Carver Select Board Promotes Rudolph to Sergeant, Adds 10 Special Officers for Eversource Project

CARVER — October 21, 2025 — Carver Select Board unanimously promotes officer to sergeant, expands police detail roster for major Eversource grid project. The board voted 5-0 to promote Officer Brandon Rudolph, a seven-year department veteran and Carver native, to sergeant, with his wife Sandy pinning his badge at the October 21 meeting. The board then appointed 10 special police officers — including retiring Deputy Chief Sherry Sarmento, effective November 3, and nine POST-certified recruits drawn from retired state, local, and sheriff's department ranks — to handle an anticipated demand of 12 officers per day for a six-month Eversource grid-hardening project, raising the department's special officer total from eight to 18, all at Eversource's expense. The board also approved a beer-and-wine license for Carver Gas Corp at 249 Tremont Street, the town's fourth of five permitted, and voted unanimously to reaffirm that four parcels are not subject to Chapter 61A right-of-first-refusal obligations. Eversource Senior Vice President Doug Horton, presenting a rate-transparency briefing, told the board flatly: "I wish I could sit here and tell you with a straight face that I'm expecting utility rates or bills to go down, and I don't expect that." Municipal finance consultant Eric Kinscherf recommended the town issue an RFP for a new integrated financial software system to replace the widely criticized VADAR platform — with any transition locked in until at least July 1, 2026, when the current $30,000 VADAR contract expires.