East Bridgewater Town Meeting Approves $250,000 Safety Study

Town Meeting · Meeting of October 7, 2026

East Bridgewater Town Meeting approved $250,000 for a police and fire facilities feasibility study, 112-40, and enacted a two-year data center moratorium. Public Safety Building Committee member AJ Voisin said the town hired Castle Boots Associates to study options after years of complaints about a fire station with one bathroom on the first floor and one in the bunk room and a police department housed in a town hall basement since 1991. The Finance Committee did not recommend the spending, citing an unplanned $315,000 rise in Plymouth County retirement costs and a thin $1.4 million stabilization fund.

Town Counsel John Clifford backed a 24-month data center moratorium over an outright ban, saying "no one wants a data center coming to East Bridgewater, given the impacts on our water supply, on our electric system." Voters also debated at length, without a confirmed final tally, a proposed townwide ban on license plate reader cameras pushed by resident Juliana Shavs. U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch opened the meeting honoring retiring Police Chief Michael Jenkins and Deputy Chief Michael McLaughlin.

In the full story:

• Congressional Tribute to Retiring Police Leadership
• Article 1: Automated License Plate Reader Ban
• Article 2: Data Center Moratorium
• Conservation Land Transfers (Article 3)
• Fiscal and Fire Department Articles (4-12)
• Article 13: Public Safety Building Feasibility Study
• Remaining Articles (14-21)
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,127 words

Source: the Town Meeting meeting of October 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.