Dighton Select Board Appoints Building Commissioner, Moves Housing Plan Forward

Select Board · Meeting of July 8, 2026

Dighton Select Board unanimously appoints Jeff Mello as building commissioner and takes up stalled housing production plan. The board voted Tuesday to place Mello in eight additional municipal roles including zoning enforcement officer and TIP review board member, then heard a presentation from SRPEDD consultants Taylor Perez and Robert Cabral on a draft Housing Production Plan a year in the making. Planning Board member Jeff Cavallo, appearing by Zoom, raised concerns about the quality of about 202 survey responses — some "pretty inappropriate and vulgar," he said — and argued that the plan's public education strategy "needs to be number one." The board directed SRPEDD to revise the draft based on the planning board's written memorandum and submit it to the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for informal pre-review before a formal adoption vote.

The board also accepted the resignation of Highway Department operator Jeff Pimentel — Chair Ralph Ponte called it "a huge loss" — and authorized posting the operator class one replacement position immediately.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,434 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of July 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.