Board OKs $35 cruiser fee, airs finance fears

Select Board · Meeting of October 13, 2026

Hopedale Select Board aired alarm over the town's finances and approved a new police detail fee. The board voted 3-0 to authorize Police Chief Lima to charge $35 an hour for private cruiser details, with Bernard Stock, Carole Mullen and Chair Glenda Hazard all voting aye. Members said the town's books keep revealing new problems "every week," with no full-time town administrator, assistant administrator or treasurer collector in place, and debated whether to hire an outside audit firm or contact the state Division of Local Services.

One member called the situation "disappointingly overwhelmed." Separately, resident Len Langer warned the board about a prior $255,000 bond for a streetlight conversion that was never completed, as the board weighed a new National Grid LED proposal estimated to save $33,000 a year. Member Bernard Stock pushed for a formal agreement guaranteeing a youth baseball group continued use of Draper Field, saying "it's like you rent an apartment... at the end of the day it's not your apartment."

In the full story:

• Town Finance Operations and Staffing Shortfalls
• Police Cruiser Detail Fee
• Surplus Town Property at the Former Town Hall
• National Grid LED Streetlight Conversion
• Board Member Comments
• Executive Session
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,027 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.