Norton Select Board names town's first IT director, mulls sewer financing tool

Select Board · Meeting of January 21, 2026

Norton confirms its first-ever IT director and hears debate over a $50,000 sewer-financing study at a joint Select Board and School Committee meeting January 21. Town Manager Mark Cloud introduced Bassem Awad — who brings more than 20 years of municipal IT experience in Townsend, Weymouth, and Dedham — as the town's inaugural IT director, with a public meet-and-greet set for February 2. The board also unanimously seated civil engineer Stephen Bernstein on the Permanent Building Committee, where his infrastructure background is expected to support an impending middle school roof project that could require a debt exclusion of up to $9 million on the April 11 ballot, backed by a 55 percent MSBA reimbursement the town risks losing if it waits.

Town Planner Paul DiGiuseppe presented district improvement financing as a potential vehicle to fund sewer extension along West Main Street and the Mansfield Avenue corridor, seeking $50,000 to engage regional planning agency SRPEDD, but board members pushed back, arguing zoning reform must come first and warning that redirecting new-growth tax revenue to a DIF district could squeeze the general fund — with one member noting that "in a financial situation we may need that money to keep Charlie Fire Station open."

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Source: the Select Board meeting of January 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.