Oakham Board of Selectmen Votes to Extend Overtime Pay to Part-Time Snow Plow Drivers

OAKHAM -- March 16, 2026, Oakham Board of Selectmen votes to pay part-time plow drivers overtime after eight consecutive hours. The board voted unanimously March 16 to extend time-and-a-half protections to seasonal snow-and-ice drivers working continuous shifts, resolving an ambiguity in the town's personnel bylaw that had left part-timers compensated differently than full-time highway employees during storms; staff was directed to audit payrolls back to January 16 and issue corrective payments. Fire Chief Tim Blackman told the board his vehicle-repair account is roughly $5,000 over budget through early March, with a single $11,000 rescue-vehicle repair consuming the entire maintenance line, and flagged Engine 3, a 1999 apparatus, as needing a radiator before summer pump-testing; the board is expected to weigh a reserve-fund draw for the repair at a future meeting. Town Administrator Maribel (surname not captured on audio) reported Oakham's Quabbin Regional School District assessment for FY2027 is $2,967,276, an 8.77 percent increase of roughly $239,000, and that a single student's placement at Norfolk County Agricultural School will cost an estimated $76,800 in tuition and transportation combined. The board also unanimously reappointed Tina Lindsay and Tracy Eves Braley as primary and assistant animal inspectors.