Freetown Select Board Ends K9 Program, Awards Dog to Handler Sergeant Long

FREETOWN — July 10, 2023 — Freetown Select Board unanimously voted to disband the town's police K9 program at its July 10 meeting. The board called the decision one of its hardest, citing budgetary pressures and shift-assignment fairness concerns within the department, and voted immediately after to transfer K9 dog Coda to handler Sergeant Thomas Long under the collective bargaining agreement. The board also awarded two road improvement contracts totaling $570,000 to K.R. Rosendi's — $480,000 for Kelly Drive and Quantapaug Road and $90,000 for Memorial Drive pedestrian access — and approved a fee waiver allowing businesses in Freetown's industrial zones to obtain occupancy certificates at no charge through October 31, 2023, in what officials described as an amnesty effort to establish a safety baseline. New probationary Patrolman Corey J. Cubic, a former New Bedford narcotics officer with 11 years of experience, was placed at Step Five with credit for 10 years of service, making him eligible for four weeks of vacation starting day one.