Mashpee voters approve new police station and 12 new police vehicles
It was a big night for the Mashpee Police Department as voters approved funds for a new police station at the annual town meeting on Monday, May 5, at Mashpee Middle-High School.
Voters approved Article 5, for a total of $37,150,000 for the construction of a new police station at 19 Frank E. Hicks Drive. It will also require approval of a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion ballot question at theMay 10, town election.
"Everyone who I've spoken to who has taken a tour of our facility has wholeheartedly endorsed a new police station," said Mashpee Police Chief Scott Carline. He described the building's poor air quality, HVAC issues, sewage problems, flooding, and rodent infestations.
The station, according to town documents, was built in 1979 and an addition in 1991.
The Town of Mashpee held a special town meeting and annual town meeting on Monday evening, May 5. The meeting lasted approximately two and a half hours.
"I maintain my home, it's been standing there since 1698," said Gwen Greelish, asking who was responsible for the maintenance of the building and what led to its decay.
The Department of Public Works is responsible for maintaining town buildings, according to Rodney Collins, town manager. He clarified that the condition of the police station is not due to failures or neglect by the department, but due to a non-functioning floor plan.
"I think the police department deserves to have an appropriate place to live," said Greelish, before stating, "We deserve some kind of assurances that this is not going to be asked of us again in another 25 years."
Karen Faulkner spoke in favor of the station. "If we don't do it this year, it is going to come right back next year," she said.
Aside from the concerns, the town agreed a new station was needed and the vote passed with 229 voters in favor to 50 voters against.
New police vehicles
Mashpee police will receive 12 new vehicles after voters agreed to Article 3 on the town warrant, which asked to approve about $7.4 million for department capital accounts.
Mashpee voters approve Veteran War Monument
During the special town meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes, voters said yes to the construction and installation of a Veteran War Monument at Great Neck Road North and Route 130.
The monument will honor and pay tribute to 350 Mashpee veterans who were deployed to Operation Desert Shield, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Freedom's Sentinel, Operation Enduring Sentinel, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn.
A swift meeting
"Welcome to democracy, this is the real thing and we should all be very proud," said John Miller, town moderator, at the beginning of the meeting.
According to the clerk's office, 296 voters attended town meeting. The majority of special town meeting and town meeting articles were passed with no discussion. Miller also made note of how long voting would take without the electronic voting devices.
Before the meeting began, Carol Sherman, Select Board chair, Thomas O'Hara, Select board member, and Deborah Kaye, town clerk, received recognition for their dedicated service and commitment to the Town of Mashpee. State Reps. Dylan Fernandes and David Vieira, also recognized Sherman, O'Hara, and Kaye with House and Senate citations.
Deborah Kaye (right), Carol Sherman (center) and Thomas O'Hara (left) were recognized by State Rep. Dylan Fernandes and David Vieira with House and Senate citations for their dedication and service to the Town of Mashpee at the annual town meeting, May 5.
Wastewater management articles passed
Voters approved Article 11 on the special town meeting warrant, borrowing $2,500,000 for design and engineering of a Mashpee/Wakeby cluster wastewater treatment facility. Article 11 will also require approval of a corresponding Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion ballot question at the town election on May 10.
Article 6 on the town meeting warrant passed. The article requested $200,000 to pay for the cost of planning and design of wastewater collection, treatment and effluent recharge initiative as part of Wastewater Phase III Recharge Evaluation.
Voters also approved Article 7 authorizing $250,000 to pay the aluminum sulfate treatment for the Mashpee/Wakeby Pond. The Wakeby side of the pond has elevated nutrient levels and declining water quality, according to the warrant.
Articles 6 and 7 also require approval of a corresponding Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion ballot question at the town election.
Article 24, an amendment to the zoning bylaws for accessory apartments also passed. The meeting ended around 9:30 p.m.
