Select Board approves contracts for interim Fire Chief and Town Manager.

Select Board · Meeting of June 8, 2026

MIDDLEBOROUGH — Select Board approves interim leadership contracts amid fiscal crisis. Interim Town Manager Joe Perkins and Interim Fire Chief Dana Fontaine both secured board approval for amended contracts June 8, with Perkins cutting his hourly rate to $53, half his original interim wage, as he approaches a pensioner earnings cap. The board also took several procedural votes: it unanimously authorized posting the vacant Health Director position, appointed Tracie Craig-McGee as the GATRA representative, and approved a one-year extension of the Byrne Sand and Gravel earth removal permit.

In formal remarks to the board, Perkins revealed that twenty-six positions were permanently eliminated from the FY27 budget, with an additional three cuts planned midyear; fifteen people were laid off or forced into early retirement. Perkins stated the layoffs stemmed from "preventable fiscal mismanagement" rather than economic or state-aid factors.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of June 8, 2026, compiled from the official minutes.