Town Manager Report for the week ending October 24, 2025
Last Friday night we had the most successful Halloween Trunk or Treat event at the Town Hall Annex based on the number of estimated attendees since its inception. We had thousands of children dressed in their best scary and adorable costumes collecting candy and having a great time. A huge thank you to our Event Coordinator Kim Frenze and Recreation staff for a great night. Thanks to all of the food vendors who took part and to those volunteers and groups who passed out around 4000 pieces of candy each at their own expense. We look forward to next year!!
On Tuesday we had our monthly call with the staff at the Pandemic Recovery Office who is overseeing our $4.8m Community Learning Center project at the Annex that I have been highlighting for over a year. We are nearing completion of the construction phase and are currently planning out the furniture, furnishings, and equipment to be ordered. We are hoping to have the ribbon cutting sometime in February 2026 if everything stays on schedule.
On Wednesday I met with Chief Witt for our weekly update/briefing and discussed the upcoming promotions and some capital purchases we need to make over the next year including a new records management system, a command vehicle, and some upgrades to headquarters.
On Thursday I attended The Trust Annual Board meeting in Pawtucket with several other municipal and school representatives from across the state to discuss risk management challenges, our individual community needs assessment, what types of trainings and resources we all need to insure our staffs are knowledgeable and safe in all they do from Finance to DPW to Police, and what the current trends are that are causing our rates to increase. We discussed many upcoming challenges when it comes to prescription rebates along with health and dental increasing costs. As a member of the Board the insights behind why a decision is made are very beneficial and allow us to be prepared as we look forward to our next budget season.
Today Asst. Town Manager Broadbent attended a meeting with the School Superintendent, High School Principal, and other interested parties to discuss the upcoming detour around the high school as the sewer installation project progresses. There will be detours beginning in mid-November that will alter the current flow of traffic through Wood Estates and back to the main roads. We will have a police officer in place as needed to monitor the traffic during the busier times of the school day. After the winter break the contractor will be back to finish the project by early summer.