Orleans Select Board Promotes Officer Diemba, Awards Housing Property to Nonprofit

ORLEANS — February 4, 2026 — Orleans Select Board promotes local officer to sergeant and approves affordable housing award. The board voted unanimously 4-0 Wednesday to promote Officer Christian Diemba to sergeant within the Orleans Police Department, effective February 15, with Chief McDonald calling Diemba "an exceptional officer" who worked his way up from community service officer to dispatcher to patrol. In a separate 3-0 vote — with Member Mark Matheson recusing — the board endorsed the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board's recommendation to award 22 Old Tote Road to Housing Assistance Corporation, the sole respondent to a joint town RFP, for a $1 purchase price with a pledge of approximately $474,000 in private renovation financing to create four rental units targeted at roughly $2,000 per month; renovations are expected to begin January 2027. The board also heard from police on Massachusetts e-bike law, with officers acknowledging that enforcement has been largely educational as state classifications lag behind emerging technology, and received crime statistics showing Orleans total crime is 61.2 percent below the national average.