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Select Board broadens Public Safety Facilities Committee charge, asks manager to revise calendar
Summary
The Select Board approved edits to widen the Public Safety Facilities Committee's charge to avoid over-specific constraints and asked Town Manager Michelle Leary to draft a revised FY2027 calendar that addresses Special Town Meeting timing for public safety.
At the June 30 meeting, the Cohasset Select Board approved edits to the Public Safety Facilities Committee (PSFC) charge intended to give the working group more flexibility in evaluating public safety sites and options.
Select Members William Ashton and Ellen Maher presented the proposed changes. The edits remove overly prescriptive language — including deleting the phrase "to the rear of" in reference to the Elm Street property — and soften wording about reducing scope at the King Street property so the PSFC can examine multiple options. Select Member Greg Watts recommended the committee benchmark comparable recent new builds for context; Maher cautioned that the Select Board must always ask "why" when reviewing benchmarking data. The board approved the updated charge by unanimous roll call (motion by Ellen Maher, second Greg Watts).
Separately, Town Manager Michelle Leary told the board there were too many unknowns to finalize the FY2027 budget calendar. Members discussed meeting start times and the timing of a Special Town Meeting to consider the public safety project. Leary warned that pushing a Special Town Meeting into November could complicate the assessing division’s and treasurer’s work on tax-bill distribution; she said she would prepare a revised calendar that could include a separate January or February meeting focused exclusively on public safety.
The Select Board’s vote changes the committee’s direction and charges staff with returning a revised calendar for board consideration.
