Council moves $14.8M to close out high school

City Council · Meeting of May 12, 2026

Watertown City Council voted 9-0 to transfer $14,768,576 from a stabilization fund to close out the $220,538,835 high school construction project, with officials still awaiting a $44,283,365 MSBA reimbursement. Councilors split 8-1 on a new ordinance setting pay and leave rules for roughly 25 nonunion employees, with Councilor John G. Gannon the lone dissenter, saying the measure left those workers without a "cause" standard for discipline that union employees already have.

"I can't support this unless there's at least a cause provision," Gannon said. The council also authorized $4.4 million in loan orders for Forest and Springfield streets reconstruction, shifted $824,277 to cover a snow and ice removal deficit, and put $100,000 toward restoring the Old Burying Ground and Common Street Cemetery. City Manager George Proakis told councilors the U.S.

Postal Service has halted talks to return a storefront post office to Watertown Square at 104 Main St.

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Source: the City Council meeting of May 12, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

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