BOSTON—After being called out for a lack of transparency and treating Central Massachusetts residents like numbers on a spreadsheet, the Baker administration has been forced to reverse course and keep a critical public safety hub open in Brookfield.

Today, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Kim Ring reports on the Republican administration’s efforts to keep local stakeholders in the dark regarding this critical public safety facility’s planned shuttering, writing: 

“State legislators were critical of the seemingly quiet effort to close the barracks and said they were frustrated because municipalities that would be affected were not notified of the plan. Some of the towns use the barracks to book and hold prisoners, because the smaller communities are not all equipped with holding cells.”

While the barracks is no longer facing immediate closure, legislators and local officials have now been provided with yet another example of the Baker administration’s efforts to maneuver around them rather than treat them like the partners in government they are. 

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