Acushnet Select Board names town administrator finalist, opens contract talks

ACUSHNET — February 17, 2026 — Acushnet Select Board unanimously named Adam Lamontaine as its town administrator finalist and accepted a Civil Service list for police chief and deputy chief. The board voted to commence negotiations with Lamontaine immediately, then moved into executive session for contract strategy; two other candidates, Ian Averute and Dr. Michael Boucher, had withdrawn before the final decision. For the police positions, sergeants Gary Coppa, Jeremy Fontes, and Danny D. Amaral ranked identically on both the chief and deputy chief lists, though one board member raised a procedural concern that the assessment-center vendor had not conducted required preliminary interviews with either the board or Town Administrator Stan Kelly, who confirmed, "I was not contacted at all by them." The board also approved more than $59,500 in reserve fund transfers covering animal control, a police clothing allowance shortfall, a leaking dispatch mini-split, recalled Council on Aging sprinkler heads, and a failing water-sewer server, and heard Fire Chief Kevin Fowler warn of a projected $20,000 to $25,000 overtime deficit despite last spring's increase of the fire overtime line from $70,000 to $100,000.