Freetown Select Board Hires Town Planner, Eyes Rail-Era Growth Challenges

FREETOWN — March 10, 2025 — Freetown Select Board unanimously hired a new Town Planner and cleared a slate of engineering and administrative items at its March 10 meeting. The board voted to authorize Town Administrator Debbie Petty to finalize a contract with Nancy Deery, a certified floodplain manager and GIS specialist whose background includes South Coast Rail corridor planning at the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District and coastal resilience work for the town of Scituate. Deery interviewed before the full board and cited Petty's planning background and Freetown's job description as the deciding factors in her application. The board also approved a $12,800 GPI contract for engineering work at Freetown Elementary School's front entrance, where a retaining wall removal has expanded the project's scope beyond an original $80,000 estimate, and a $4,000 GPI amendment for COA parking lot design that Petty said will likely cost roughly $125,000 to build. A 1994 International fire engine with a cracked engine block was declared surplus and authorized for Municibid listing at a $5,000 starting price, and $176,700 in ambulance abatements and writeoffs for February 2025 were approved against $59,000 in collections that same period.