For Town Administrator Cody Haddad, transparency is the name of the game

Six months into the job, Town Administrator Cody Haddad has brought a new sense of initiative into town, with old projects being completed and new programs being established.

Haddad and the town have completed or nearly completed a number of projects. This includes the long-awaited dog park that will have its grand opening this spring. The Council on Aging's new kitchen is in the final design phase, with the goal to finish construction by the end of the summer.

Haddad, the Select Board and Long Range Capital Planning Committee have also been working on the town's budgeting needs.

One of Haddad's major goals is to foster more commmunication and transparency between the town government and community members.

“There’s certainly a lot of division and mistrust at the state and particularly I think at the federal level, and so we don’t want to be a contributing factor to that,” Haddad said. “We’re really big on transparency and trust at the local level.”

He added, "I think we're really reaffirming that with all of our efforts."

He noted that the town is currently working to improve overall communication with community members.

Haddad explained that the town recently hired a new communications manager, have been recording more meetings for transparency and will be creating short videos recapping what was discussed at Select Board meetings.

For the first time, the town will hold what Haddad called a Pre-Town Meeting Meeting to educate Town Meeting members and the community about what will be voted on at Spring Town Meeting. This meeting will involve reviewing the warrant and the budget and will give residents an opportunity to ask key department heads questions.

"When they get to Town Meeting, they're educated, and they can make their votes based on everything that they feel like they need to know," he said.

The town is also implementing a budget portal where residents will be able to see a breakdown of the town's budget and exactly where the money they pay is going, such as public education, public safety, benefits for employees' insurance.

"It's really interesting to get down to that granular level, for a resident to see where their dollar is actually going," Haddad said.

Part of the Fiscal Year 2027 budget will be going toward improvements and updates in the Department of Public Works, including general department upgrades and hiring a business manager.

The decision to establish this position is partially in response to the town's water enterprise fund deficit and current dependence on water from New Bedford.

"That's a huge operation over there, and we need someone who can really focus on the financials over at that department," Haddad said.

Haddad, who previously worked as the town administrator in Halifax, is looking to implement some of the program's he established in his previous community. This could include creating quarterly videos to update the community on what's been going on in Town Hall.

Haddad also encouraged community members to get more involved in local politics, especially as the town election approaches. He noted that often presidential elections have a higher voter turnout than local elections.

"You can argue that a local election will have more impact on the average citizen than the presidential election, in some cases," he said.

Besides voting, Haddad said there are a number of other ways residents can get involved, with a number of openings available on various boards and committees.

"The best way to address concerns is to get involved and try to be the solution to what some feel is an issue rather than just provide comments or feedback, we we're open to," Haddad said.

He also welcomed community input.

"If there's things that we can do better in our daily operations and just running the town, we want to hear and we're certainly open to those things," he said.