PEMBROKE - May 6, 2026 - The Pembroke Select Board’s final meeting before the May 12th Annual Town Meeting was marked by intense personal friction, a formal apology from the Chair regarding member behavior, and a procedural deep-dive into the upcoming $2 million tax override. Tensions flared during public comment as Board member Dan Trabucco defended “harsh” emails sent to a School Committee member as a necessary defense of the Town Manager, while outgoing member Rich Flynn blasted the Board’s leadership for “silence” on athletic policy.
The Full Story
The meeting opened with a procedural preview from Town Moderator Steve Dodge [04:56], who reviewed the 16-article warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting. Much of the discussion centered on Articles 10 and 11, which concern a $2 million operating override and a debt exclusion for the regional school budget. Dodge and Town Manager Bill Chenard engaged in a complex debate over what happens if the articles pass at the ballot box but fail on the Town Meeting floor—or vice-versa [12:23]. Dodge clarified that if the ballot question passes but the appropriation fails at Town Meeting, the authority exists but the “mechanism” to spend is missing, effectively rendering the outcome moot unless a subsequent meeting is called [15:57].
To manage potential friction, Assistant Town Manager Sabrina Chilcott explained that voters would be issued different colored cards—orange for Article 10 and blue for Article 11—to facilitate potential secret ballots [23:38].
The evening’s most volatile moment occurred during a discussion on the Select Board’s Code of Conduct policy [40:21]. Chair Tracy Marino issued a public apology for recent “inappropriate” interactions between a board member and a school committee member, later identified as Dan Trabucco and Allison Glennon [41:17].
