Uxbridge Times THE NEW
Established in 1991 Vol. 29 • Issue 8
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UXBRIDGE • NORTH UXBRIDGE • LINWOOD • DOUGLAS • NORTHBRIDGE • WHITINSVILLE • SUTTON • MANCHAUG
AUGUST 2020
Former Uxbridge Town Accountant Indicted
SISTERLY LOVE - Savannah and Reese congratulate little sister, Scarlett, on her graduation from Our Lady of the Valley School 2020 Kindergarten Class. See additional photos on page 10
The former town accountant of Uxbridge has been charged in connection with stealing more than $729,000 from multiple municipalities, including the towns of Uxbridge and Millville in Worcester Country and the town of Monterey in Berkshire County, Attorney General Maura Healey announced last month. Justin Cole, 38, of Harvard, was indicted by a Statewide Grand Jury on charges of Larceny over $250 (5 counts), Larceny over $1,200 (2 counts), False Claims (4 counts), Securing an Unwarranted Privilege (4 counts), Unlawful Financial Interest of a Municipal Employee (1 count). He will be arraigned at later dates in Worcester Superior Court and in Berkshire Superior Court. The AG’s Office alleges that from 2012 to 2017, Cole, while employed as Uxbridge’s town accountant, stole town funds by submitting and approving dozens of false invoices and related submissions that caused the town to pay for services not provided. The AG’s investigation also found that as the sole proprietor of the Bay State Municipal Accounting Group, Inc. (BMAG), Cole allegedly used his company to defraud Uxbridge by causing the town to pay rent owed by BMAG to its landlord, and fraudulently billed software and equipment purchases made by Bay State
Municipal Accounting Group, Inc. to Uxbridge. After stepping down as Uxbridge’s fulltime town accountant in July 2017, Cole allegedly continued to defraud other municipalities through BMAG, which provided accounting and financial services to the towns of Monterey and Millville. The AG’s Office alleges that he then used this role to steal additional funds from both of those towns through fraudulent billing and by misleading officials about municipal loan applications. In total, the AG’s Office alleges that Cole stole a total of $729,531.78 – $657,334.78 from Uxbridge, $24,597 from Monterey, and $47,600 from Millville. These charges are allegations and all defendants are innocent until proven guilty. In the AG’s Office, this matter is being handled by Senior Trial Counsel Edward Beagan and Chief Trial Counsel Jim O’Brien, both from the AG’s White Collar and Public Integrity Division, along with Investigators Logan Davis, Jonathan Pitts and Ryan Miller of the Inspector General’s Office. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, the IG’s Office, and the towns of Uxbridge, Millville, and Monterey also provided critical assistance to this investigation.
New Fire Station approved at Northbridge Town Meeting by Christine Beauchaine The Town of Northbridge held their annual spring town meeting on June 23rd. The meeting had been postponed from its originally scheduled date of May 5th. The meeting convened in the Northbridge High School auditorium at 7:00 p.m., then was adjourned to the gymnasium at 7:05 p.m. Town moderator, Henry J. Lane noted that there were 127 voters present and declared a quorum. After an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, tellers were sworn in and protocols due to Covid-19 were discussed. It was announced that board of selectman member Dan Nolan and town clerk Doreen Cedrone would be retiring. Most articles on the warrant were budgetary in
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nature. Article 3 and Article 16 were each read with individual line items, however Articles 1 through 21 were all passed with little or no discussion by voters. The meeting’s biggest issue was Article 22, the approval of a new fire station. The finance committee recommended passing the article but acknowledged that the town had recently approved two other large projects: a new elementary school and a new sports field. It was noted that Northbridge would be discussing a new fire station for the first time in its history. Currently, the town has a fire HQ on Main Street and a substation in the Rockdale section of town. The Main Street location was built in 1923 as part of the Whitin Machine Works. It was gifted to the town in the 1970’s. The Rockdale buildPRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID BOSTON, MA PERMIT NO 55800
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ing was built in the 1950’s. Both of these buildings have interior and exterior deficiencies and code violations. The proposed location for the new station is 1681 Providence Road. This is currently a town playing field/playground. This area is centrally located and has no issues with wetlands, slopes, or excessive ledge. It is already owned by the town and will require no buildings to be demolished in order to build the new station. Planners estimated that fire trucks could reach any part of the town from this location within eight minutes. All of these factored into the decision to use this location. The new station has a single-story floorplan and will have room for expansion, storage, and onsite training. The new station will not only eliminate
the need for the two outdated stations, it will also house offices which currently reside in the town hall annex located at the former Aldrich school building on Hill St. Together, the two existing fire stations and the town hall annex are the three least efficient buildings owned by the town. When the new fire station is completed, the town will conduct an adaptive reuse study on these properties to decide what will happen to them. Article 22 passed by the required majority. Voters moved to pass over Article 23, which involved a petition regarding an amendment to zoning bylaws. Voters in Northbridge subsequently approved the new $18,968,000 fire station project at town elections the following week. In 2019, the Northbridge Fire Department responded to 3,357 calls.
Zero Lunch Debt for Uxbridge Students The past few months have been unprecedented to say the least. During this time, the Uxbridge Food Service Department received a donation to pay off the entire student debt (totaling over $5,600) for this school year. The generous donation comes from a former Uxbridge resident, Eric
Covino, who currently is the owner of Creative Signals in Rhode Island which is a digital marketing company that serves the education and legal communities. Mr. Covino’s act of kindness is greatly appreciated and will provide relief for many families when returning to school.
~ INDEX ~ Town News...............Page 4 Society……........…Page 13 Senior Corner…....Page 15 School News......…Page 17 Sports..……….....….Page 19 Business News……Page 21 Classified...............Page 23