Freetown Select Board awards $456,600 elementary school roof contract to Leading Way Construction

FREETOWN — July 13, 2026 — Freetown Select Board awards $456,600 elementary school roof contract and tables police tech policies. The board voted unanimously Monday to award the Freetown Elementary School partial roof replacement to Leading Way Construction, Inc. at $456,600 — under the $500,000 available — and authorized Town Administrator Deborah Petty to sign the contract directly given the need to begin work in August. The board also approved eight interdepartmental budget transfers across town departments, accepted a $50 donation to the Council on Aging from Susan Samo, and raised the town videographer's pay from $125 to $175 per service for both filming and editing of board meetings, funded by PEG access money. Two police technology proposals — an AI use policy and a Flock camera installation request — were tabled without discussion. In a lengthy informational discussion, Petty disclosed that MassDOT is already at 25 percent design on a state-funded North Main Street Bridge replacement targeting July 2028, with a potential two-year full road closure that both police chiefs have called unacceptable, overlapping with the town's own South Main Street Bridge grant project and Four Corners intersection work.