Town Administrator Cody Haddad provided a recap of the Dartmouth Select Board meeting held on June 1, 2026. The meeting began by recognizing the 25 participants of the town's first Citizens Academy, an 8-week course about the workings of town departments. The board was introduced to the new Director of Environmental Affairs, Jennifer Miller, who replaced the retired Mark Garrett. Following her introduction, Miller was appointed as the town's representative to the Buzzards Bay Action Committee. The board unanimously approved entertainment licenses for 'the sale off' at 246 Elm Street and Anchor Rock Vineyard at 205 Bakerville Road, and also granted a common vehicular license to New York Bagel at 571 Dartmouth Street. Several appointments were made during the meeting. Tim Barber, Director of Public Works, and Paul Duarte, Senior Engineer, were appointed to the Joint Transportation Planning Group. Melanie Perry was selected to represent the town on the SRPED commission. Following the announced resignation of HR Director Suzanne Cunningham, the board selected Nate Silva and Shawn McDonald to serve on the interview team for her replacement. The board also approved a new Environmental Preferred Procurement Policy, a requirement for state recycling grant funding. A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to a presentation from an engineering firm on a feasibility study for Apponagansett and Dias Landing, focusing on maximizing land use and mitigating sea level rise. The most contentious item involved the Russells Mills Historic District Commission. Due to several open meeting law and ethics violations, including authorizing a lawsuit improperly and costing the town thousands in legal fees, the Select Board voted to immediately suspend member Andrew Sponberg, with the intent of full removal. The meeting concluded with preparation for the June 2nd Town Meeting and an announcement of upcoming meeting dates.
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Hello Dartmouth, Cody Haddad, town administrator here. Going to give a recap of the June 1st select board meeting.
0:13We started off the night with a pretty exciting event where we recognized the participants of the town's first citizens academy. We had about 25 individuals, residents of the community, take part in our 8-week course. They they learned all about the various workings of our town, all of the departments, each of our department heads came in and provided a presentation, answered questions from DCTB
0:39to building department to the town clerk, the public schools, both Dartmouth public schools and Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, DPW. Really was a quite immersive experience. We visited seven different locations, public buildings throughout the community, the libraries.
0:55And so the select board acknowledged them and gave them some certificates of completion. Really got some great feedback and we look forward to running the program again going forward. So if you're interested in the citizens academy, we'll be running that again later this year. So stay tuned.
1:08We also had a great introduction of our new director of environmental affairs, Jennifer Miller.
1:14Mark Garrett, our former our former environmental affairs director, retired and Jennifer was selected as part of the committee, the hiring committee, and Jennifer has started with the town. So it was great to have an introduction for the public to see, also for the select board to see. Jennifer is is highly experienced, highly qualified, and we're very excited to have her on board here in Dartmouth.
1:35The third item really went in in line with the introduction of Jennifer, where the town has a representative to the Buzzards Bay Action Committee.
1:44And so Jennifer, as the director of environmental affairs, will represent the town on that in in all of the inner workings of what that committee does. Hopefully some resiliency grants and some regional efforts that the town can can part in.
1:58Uh the sale off was looking for an entertainment license, uh which is at 246 Elm Street. Uh they the board unanimously approved that entertainment license. They're looking to have either solo or duet uh performers, um you know, kind of guitars, low-key music uh for the bar type atmosphere, relaxing, low-key. Uh Anchor Rock Vineyard's another uh request for an entertainment license. They are uh
2:21the new vineyard located at 205 Bakerville Road. They are looking for an entertainment license as well, uh similar in that they are looking for to do solo and duet uh performances, and the select board unanimously approved that.
2:36There was also a request for a common vehicular license for the new New York Bagel uh at 571 Dartmouth Street. And so, uh the select board granted the New York Bagel their their common vic license.
2:49Um the select board also represent it or selected a representative to the joint transportation planning group. This is a regional group um that we appoint Tim Barber, our director of public works, to. We appoint our senior engineer Paul Duarte to serve on this as well as an as an alternate.
3:06Uh and essentially, they're responsible for the biggest responsibility that this group has is they review and approve the TIP, which is the transportation improvement plan, um which goes to the state for funding for for large large-scale transportation projects throughout uh the region. So, the board approved Mr.
3:21Barber and Mr. Duarte.
