CHESHIRE, Mass. — New resident Bobby Quintos wants to leverage his contacts to help the town secure grants to address infrastructure challenges and support future energy and cost-saving initiatives. 

 

"I'm not here to be a consultant or anything like that. I'm just here to help. I like the community. I'm involved with the church, and I think there's a lot of things we could do here in this little town of Cheshire, where we can take advantage of a lot of these grants," he said. 

 

Quintos attended a Select Board meeting last month to highlight his experience in engineering, grant writing, and forging partnerships across government. 

 

He is originally from New York and moved to Cheshire at the end of 2023 to be near his son and grandkids. 

 

He heard about several challenges and initiatives the town has been undertaking, including infrastructure issues with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, roof repairs, and the potential for solar panels. 

 

"I know how to raise money," he said, saying he'd helped the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority obtain $8.3 million in grant funding in his role as its general manager of Berkshire Transit Management. A year prior, he aided in the BRTA obtaining $1 million for hydrogen technology. 

 

"I know that Cheshire has raised some grants. I've done quick research [on] you guys, and Massachusetts is fairly generous, too," Quintos said, listing a weatherization grant for the police station and the Community House, resurfacing funds for Fred Mason Road, and others.