Acushnet Planning Board Votes to Restore Part-Time Clerk, Submit FY2027 Budget

ACUSHNET -- February 6, 2026, Acushnet Planning Board unanimously backs a fiscal 2027 budget request to restore a part-time clerk position cut after the spring 2026 town meeting. Chair Mark Francois led the push, arguing that Town Planner Victoria Alfaro, a part-time employee, has been consumed by clerical duties since the Board of Selectmen's promised shared-clerk arrangement fell through roughly five months ago. The departmental request, prepared from a template provided by Assistant Town Administrator Jamie Velasquez, proposes reinstating a 19.5-hour, non-benefited senior clerk at roughly $15,000, about $7,500 less than a similar request rejected the prior year. Francois framed the position as essential: "Her job is to make money for this town and to save money for this town." The board also continued its months-long discussion of rezoning Main Street from the town center to Lake Street for mixed-use commercial development by right, assigning members homework to review a Norton bylaw use table and return annotated at the February 19 meeting.