Finance Committee approves $387,000 in transfers for fields and union pacts

MARLBOROUGH -- March 31, 2025, Marlborough Finance Committee unanimously advances roughly $387,000 in transfers for ball fields and union contracts. The committee voted 5-0 on March 31 to approve Mayor J. Christian Dumas's $41,533.50 transfer from a vacant Recreation Department senior clerk line to equipment and youth activities, funding backstop padding, a weighted home plate cover and other upgrades at the Williams Street fields' long-neglected Duke field. Recreation Director Charles Thibodeau said the goal is to make the complex "a destination" for outside tournaments that drive hotel and restaurant revenue. A second 5-0 vote moved $346,051.93 from reserve for salaries to fund settled collective bargaining agreements with Laborers Local 272, IUOE Local 888 engineers and foremen, and NEPBA Local 81 patrol officers. Council President Michael Ossing credited Thibodeau for using existing budgeted funds rather than tapping free cash.