Politics & Government

Do You Think Norton's Veterans Services Should Be Pooled with Other Towns? [POLL]

Town officials considering a new veteran's services district called Crossroads Veterans' Services District.

 

Norton selectmen voted unanimously Thursday night in support of the Crossroads Veteran Services District proposal that would also include Easton, Foxborough and Mansfield. But not everyone in other towns are as enthusiastic.

Easton's Board of Selectmen meeting got heated Monday night, as town officials discussed enacting the agreement that would create a new veteran's services district.

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About a dozen Easton veterans expressed disapproval of the plan at the meeting.

"We want our Veterans agent to be a full time veteran working for veterans in Easton, not farmed out to Norton or any other town," said Alvin Smart, the Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Private George F. Schindler Post 2547 of Easton. "Our Veterans Agent should be held accountable to the Veterans of Easton."

Find out what's happening in Nortonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The proposed district, which would likely be called the Crossroads Veterans' Services District, would add Mansfield and Foxborough to the current district of Easton and Norton. The Norton-Easton district was formed 18 months ago. Between the four towns, two veterans agents would be employed.

Easton Town Administrator David Colton said Monday that while combining with Mansfield and Foxborough would not necessarily save money, it would create greater efficiency. Previously, Nolan served over 80 case-loads between Easton and Norton. With four towns and two veterans agents, the agents would each serve approximately 50 case-loads, as Foxborough and Mansfield generally have low amounts of case-loads. Colton added that a clerk in town offices would be trained in order to help veterans with their needs in the event that an agent wasn't available.

Stay tuned for more of this story from Norton's perspective on Patch.


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