Freetown Select Board Confronts New Bedford Water Dispute Affecting 110 Homes

FREETOWN — December 16, 2024 — Freetown Select Board hears urgent water dispute while honoring food pantry volunteers at packed 31-item meeting. Resident Ian LC of 23 County Road told the board Monday that his home has been without usable water for two weeks after the city of New Bedford declined to repair a main line leak, instead demanding that Freetown assume ownership of infrastructure serving roughly 110 County Road customers — a condition Town Administrator Deborah Chaves flatly rejected. "Water is a basic right," board member Carlos Lopes said, calling the two-week standoff "unacceptable." The board also voted unanimously to donate town funds to the Freetown Regional Food Pantry, which serves approximately 175 families weekly from 15 communities, and accepted additional donations from Freetown Lake Youth Softball and local gas station Junior's. The board approved $176,500.58 in ambulance abatements and write-offs for November, authorized separate legal counsel for conflict-of-interest situations involving KP Law, and cleared a 2025 design-engineering scope of work for a municipal fiber grant project with ComTrak.