Bourne Select Board Meeting – July 28, 2026
Bourne Select Board Meeting – July 28, 2026
The Bourne Select Board convened on July 28, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting included public comments, appointments to fill vacancies, approval of a special event, updates on capital projects, and discussion of a letter to MassDOT regarding the Sagamore Bridge design. The board also ratified a union MOU and heard reports from committees and the town administrator.
Consent Calendar
- Unanimous approval of the consent agenda, including the ratification of a memorandum of understanding with the Bourne Patrolman's Association (Local 60) for FY2026–2028.
Public Comments & Testimony
- John York (Bourne resident) urged the board to carefully read the forthcoming final environmental impact statement for the Bourne Bridge, expressing disappointment that MassDOT dismissed requests for improved bicycling and pedestrian facilities from Pan Mass Challenge affiliates during the draft review.
- Stephen Exaros (State Representative) thanked the board for the recent Bourne High School meeting with MassDOT on the bridge project, offered continued legislative support, and presented a gubernatorial proclamation for the 250th anniversary of Independence Day. He also voiced support for the upcoming K9 Heroes 5K race walk.
- Peter Murder (Bourne resident) requested the board create a more formal venue for community engagement on town issues, noting high public interest (e.g., 40 attendees at the prior meeting, thousands of Facebook views on bridge posts) and low voter turnout (about 400 in the last election).
Discussion Items
- Vacancies on Planning Board and School Committee: The board voted to advertise and post both vacancies, with letters of interest due by noon on September 2, 2026. Interviews will be held via Zoom on September 8, 2026 (jointly with the respective boards).
- K9 Heroes 5K Race Walk: Representatives James LeMontin (K9 PTSD Research Center) and Rep. Exaros described the event supporting retired police and military canines. The race will take place on October 18, 2026, using town roads and the school parking lot (approved by the school department). The board unanimously approved the road use.
- Police Station Roof Building Committee: MJ reported the committee interviewed three firms for owner's project manager (OPM) and recommended Palmer Associates. The board voted to authorize the town administrator to negotiate a contract with Palmer Associates.
- Icewind Building Committee Update (Asa Mintz): The Office Maintenance Garage is underway (foundations, drainage, utility work). The Transfer Station design is in development (estimated cost $14.25 million, excluding A&E services); however, permitting with DEP has caused a 6–9 month delay due to an unusually thorough review. The town may face a gap without a transfer station. Site assignment with the Board of Health is ongoing. Mintz also noted that a proposed cut-through road on Route 28 (south end) to ease local traffic was deemed operationally impractical for the transfer station due to scale location and traffic mixing.
- Engineering Updates (Tim Laden):
- Road Takings: The board approved executing orders of taking for Daniel Webster Lane and Spinnaker Lane (Cassett Woods) – first voluntary road acceptances in 40 years. Betterment documents will follow.
- Temporary Road Betterments: An estimated order of assessment for repairs/resurfacing of Terra Terrace, Eldridge Street, and Eldridge Extension was approved.
- Hen Cove Stormwater Project: Laden reported substantial completion, with jellyfish treatment chambers installed but not yet activated. Final paving and landscape work are expected by mid-September. Two chambers are high; one is low – adjustments will be made during overlay. The project is on track to mitigate beach closures from bacteria runoff.
- Sagamore Bridge Design Public Hearing – Select Board Letter Discussion: The board reviewed a draft letter to MassDOT (deadline August 6, 2026). Key revisions included: specifying the letter is from the Bourne Select Board; changing “understand” to “assured” regarding uninterrupted emergency access; and softening language on financial mitigation – replacing “disappointed that financial mitigation is not feasible” with a statement acknowledging mitigation funds are not currently available but the town is committed to working with MassDOT to protect residents’ quality of life. The letter also requests a formal MOU. The revised letter was approved unanimously. Item #12 (related to bridge issues) was tabled to a future meeting with all five members.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the posting of Planning Board and School Committee vacancies (letters due Sept. 2, interviews Sept. 8).