Desiree Nikfardjam is a reporter covering breaking and trending news. She graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. You can reach her at DNikfardjam@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Voters approve every recommended article at Mashpee town meeting
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
20 hours ago
- Fox News
College course asks Florida high school students about their sexuality in controversial assignment: report
Florida high school students taking a course at a local college were reportedly assigned to complete a sexuality-focused questionnaire that asked if they were gay and blamed heterosexuals for overpopulating the planet. The course and sexually focused questionnaire was part of a Miami-Dade College course offered to high school students, The Daily Wire reported. Titled "Preparing for Student Success," the course was designed for students to develop academic goals and come up with strategies to succeed in college and was offered in Miami-Dade County, the news outlet stated. However, the students were asked a series of questions that included "What do you think caused your heterosexuality?" "Is it possible that being straight is just a phase you may grow out of?" and "Considering the menace of hunger and overpopulation, could the human race survive if everyone were straight like yourself?" Other questions asked: "When and how did you decide you were straight?" "Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?" "There seem to be many unhappy heterosexuals. Techniques have been developed that might enable you to change your sexual orientation. Have you considered changing?" and "Why do straights place so much emphasis on sex?" "It's not normal. I mean, imagine if a person, anyone, goes close to your son and asks him these questions, I'd call the police," one concerned mother whose son was enrolled in the class told The Daily Wire. "It's perversion. Why are you talking about their sexuality to 15-year-old boys or girls? It's absolutely sick. It's sick." Fox News Digital has reached out to the college. According to the course description, the class teaches college success strategies, goal-setting, learning style assessments as well as general and discipline-specific study skills in the context of various theoretical, practical, and experiential perspectives. The questions came from the textbook "POWER: Strategies for Success in College and Life" by Robert Feldman, a senior research associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The questionnaire came from the work of Martin Rochlin, a gay-rights activist and founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Center of Los Angeles who developed the "Heterosexual Questionnaire" in 1972, the news report said. The college told The Daily Wire that it determined the assignment will no longer be used after a review. "Miami-Dade College is committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and academically sound learning environment for all students," the college told The Daily Wire. "In response to concerns raised about a classroom assignment, we have conducted a thorough review of the assignment, and it will no longer be used. We expect all those who teach to uphold these standards and will ensure any necessary adjustments are made." The mother told the outlet that a separate questionnaire asked the students about diversity. One activity encouraged them to determine the diversity of their campus by getting statistics of how many racial minorities attend their school; another encouraged them to "check your stereotype quotient." That included questions like, "If you found out that a star professional football player is gay, would you be surprised?"
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Worries fuel push to elevate water woes on policy agenda
BOSTON (SHNS) – The Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources got its feet wet Tuesday, diving into testimony on bills dealing with water. Water and water infrastructure generally do not grab the spotlight in the way that other policy areas like transportation, education and housing do, but lawmakers and advocates who testified before the committee stressed their major economic, public health and environmental implications. Testimony Tuesday touched on issues related to PFAS, lead and other contaminants; water quality standards for private wells; drought management strategies; and the future of the networks of pipes that move water to and from homes. 'Massachusetts is facing a growing water infrastructure crisis. The pipes that deliver drinking water, the systems that treat wastewater and the stormwater infrastructure that protects our neighborhoods is decades or even centuries old. The U.S. EPA estimates that Massachusetts needs almost $37 billion in drinking water and clean water investment over the next 20 years. That is billion, not million,' Jennifer Peterson, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, told lawmakers. Peterson pitched a bill (H 1022 / S 563) that would establish a program for upgrading and expanding water infrastructure and would call for $200 million in annual state funding. She said state assistance is critical since 'water infrastructure investment is a shared responsibility among rate payers, the state and the federal government.' Local ratepayers have been burdened by, in some cases, double-digit water rate increases in recent years and the Trump administration's fiscal 2026 budget proposes to reduce funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund by 90%, she said. The bill, filed by Rep. Ted Philips of Sharon and Sen. John Cronin of Fitchburg, would dedicate $2 billion to expand the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's capacity with an emphasis on 'improving drinking water quality and increasing housing capacity,' designate $375 million for the HousingWorks infrastructure program, allocate $138 million for the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust, and provide $78.5 million for the Commonwealth Sewer Rate Relief Fund, according to a summary from Cronin. 