Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 9/28/2022
BELCHERTOWN – The Belchertown Select Board voted to endorse the town election warrant for Oct. 3, approved a zone change application to send to the Planning Board, waive a promotional exam for the Police Department, and continued discussion on town employee hazard pay through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) during the Sept. 19 meeting.
Special Election
The Select Board all voted yes and recognized that the special election for the vacant Select Board seat will take place at the Belchertown High School on Oct. 3, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Zone change application
The Select Board received and discussed a zone change application they received. The Select Board does not decide on zone changes but sometimes must decide if the application should be sent to the Planning Board to initiate the plan or not. Select Board Vice Chair Jim Barry said “the Select Board and Planning Board have no immediate impact on what happens. If it goes to Town Meeting, it needs two-thirds vote to pass.” The zone change application being discussed is for 115 N. Main St. and is on the edge of a B-1 zoning district but is currently not considered in that district. According to the Belchertown zoning bylaws, “these are areas in which primarily retail and professional activities will be encouraged while large businesses and industrial-type developments will be restricted.”
A B-1 zone is intended to provide commercial areas of limited size, for basic trade and personal services for the convenience of adjacent residential areas, for needs recurring regularly or frequently. Barry continued to explain that this property was grandfathered in as a business location before zoning was created.
The owner of the businesses is looking to get it changed from a village residential zone into a B1 zone, so it has more opportunities for different kind of businesses to be allowed in a B1 zone that is not allowed in a residential zone. Both Barry and Board member Ron Aponte understand that there has been business taking place there for several years and thought it was already a B-1 zone.
Aponte said, “It was my understanding that this area was already a B-1 zone so I was shocked to hear it wasn’t. I don’t see why we wouldn’t send this to the Planning Board.” The Select Board will now send the application to the planning board to discuss.
Promotional exam
A request was made by the Belchertown chief of police to waive a promotional exam needed to fill vacant positions. At the beginning of August, Kevin Pucunas was selected and sworn in as new chief of police, creating an opening for lieutenant position.
Aponte explained to everyone that Pucunas is looking to fill the lieutenant position that he vacated and the new sergeant position as well.
“He did an internal posting and has received only one applicant for each position and is looking to have the promotional exam waived,” he said. Aponte continued to explain that “According to the contract, part of the promotional process calls for a written examination for both positions but there is a clause in there that says if there is only one applicant for that position, it can be waived by appointing authority from the Select Board.”
Pucunas wants to waive the exam to make the process smoother, faster, cleaner, and overall cheaper. Aponte added that the town would save money because they would not have to pay for the exams to be taken.
The idea of waiving the exam led to a debate with some pushback from board Clerk Ed Bosher. He understood that the vote was only to waive the exam but still felt like doing so would just give someone a job without knowing who they are.
He said, “My point being, as soon as we waive it, those two have jobs without us knowing who they are. It doesn’t feel morally correct to me.”
Select Board Chair Jen Turner, Barry, and Aponte explained to him that the board still must appoint Pucunas’s candidates for the job and can still say no. Turner stated, “They will still have to stand in front of the board, and we can look at their applications and get to know them before a decision is made.” The vote was only to waive to exam portion of the promotional process to make it faster and smoother.
In a 3-1 vote, the board elected to waive the written exam portion of the hiring process for the position of lieutenant and vacant sergeant position. This vote only applies to those internal postings. If the positions were to reopen it will not apply to any future applications.
ARPA hazard pay
The Select Board had a continued discussion about ARPA and hazard pay. Town Administrator Gary Brougham brought up again the ongoing discussion on premium pay for essential employees who were eligible having worked through the dates of the declared coronavirus pandemic. Those dates are March to December 2020.
The working group has made several proposals to the board and Brougham presented its newest draft based on recommendations from discussions with the board. The proposal would award full-time public safety employees like police, fire, and EMS $4,000, full -time public works $3,000, full-time public safety $2,000, part-time benefited public safety $1,500 and part-time public safety $1,000. Part-time casual employees like BCTV registers, committee clerks, custodians would receive $250.
Brougham said, “This is a very entertainable proposal and respectable for the level of service that these employees provided during some of the most difficult times. It was an awkward and difficult time to keep all the town’s essential functions on time and as needed. We never missed a deadline or commitment and operated as if we were open even though our doors were closed.”
There are several requests that have been placed on hold until they were able to see what the remaining balance would be to fund other projects after the premium pay was agreed to. Brougham also brought up how the School Committee is looking for $250,000 to recognize their employees.
Barry brought up that when speaking of the ARPA premium paid proposal he would have to recuse himself from the part-time casual conversation and vote while Aponte would have a similar issue when it came to discussing the schools. Turner thought it would be best to break the discussion and votes into two separate parts.
Boscher asked where each of these amounts came from but also agreed that everyone eligible should be compensated. Brougham said that they were originally based on surrounding areas’ premium pay to their workers and “we have adjusted the numbers based on past proposal conversations and I don’t want to leave anyone out. Everyone is entitled. They worked hard.” Turner also said, “The working group has done a ton of research by looking at what surrounding towns were giving out for hazard pay. We felt comfortable as a board to get to around that seven percent range and it is close enough.”
Boscher stated they can’t talk about the hazard pay until they see the request from the schools. Turner agreed and Aponte recused himself for the conversation. Members of the school were present to discuss. Belchertown Superintendent Brian Cameron and Belchertown School Committee Chair Heidi Gutekenst were present to discuss where the school district employees fall to receive hazard pay.
“I am first off not telling anyone what to do with the money. I have over 400 employees asking where we fall into this mix of premium pay that is being passed down. I don’t have an answer to that.” Cameron said, “Despite what everyone thinks, we didn’t get $2 million that we could use on premium pay. The only premium pay we could use was the $1.3 million and out that we still had to maintain schools.”
Cameron’s major goal was to figure out what to tell his employees who want to know if they qualify or not. Turner answered, “We learned that we could give the School Committee a chunk of money and you guys as a School Committee can decide what to do with that money. We can’t tell you how to distribute that money. Say we give you this $250,000 more but you need $50,000 more, we just don’t know the numbers.”
After a long debate, the School Committee agreed to put together a detailed plan like the working group did, breaking down who is eligible to receive premium pay and a more exact amount of money the school is looking for. The Select Board scheduled a meeting on Oct. 11 to invite the School Committee back because they will not meet on Oct. 10 for Columbus Day.
The Select Board voted 3-0 with one abstention on the premium pay proposal awarding part-time benefitted non-public safety employees $1,000, part-time benefited public safety employees $1,500, full-time nonpublic safety employees $2,000, full-time public works employees at $3,000, full-time public safety employees at $4,000. The select board also voted 3-0 with one abstention on the premium pay proposal for part-time casual employees receive $250.