Seekonk town meeting approves $1.75 million Hurley Middle School study, sets aside fire station again
The study borrowing still needs a ballot vote to exempt it from Proposition 2 1/2. Voters turned down a South End fire station once before, in May 2025.
SEEKONK Seekonk town meeting voters approved a $1.75 million study of the Hurley Middle School's future on Monday, Nov. 9, and set aside a request for a new South End fire station, The Sun Chronicle reported.
The study passed 221-61 at Seekonk High School, and voters indefinitely postponed the $9.75 million fire station article, the newspaper reported Tuesday. The study vote cleared the two-thirds majority the warrant required, with about 78% of the votes cast.
The school study is not settled yet, because the money is borrowing that, under the motion printed in the warrant, takes effect only if Seekonk voters also agree at a town election to pay the debt outside the Proposition 2 1/2 tax limit.
What the study covers
The study will look at an addition to, a renovation of or new construction at the Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School, 650 Newman Ave., "with additional consideration of options for grades 5 and 9-12," the School Committee wrote in Article 9 of the warrant. The Sun Chronicle reported that it would also weigh how the district groups students by grade.
Seekonk may qualify for a Massachusetts School Building Authority grant toward the study, and the borrowing shrinks by whatever grant the town and the authority agree on, according to the warrant. The warrant also warns that the state program is "non-entitlement" and that any cost above the grant "shall be the sole responsibility of the Town." The Finance Committee recommended the article, and the Select Board said it would give its view on the floor.
The fire station, again
Article 13 asked for up to $9.75 million to build the South End Fire Station, including site and utility work, design, legal fees, furnishings and equipment, with the borrowing also tied to a ballot vote. The Select Board, which put the article on the warrant, backed it 3-2, and the Finance Committee voted 4-2 to hold its recommendation until the meeting, the warrant shows.
A motion to indefinitely postpone sets an article aside for the rest of the meeting without a vote on the money. It is the second time in about 18 months that town meeting has passed on a South End station: at the annual town meeting in May 2025, residents opposed spending $9.5 million on a new fire station in the south end while backing a $10.4 million library renovation, The Sun Chronicle reported then.
For scale, Seekonk raised $2,565,068 on fiscal 2026 tax bills to repay debt voters had already exempted from the tax limit, from the Banna fire station in 2013 to the Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in 2025, according to the town's debt exclusion summary.
Still to come
This story will be updated with the votes on the warrant's other 19 articles, including the Planning Board's proposed ban on data centers anywhere in town (the Select Board recommended it and the Finance Committee recommended against it, 5-1), about $1.6 million moved from free cash into reserve funds and three citizen petitions over the Medeiros Farm project.
What happens next
The Select Board sets the date of any town election for the debt exclusion. Residents can reach the town clerk at 508-336-2920 and the Select Board office and Town Administrator Shawn E. Cadime at 508-336-2911.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The articles, motions, vote thresholds, ballot conditions and board recommendations come from the Town of Seekonk's fall town meeting warrant, and the excluded debt figure from the town's fiscal 2026 debt exclusion summary. The 221-61 vote, the fire station postponement and the May 2025 votes are credited to The Sun Chronicle. The vote share is our own math from the reported count.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (5)
- The Sun Chronicle (Stephen Peterson), "Seekonk voters back $1.75M school study, shelve fire station request"Posted Nov. 10, 2026, 5:10 p.m. EST. The 221-61 study vote, the indefinite postponement of the fire station and the study scope; the rest of the article is behind the paper's paywall and was not read. Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- Town of Seekonk, Fall Town Meeting warrant, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026Town of Seekonk. Articles 9, 10 and 13, motions, two-thirds requirements, ballot vote conditions, recommendations with recorded splits, 21 articles in all. Read Nov. 4, 2026, and again from our saved copy Nov. 11, 2026.
- Town of Seekonk, Debt Exclusion, Fiscal Year 2026Town of Seekonk. Excluded debt raised on fiscal 2026 taxes, $2,565,068, by project. Read Nov. 4, 2026.
- The Sun Chronicle, "Seekonk town meeting voters support library project but not new fire station"Posted May 13, 2025. The May 2025 annual town meeting votes on the $10.4 million library renovation and the $9.5 million south end fire station. Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- Town of Seekonk staff directoryTown of Seekonk. Town clerk and Select Board office phone numbers. Read Nov. 4, 2026.