'The infrastructure is aging, and we really need to start investing in it. And there's not enough money on the local level, there just isn't. Certainly not with Proposition 2 1/2, that makes it crushing,' Paul Anderson, vice president of the Barnstable County Water Utilities Association, told the committee. Sen. Becca Rausch, the Senate co-chair of the committee, pressed Peterson, Anderson and others on where the roughly $3 billion contemplated in the bill should come from. 'I'll be very frank, right, having done this role and for a number of years now … nobody ever wants to pay more taxes. So where would we get $3 billion for this?' she asked. Peterson responded that the bill calls for a revival of the Water Infrastructure Advisory Committee that was created in a 2014 water law but has been mostly dormant since about 2018. She said that group would 'discuss where the new revenue sources would come from.' She said the conversation in previous years revolved around taxes on products that have a connection to water infrastructure. 'Back in 2012 when Representative [Carolyn] Dykema and Senator [James] Eldridge were leading the Water Infrastructure Finance Commission, toilet paper tax, pharmaceutical tax — things that had a nexus to water — were discussed, but there was never any consensus around how to move those forward,' she said. Rep. Mike Connolly of Cambridge was joined by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan to support legislation (H 920) that would require the Department of Environmental Protection to create and administer a voucher program to cover the costs of PFAS filtration equipment for households in municipalities where PFAS levels exceed the maximum contamination levels. Citing the Sierra Club, Connolly said 96 communities in Massachusetts had water systems that exceed that maximum containment level for PFAS as of February, up from 56 communities a few years earlier. 'There may be a question as to why the district attorney's office is involved in this water issue. It is what Representative Connolly referenced. I feel that part of the privilege of serving as the district attorney is to be looking at really a whole menu of prevention efforts,' Ryan said. 'We know, as the representative just mentioned, the problem with PFAS in water has grown by 47% in the last four years. Many of those communities are in my county.' The bill got a favorable report from the Environment Committee last session but then died in House Ways and Means, according to the committee's summary. Connolly said the version he filed this session has been updated to reflect feedback from key stakeholder groups. Ryan said the bill would provide vouchers for people to obtain two PFAS filtration devices in a five-year period, and it would cover the costs to change the filters every six months as recommended. She said the filters are placed at the point of water service, like faucets, washing machines, tub spouts and more. The district attorney said a set of filtration devices for a household costs about $300, and the replacement filters cost less than $50 each. Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton focused his testimony on well water, which he said is common throughout his district. Across Massachusetts, about 500,000 people rely on private wells for their water service, he said, but the state has no standards for private well testing or water quality. 'Because of this, many families don't know what is in their water. They purchase their home with no guarantee that their water is safe. Contaminants like lead, arsenic, bacteria and PFAS have been found in wells across Massachusetts. These have long-term effects on health, and with children at more risk than adults,' he said, testifying in support of a bill (H 1049) he filed. 'This legislation ensures that homeowners do not need to worry about the quality of their water through creating standards of wells [and requiring] testing. The Massachusetts Constitution established the right of clean air and water. We must uphold that right and protect 500,000 residents that currently do not have any legal protection.' Similar legislation from Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Reps. Natalie Blais and Meghan Kilcoyne (S 585 / H 900) was also on the committee docket Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
a day ago
- Washington Post
Family of teen arrested on his way to volleyball practice asks immigration officials to release him
CONCORD, N.H. — The family of an 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student arrested on his way to volleyball practice pleaded with immigration officials to release him Wednesday. 'I love my son. We need Marcelo back home. It's no family without him,' João Paulo Gomes Pereira said in a video released by his son's attorney. 'We love America. Please, bring my son back.'
