Manchester Select Board Names Pierce Davis Co-Counsel to Control Legal Spending

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — February 2, 2026 — Manchester Select Board adds co-counsel, appoints planning associates, and hears zoning briefing ahead of Town Meeting. The board voted unanimously February 2 to appoint the law firm Pierce Davis as co-counsel alongside existing town counsel KP Law, with Town Administrator Tony Mello citing a legal budget that "ran pretty hot" this year and saying Pierce Davis charges roughly $50 less per hour for routine municipal matters. The board also voted to appoint Nancy Garvey and Isabella Bates as associate members of the Planning Board — filling newly created seats designed to ensure a five-member supermajority for special permits — for terms through June 30, 2026. In a joint session, Planning Board Chair Peter Morton and member Chris Alney briefed the Select Board on five proposed Town Meeting articles: a downtown district restructuring into Town Center and Harbor's Edge zones, a senior housing bylaw allowing up to 10 units per acre by special permit, an inn definition limited to 12 guests, a driveway bylaw amendment, and a possible ADU expansion. The board received a lengthy but unresolved discussion of how to finance the $3.6 million Rotunda restoration — with $1.3 million already appropriated and the remaining gap subject to competing CPC and town-borrowing options — after new school budget numbers reduced Manchester's district cost increase from roughly $1.3 million to approximately $654,000, reshuffling the fiscal picture heading into spring Town Meeting.