Select Board Ratifies Police Chief Contract, Approves Health Insurance Shift to GIC
Belmont Select Board approves Police Chief contract, initiates GIC health insurance transition. The board unanimously ratified the employment agreement for Police Chief Shane Smith and voted to engage in the formal process under M.G.L. c. 32B, Sections 21-23 to shift the town's self-insured health
Select Board · Meeting of March 23, 2026
Belmont Select Board approves Police Chief contract, initiates GIC health insurance transition. The board unanimously ratified the employment agreement for Police Chief Shane Smith and voted to engage in the formal process under M.G.L. c. 32B, Sections 21-23 to shift the town's self-insured health plan to the state's Group Insurance Commission, citing a projected 24 percent rate increase that would otherwise deplete the health insurance trust fund. The town also won a $128,085 Community Compact Cabinet Information Technology Grant and approved a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes continuation for Sherman Gardens affordable housing redevelopment, estimated at $78 million and yielding approximately 140 new units.
Interim Finance Director Donna Tuccinardi reported FY2026 second quarter revenues at approximately 50 percent and expenditures at approximately 57.8 percent; the town received $929,000 in federal solar panel installation credits to be deposited into capital stabilization.
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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 23, 2026, compiled from the official minutes.
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