Bellingham Boards Appoint Timothy Mazzadri as Planning Board Associate Member

Select Board · Meeting of July 20, 2026

Bellingham Select Board appoints Planning Board associate member and confronts sweeping new state clean energy permitting rules. The Select Board and Planning Board voted 7-3 in a joint session Monday to appoint Timothy Mazzadri, a longtime town resident and 20-year youth baseball coach with records management experience at Fidelity Investments, as associate member of the Planning Board, filling a vacancy that drew four candidates after Bill O'Connell withdrew citing a genetic heart condition requiring hospitalization. The board also voted 5-0 to renew the Bellingham Power Choice electricity aggregation program's consulting contract with Paragon Energy Group and to authorize the town administrator to execute a new supply contract, noting the program has saved participating residents a cumulative $5.6 million since 2017.

In a tense information session, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources coordinator Steven Minow briefed the joint boards on the state's 2024 Climate Act consolidated local permitting process, effective October 1, which imposes a 12-month decision clock on local boards and routes projects above 25 megawatts solar or 100 megawatt-hours battery to the state Energy Facility Siting Board — prompting Select Board member Cody Spencer to say "this is basically a way to take our decision making away." The board also unanimously authorized a $10,000 contract with the Collins Center for Public Management at UMass Boston to assess the town's HR, payroll, and benefits functions following the departure of the HR director.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,863 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of July 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.