylan Ferris were on the same agenda.

Coming Up

• **July 6** – Select Board to vote on interim town administrator contract and accept a firefighter resignation.
• **July 7** – The Central Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization will discuss a $1,645,731 cost increase for Chandler and May Street intersection improvements in Worcester and reschedule the Leicester Road bridge replacement in Oxford to federal fiscal year 2026, with a new total cost of $4,594,106.
• **July 8** – Board of Road Commissioners to review a Hope Street parking space redesign request from Hopedale Community House, along with revised road-opening permit documents and a fence matter at Hopedale Country Club.
• **July 9** – Conservation Commission public hearing on a Request for Determination of Applicability for 304–306 South Main Street, plus discussion of a fee waiver for an after-the-fact Notice of Intent at 10 Charlesview.

Generated from official meeting agendas and minutes — every underlying document is linked from the city page. Read the primary source before you rely on a detail.