Freetown Select Board Shelves November Special Town Meeting Over MBTA Zoning Delay

FREETOWN — September 9, 2025 — Freetown Select Board postpones special town meeting to early 2026, cites unfinished MBTA zoning work. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to skip a planned November 17 special town meeting, with Town Administrator Debbie Lopes explaining that the technical assistance firm hired to help draft the required MBTA Communities Act zoning bylaw change had not yet signed its contract. The town has already lost a $50,000 grant connected to Assonet Four Corners safety improvements and expects to lose a $500,000 Complete Streets grant, both denied because Freetown is not MBTA compliant. The board also approved a $40,000 HVAC contract with Air Masters Division of the Rise Group to install mini-split heat pumps on the first floor of town hall. Lopes flagged $153,271.15 in ambulance billing write-offs for August 2025 alone — a pace that projects to roughly $1.8 million annually — and said she is reviewing the billing company's performance with the fire chief before drawing conclusions.