Fhvn Town Meeting supports override vote

By Beth David, Editor

Fairhaven Town Meeting held an all-day meeting on Saturday, 5/2/26, but managed to get through all 29 articles, and passed a $63 million budget. TM also voted to support a ballot question for a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Prop 2 1/2 is a state law that limits the amount municipalities can raise in property taxes.

In his opening remarks, Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, said the town managed to balance the budget, but there are real reductions in services. He noted, though, that the board of Public Works did restore the lifeguards at the town beach. 

He said next year will be even more difficult. The curbside trash pickup contract will expire, and the tuition agreement with Acushnet is still not certain. He said the town will have to   explore options, such as regionalization.

“The decisions ahead will not be easy,” said Mr. Hickey. 

After the warrant was printed, the House budget appropriated more money in unrestricted state aid to Fairhaven, so the numbers changed, with $90,000 added to the budget. 

The Town Administrator/Select Board and the Finance Committee differed in how they wanted to spend the money. Then to complicate matters more, the FinCom made an amendment at Town Meeting to change their new recommendation.

The SB had voted (see 4/30 issue) to use the $90K to fund the animal shelter and restore the Animal Control Officer position to full time for a total of $55,561 for that depart­ment; and the remaining $34,439 to go to the School Department.

The FinCom voted to restore the ACO position and shelter, and to use $25,000 to restore police overtime; and $9,439 to partially restore fire department overtime.

In the end, the operating budget with no override, was amended to add the entire $90K to public safety, fully funding the animal shelter and restoring the ACO to full time; and restoring all of the police overtime ($25,000), and some of the fire department overtime ($9,439). 

The general fund operating budget grand total is $63,025,726.

Because of the changes to Article 8 the override article (9) also had to be changed.

Instead of asking for $760,149 in an override question, the TA and SB asked TM to approve $649,178. The changes included zero amounts for Animal Control and Police OT because those had been restored in Article 8; and reducing the Fire OT from $25K to $15,561. It left Tourism wages and operating expenses in place ($102,244 total); left in the highway department position ($50K), and left the school department at the original amount ($481,376).

An amendment by the Finance Committee to give zero to the school department and zero to the Highway Department, would have resulted in an override amount of $117,802, but that failed.

In the end, after a few motions to reallocate money, the recommenda­tion of the Town Administrator pre­vailed, with the new override amount at $649,178. 

The question will appear on the bal­lot in the June 9 election (see page 3).

Many people spoke for and against the changes and where to put the money. Several commented on how it seemed that departments were being played against each other. 

Fairhaven’s former Executive Secretary, Jeffrey Osuch, said he did not like “the divisiveness of how this is being proposed.”

He suggested taking the $700,000 from the Capital Planning article allocated for the Tripp School roof and using it for the items in the override. That money, from Free Cash, with the additional $90K from the state, would close the gap.

Mr. Osuch said it eliminates the divisiveness and eliminates the need for an override. It would also give town officials time to review the issues with the Tripp School, which go beyond the roof.

“Using Free Cash to balance the budget I think is very dangerous,” said Mr. Hickey, adding it is easy to use Free Cash, but it puts the budget behind before it even starts for next year.

Mr. Osuch, who, as Executive Secretary, was responsible for creating the town budget for 30 years, said, “I agree.”

“If I was sitting in his seat, I would probably be saying the same thing,” said Mr. Osuch, adding a but: that the town has some serious financial issues, including deficits of 3 or 4 million dollars.

All of the other budget items passed as written in the warrant, with little or no discussion.

A few TM members tried to get the Tourism Department funded (Article 8/Community Services), but TM voted it down.

Sharon Simmons proposed an amendment to add $65K to salaries from Free Cash. Ms. Simmons said the Tourism Department was unique, like the animal shelter, and important to the community. 

Wayne Hayward noted that Free Cash was never used to balance the budget and asked if it was even legal to do so. He was assured it is legal, but it is a “poor financial decision,” said Mr. Hickey.

