Blandford Select Board and veterans agent find communication gap at budget review

Select Board · Meeting of February 10, 2026

Blandford Select Board discovers communication breakdown with veterans agent, questions $10,000 fund. Chair Jacqueline Coury and members Ted Cousineau and Corinne Shartrand met via Zoom with the town's part-time veterans agent, identified only as Joe, who has held the position since approximately 2012. The board said it convened the meeting after noticing a $10,000 annual veterans services budget line that has gone largely unspent for years, with no Chapter 115 recipients in the town for more than a year.

Joe recommended reducing the appropriation to $5,000 and said his annual stipend is under $2,000. He walked the board through five state survey questions on Blandford's compliance with the Valor Act — including requirements for designated veterans parking spaces and property tax exemption adjustments — that board members said they were hearing about for the first time. No votes were taken; the parties agreed Joe would send the board the survey questions, Valor Act materials, and website recommendations, with further outreach to town veterans to follow.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of February 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.