3:24We also approved the new environmental preferred procurement policy. This is a requirement that the state has that we update and approve this policy, that the select board does so. Um it's a requirement of some grant funding that we get, a recycling grants for several thousand dollars. Essentially, what the policy says is we'll do our best to uh purchase recycled materials, not
3:46be wasteful. It's pretty straightforward and it's actually pretty um common sense. Very exciting was we had an engineering firm in to go over the results of a feasibility study taking place at Apponagansett and Dias Landing.
3:59So really that whole Apponagansett point to look at is the town really maximizing its use. What is the best use for the area as a whole?
4:07And also recognizing that we need to mitigate some sea level rise concerns, climate change concerns. As as many of you are aware, anytime we have significant tidal storms down there, much of the the park and the point get does get flooded. The seawall, the existing seawall on the Dias Landing parking side is heavily eroded. And so we we want to make sure that we're preserving that for
4:31our community to use in the future. The presentation The full presentation can be viewed in the select board meeting.
4:37But overall, they presented some really exciting opportunities that we plan to try to move forward with in several phases.
4:45In particular, we're going to we use this as a baseline to start pursuing grant funding to actually implement those improvements and provide a higher quality product to our community. So very exciting going items going on there.
4:57We also appointed parking enforcement. So our two members of our parks and recreation/facilities team were appointed parking enforcement.
5:07Primarily, this will take place down at at the town's public beaches. However, the appointment does not preclude them from enforcing parking town wide. So very a good thing going on there. SRPED, which is the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District, the local planning agency, the town has representatives that serve on that. We are currently still without an assistant
5:29town administrator who has historically served in that role. So Melanie Perry, the executive assistant here in my office, will be serving on the SRPED commission and representing the town, which we're very excited about.
5:40Unfortunately, our HR director, Suzanne Cunningham, is leaving the town of Dartmouth.
5:46She has resigned from her position. So, her last day will be in early July. With that, we are recruiting for a new HR director.
5:54And we requested that two select board members serve on the interview team.
5:58The board had some discussion on this.
6:00They praised Ms. Cunningham for her accomplishments in the year that she was here.
6:04And also selected Nate Silva and Shawn McDonald to serve on the interview committee team, I should say, with Heidi Silverbrook serving as an alternate if one of them cannot make it.
6:15So, we'll be conducting interviews. We hope to present a finalist to the select board for ratification.
6:21Hopefully within the next month or so.
6:24We also prepared for town meeting as everyone is aware town meeting was held on June 2nd, the day after the select board meeting. General discussion and preparation. There wasn't a lot to discuss regarding this. I think that the select board has done an excellent job of staying informed and being prepared.
6:41And so, this was really just an item that we put on the agenda in case there was any final discussion before we entered town meeting.
6:48The last item on the select board agenda had to do with the possible revocation of appointment of Mr. Andrew Sponberg from the Russells Mills Historic District Commission.
6:59Unfortunately, recently the Russells Mills Historic District Commission has committed several open meeting law violations, several ethics violations, which is actually uh They broke the law under the ethics law.
7:15And so, the select board really was concerned that that is not something that we want the town doing. As a result, what essentially has happened is the Russells Mills Historic District Commission met privately. They had phone calls, email conversations, which is in direct violation of the open meeting law. And they authorized a lawsuit, which was not legal because they didn't have it in a in a regular meeting.
7:45Everything that we do in government and particularly here in the town of Dartmouth in Massachusetts, we're transparent. We follow the open meeting law, and we want our residents to know what's going on. And so, this was in direct contradiction to that, and the select board was really concerned.
7:59As a result, the town has spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this improper litigation that was filed.
8:06And the board did essentially determine that that was not something that they were going to accept. And so, they did vote to immediately suspend Mr. Spawnberg with the idea that he be removed per the provisions of the charter.
8:22So, really a difficult conversation. The select board never likes to do something like this. However, it's very important that our boards, committees, and employees follow the laws that are in place. And so, um that was the the select board meeting from June 1st. There weren't a ton of new updates going on. And our next meeting will be June 8th for a special select board meeting. And then
8:46our next regular select select board meeting will be June 15th.
8:49We did have to change that. Initially, it was scheduled for June 22nd. We'll be meeting on June 15th. There after, it won't be again until July 13th.
8:57So, thank you for tuning in. We'll see you soon.