Cohasset Select Board ratifies three union contracts, eyes 2028 override planning

Select Board · Meeting of March 3, 2026

Cohasset Select Board unanimously ratified three municipal union contracts and approved a blizzard emergency declaration at its March 3 meeting. The board approved three-year contracts — July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 — for the police superior officers' union, the police officers' union, and the public works employees' union, all moved by Select Member Paul Grady and seconded by Select Member David Farrag. Interim Town Manager Michelle Leary presented a draft FY27 budget projecting $26 million for schools (61 percent of the operating budget) and $17.2 million for all other departments, with free cash certified at $1,260,775 and planned cuts including elimination of the assistant town planner position, reduction of a communications specialist to part-time, and closure of the Paul Pratt Library on Sundays.

Emergency Management Director Glenn Pratt told the board the storm triggered nearly 200 calls to 911 and more than 150 to the DPW line directly, and that the declaration enabled the town to receive four National Guard troops and a salt delivery from the state. During public comment, School Committee member Craig MacLellan announced that newly identified savings from an overlay account, health care concessions, and unanticipated retirements would allow the school district to "significantly and materially mitigate" planned educator reductions, with full details to follow at the School Committee's next night meeting.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.