Select Board Appoints Smeltzer to School Panel

Select Board · Meeting of October 13, 2026

Blandford's Select Board unanimously appointed Kathleen Smeltzer to the Gateway Regional School District School Committee, completing the regional panel's 14-member roster. Select Board Chair Jacqueline Coury and member Corinne Shartrand also closed out a town hall furniture sale that netted just $29. The board finalized warrant language for a same-night Special Town Meeting seeking to raise fire engine borrowing from $400,000 to $485,000 under a 2023 town vote, requiring a two-thirds approval.

A finance official said the measure "only authorizes the town to borrow," with tax impact to be decided later alongside a library borrowing request, noting a one-dollar tax rate increase generates roughly $327,000. The board also heard that all three Gateway Regional schools need new boilers and roofs, calling the cost "coming whether people want it to or not."

In the full story:

• Minutes and Election Warrant
• Town Hall Furniture Sale Wrap-Up
• Appointment of Kathleen Smeltzer to the Gateway Regional School Committee
• Special Town Meeting Warrant: Fire Engine Borrowing Increase
• Finance Committee Update: Free Cash and Capital Strategy
• Eversource Flyovers and Leech Hill Road
• Town Clerk: Easements Mailed
• Public Comment: Battery Storage Project Correspondence
• Town Counsel and Warrant Article Drafting
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,205 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.