Council OKs ARPA shift, MAPC data agreement

Select Board · Meeting of October 13, 2026

Watertown's City Council voted unanimously to redirect $427,564.26 in unspent ARPA funds to citywide fire hydrant replacements and approved a five-year, no-cost data-sharing deal with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Councilor Gannon pressed on liability risk from the MAPC agreement, asking, "Do we have the capability to make sure it doesn't get leaked?" City Attorney Rich responded that "the city is not accepting any liability" under the deal, which is built around the state's intermunicipal agreement statute. Separately, the city's budget office previewed a fiscal 2028 outlook showing an estimated $34 million in certified free cash and a proposed $633,378 fiscal 2027 budget amendment that would fund a new school custodian, an HVAC supervisor position, $150,000 for the zoning rewrite and $1,219,111 added to Watertown Square stabilization.

Three first-reading loan orders totaling more than $5 million for water and sewer work drew no votes Tuesday.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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• The complete report — 2,347 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.