Hurley Middle School Feasibility Study Approved

Voters appropriated $1.7 million for a feasibility study for the Hurley Middle School at Seekonk’s Fall Town Meeting November 9. The Town may be eligible for a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”) with the amount to be expended under the direction of the Seekonk School Building Committee.

The building committee, made up of 35 members, has been formed to determine whether to move forward with renovations or an addition.

School Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell noted the MSBA would provide 50 percent reimbursement for any renovations to the building.

School committee member Emily Field explained the article was “not a vote to build a new school.”

Hurley was built in the 1950s and has been renovated twice. The building’s boiler has broken down several times in the past few years.

“We need to be fiscally responsible,” said resident Noah Escaler, a former school committee member. “Let’s fix what’s broken.”

“We have no intention of going to the limit and frivolously spending $1.75 million,” Kidwell said last month. “It’s in our collective interest as a town, as a community, to keep this cost as low as we can while still getting to the result that we want. I’m not opposed to a renovation addition. I’m not looking for a five-star, perfect platinum ivory tower. Not at all. What we have right now, can’t stay as it is. There are too many major systems in Hurley that need repair.”

The feasibility study will last 18 months.

A warrant article to fund the construction of a South End Fire Station was indefinitely postponed. A November 3 ballot question proposing a debt exclusion for the $9.75 million project was defeated.

James Tusino, the Chairman of the South End Fire Station Building Committee, applied for a building permit before the implementation of a new Energy Code.

“‘If we don’t move forward with this project, the building permit will expire and the $450,000 we have spent will be wasted money,” said Select Board Chair Gary Sagar  during a joint meeting with the Finance Committee and School Committee on October 21.

Sagar cited a report that noted 60 percent of the “runs” are in the south end of town.

“Some of the response times are getting longer, there’s data that indicates from January to September 2026, there were 56 calls which took longer than 10 minutes (for the Fire Department) to respond to. That’s just not acceptable. The volume of runs is increasing steadily. They’re a very busy department.”

Previous attempts to secure funding for the project have failed, including a vote at the May 2025 Town Meeting.  A second attempt to authorize funding for the project was rejected by voters at a special Town Meeting in September 2025.

An article which called for the formation of the Medeiros Farm Legislative Oversight Committee, was indefinitely postponed.

If approved, the new committee would have had the authority to overturn votes made by the Seekonk Select Board relating to the Medeiros Farm project.

A subsequent article, which would allow the Medeiros Farm Legislative Oversight Committee to continuously oversee the project, was also indefinitely postponed, along with a vote to direct the Select Board to carry out the May 2025 Town Meeting vote appropriating $825,000 for designer services for the Medeiros Farm project.

The three articles were submitted by voter petition.

Articles which were approved, included fund transfers:

The sum of $403,785 from Free Cash to the Stabilization Fund.

The sum of $403,785 from Free Cash to the Municipal Capital Stabilization Fund.

The sum of $403,785 from Free Cash to the Building & Infrastructure Stabilization Fund.

The sum of $403,785 from Free Cash to the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust Fund.

$84,000 from the PEG Cable Access and Cable Related fund as a grant to Seekonk Cable Access, Inc., the Town’s PEG Access Provider, to carry out its PEG Access Provider functions in FY’2027.

$43,500 was approved for a Department of Public Works (DPW) Complex Feasibility Study. The study applies to the current facility at 871 Taunton Avenue and the proposed new location at 911 Taunton Avenue.

$48,127 was appropriated for the School Capital Stabilization Account and $24,064 was appropriated for the Special Education Stabilization Fund.

$40,000 was appropriated to fund the cost elements of the first fiscal year of a three-year collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the United Steelworkers AFL-CIO.