Eleanor Chew said the tourism office was “incredibly important,” and thousands of people attended the events last year sponsored by the department. She noted the new tourism director had only been on the job for a year and had been working part time this year. Ms. Chew said they should give her one more year.

In the end, the amendment failed and the article passed as printed in the warrant.

If the override passes, the Tourism Department will be fully funded. 

Several articles got “no” votes, including Article 23, which would have removed the Fire Chief from Civil Service. A few years ago the union voted for fire and police to be removed from Civil Service. A the time, town officials believed the union members and both the fire and police chiefs had been removed. But union members can only removed with a town-wide vote (see page 3). The Fire Chief was voted into CS at Town Meeting and so needs to be removed the same way.

There was lots of discussion on the pros and cons of Civil Service.

Mr. Hickey said Civil Service prevents the town from being able to hire the right person for the job. He said the way points are allocated, people can move to the top of the list even if they are not qualified.

“I’m not sure I would’ve given the guy a squirt gun, let alone a firearm,” said Mr. Hickey.

The Firefighters union came out against the change. Union repre­sentative, Jonathan Cox, said the union did vote to change it, but that the fire chief is a separate entity.

He said there is no process in place to replace the assessment center Civil Service process.

Former police chief Gary Souza also spoke in favor of keeping CS. He said it uses objective criteria and uses an assessment center to assess the skills necessary to be chief. 

He said relying on an informal assessment or exam is pretty easily subject to favoritism.

“And the most charming or articulate may not be the most qualified to be a commander,” said Mr. Souza.

“The Civil Service exams are hard,” said Linda Therrien. “They’re made that way so only the best go to the top.”

The article was defeated by a large margin. The Fire Chief will remain in Civil Service.

Two articles, submitted by citizen petitions, to change the bylaws to limit the number of boards/ committees town officials can serve on, passed, despite opposi­tion from the town officials serving on more than one board.

Article 27 limits elected officials to serving only on the board they are elected to, unless they are that board’s liaison to another committee. Article 28 limits appointed officials to serving on two boards.

Both bylaws allow the appointing authority to override the limit for an individual with a “specific vote.”

Petitioner, Miles Grant, said idea is to allow more people to get involved in town government. 

Patrick Carr, who is on the Plan­ning Board, an elected position; and also serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and Capital Planning Com­mittee, questioned the motives of the petitioners. He said people are not pounding the doors down to volunteer, and asked what part of the bylaw was not working. 

Brian Monroe spoke in favor of the change, saying residents see the same officials if they need to go in front of different boards. Seeing the same person who may have voted against your project does not  provide checks and balances.

Beth Luey spoke in favor of the change, saying the town is still run by a bunch of “good ole guys.”

Barbara Acksen, who is on the Board of Health, an elected position, and also serves on the Cable Advisory Committee, asked how it would affect her.

Mr. Grant said officials can stay in their positions until their terms are up.

During discussion of Article 28, Mr. Carr spoke again saying there are checks and balances. 

He noted that he and Ruy DaSilva are on both the PB and the ZBA, and they went through Conflict of Interest training. 

Mr. Carr said he was not a “good ole boy,” and he has recused himself every time there was a conflict every single time.

“I challenge anyone here to say that did not happen,” said Mr. Carr.

He added that it was “cancel culture,” which made the room erupt in moans and groans and shouts.

Moderator, Mark Sylvia, inter­rupted and told Mr. Carr to keep his remarks about the merits of the article.

Mr. Carr said he knew he had “plenty of fans here today.”

He said other PB members have served on more than one board, and  specifically mentioned Wayne Hayward, but then said he was not directing his remarks to Mr. Hayward.

Mr. Hayward responded, saying his focus for 31 years was the Planning Board, and that he never served on two boards.

Mr. Carr continued to make his case, saying he was probably “talking into the wind,” because nobody wanted to hear it.

Board of Public Works members are already limited by statute from serving on any other boards or committees except as a liaison for the BPW. All official town boards are open to the public. 

TM members also voted to: indefinitely postpone both articles related to creating a Housing Trust

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