- Approved use of town roads for the K9 Heroes 5K on October 18, 2026 (unanimous).
- Approved authorizing the town administrator to negotiate an OPM contract with Palmer Associates for the police station roof project (unanimous).
- Approved executing orders of taking for Daniel Webster Lane and Spinnaker Lane (unanimous).
- Approved the estimated order of betterments for Terra Terrace, Eldridge Street, and Eldridge Extension (unanimous).
- Approved the submittal letter to MassDOT regarding the Sagamore Bridge design (as amended; unanimous).
- Tabled the discussion on Item #12 (bridge-related) until the next meeting with all board members present.
- Approved the minutes of July 21, 2026; minutes of July 10 were tabled for corrections.
- Ratified the FY2026–2028 MOU with the Bourne Patrolman's Association as part of the consent agenda.
- Next regular meeting: August 18, 2026; September 8 (virtual only), 22, and 29; October 13 (town meeting) and 19.
Meeting Transcript
All right, meeting 7 p.m. Note this meeting is being televised streamed or recorded by Bourne TV. If anyone in the audience is recording a video taping, they need to acknowledge such at this time. Is that Helen online? Yes, sorry, I couldn't make it. That's okay, Helen. We're glad to hear. So we have Helen from Bourne Enterprise joining us remotely and recording. If anyone from the public wishes to access the meeting, they can do so by calling the following conference line. 1929-205-6099, Zoom meeting ID 8978. Password Bourne all cap. The Zoom chat will not be monitored. Participants who wish to speak must raise the hand icon until the chair asks them to unmute. All items within the meeting agenda are subject to deliberation and votes. Let's do a moment of silence to recognize our troops and our public safety. Pledge allegiance to the flag in the United States. One nation under liberty and justice. Thank you. All right. So we're gonna next on the agenda is to report out votes from executive session. The select board did vote to approve a memorandum of understanding with the patrol union. And the formal public vote is scheduled later this evening as part of our consent agenda. So next we have public comments on non-agenda items. Public comments are allowed for up to a total of 12 minutes at the beginning of each meeting. Each speeder speaker is limited to three minutes for comment, and the board members are unable to respond due to the posting requirements of the open meeting law. Go ahead, Mr. York. Um yes, for the record, my name is John York. I'm a resident of Bourne. Um I got up very early, or I got up early, Sunday morning to watch the Pan Mass Challenge across the Bourne Bridge in in the dark, in several hours of dark before the sunrise rose. It was a wonderful thing. It's a tremendous contribution Bourne makes to that ride, but it's also a tremendous contribution that those people make both to our town and the way they work with us and obviously to uh cancer research where they've raised over a billion dollars for research. Um I was standing right at the spot where several members of uh affiliates of the uh Pan Mass Challenge, including one of their board of directors, have requested a Mass DOT, a certain feature in their Bourne Bridge design. Um that those requests were made as part of the uh federal environmental impact review. And um it was very disheartening in the draft environmental impact statement to see how their requests were summarily dismissed by Mass DOT. I'm anxiously awaiting the final environmental impact statement to see uh if there's been any improvement in that respect. The uh suggestions they made would primarily benefit residents of the town and would be of marginal use to Pan Mass Challenge, which I think they were making those comments for their own purposes, but very much aware that they would be helping out the town if they could get Mass DOT to make those improvements. These are people who understand cycling. Um and so uh the uh federal environmental impact statement is due to be released at the end of this week, and I implore the board to uh read it carefully and see, read carefully how Mass DOT has treated uh commenters making requests for improved bicycling pedestrian facilities. Thank you. Thank you, John. Okay, any further public comment on non-agenda items? Yes. Yes, come in at hello, madam chair. My name is Stephen Exaros. I'm your Massachusetts State Representative for most of Bourne as well as Dave Vierra. Two things. One, thank you for the meeting the other day at the Bourne High School with Mass DOT and the bridge uh project. That was very, I thought well done. And remember, uh, if you ever have any questions, you can always go through me, state repiera or your Senator Dylan Fernandez.
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