Wareham Select Board Votes to Become Purple Heart Community, Backs $2.85 Million Capital Plan

Select Board · Meeting of April 21, 2026

Wareham Select Board declares town a Purple Heart community and backs a $2.845 million capital plan funded entirely through free cash. The three-member quorum — Chair Sarah Corbitt, Clerk Judith Whiteside, and Member Joseph Still, with Members Marcus Gomes and Jared Chadwick absent — voted unanimously on both items at the April 21 meeting. Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, participating remotely, said the capital package covers police body cameras ($250,000), police vehicles ($425,000), municipal maintenance and the Fearing Hill Bridge ($1.535 million), school external doors ($100,000), and IT infrastructure upgrades totaling $785,000, leaving just over $2 million in free cash as a reserve.

Sullivan cautioned the surplus reflects years of conservative budgeting and is "not to expect" to repeat at the same level. The board also welcomed incoming Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amy Hartley-Madison, who begins July 1 after seven years as Assistant Superintendent in Randolph, and approved a common victualer license for Tiffany Finn's Lunar Lotus Nutrition at 3147 Cranberry Highway in East Wareham.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of April 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.