Milton Select Board names historic room after first female chair Kathy Dunphy

Select Board · Meeting of February 24, 2026

Milton Select Board unanimously honors Kathy Dunphy, first female chair, with new room naming. The board voted 5-0 at its February 24 meeting to name the community meeting room in the former fire headquarters at 515 Kenton Avenue after Catherine Dunphy, who served on the then-board of selectmen beginning in 1993 and served as chair — the first woman to hold either role. Former Select Board chair Richard Neely credited Dunphy with securing $1.6 million in MWRA grant funding and saving the town roughly $13 million in landfill closure debt service.

The board also voted to draft a letter to the U.S. congressional delegation and Massport over inequitable airplane noise distribution, appointing Member John Driscoll as liaison to the Airplane Noise Advisory Committee. The evening's sharpest exchange came over $255,000 in health insurance savings: Member Richard Wells warned that town departments have been told "go away" for years while school funding dominates, and Member John Driscoll pointed to potholes and deteriorating roads as evidence that "we are way behind." The board directed Town Administrator Nicholas Milano to model split-funding scenarios for a special noontime meeting the week of March 3.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of February 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.