Freetown Select Board Clears Dozen Votes Before High-Stakes MBTA Zoning Town Meeting

FREETOWN — February 2, 2026 — Freetown Select Board clears twelve unanimous votes before adjourning to a Special Town Meeting on MBTA Communities Act zoning compliance. Town Counsel, identified in the transcript as Mark, warned the board that nine Massachusetts municipalities had already been named in an Attorney General complaint filed the prior week and that Freetown was excluded only because of the scheduled Special Town Meeting action — a failed vote, he said, would "imminently" trigger an amended complaint naming the town. Land-use attorney Robin cautioned that the extent of a court's authority to impose zoning by judicial decree is legally unsettled but said non-compliant towns are "likely to at some point face fines or some kind of contempt." On other business, the board declared four police fleet vehicles surplus, posting three on MunicipalBid with a $1,000 minimum bid and sending a cannibalized 2016 Dodge Charger to scrap; awarded a tax-title property listing to Cindy Brower Real Estate; approved a 31-cent-per-hour wage adjustment for the head mechanic under a union MOA with Public Employees Union Local 272; and set a $20-per-hour pay rate for a new seasonal snow shoveler position created after a recent storm left town crews stretched for more than 30 consecutive hours.