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Date: 10/5/2022
BELCHERTOWN – The Select Board talked about committee appointments, expressed congratulations to the town treasurer/tax collector and appreciation to all those who helped put together the Belchertown Fair. Select Board Chair Jen Turner was not in attendance, so the Sept. 26 meeting was run by Vice Chair Jim Barry.
Agricultural commission members
The first item on the agenda was to discuss the appointment of members to the Agricultural Commission. The board received notification from the Agricultural Commission Chair Elly Vaughan about nominees she would like to board to appoint to the commission. At their recent commission meeting, the commission discussed new applicants for a fifth and final voting member as well as social members. Barry moved to appoint Eric Bernardin as a full-term member starting immediately through June 2025 and appoint Ben Feldman and Pamela Monn as non-voting associate members starting immediately through June 2023. In a unanimous vote, Bernardin, Feldman and Monn were all appointed to their respective roles.
Retirement of town treasurer/tax collector
Board Clerk Ed Boscher made everyone aware that Lisa Banner has decided to retire from the position of treasurer/tax collector. He added that she was an “exemplary” employee and said, “I would like to take this opportunity to send my best wishes not only to her but for the fantastic job she has done over the decades she has held the position.” She will be leaving the office on Feb. 14, 2023, and her official retirement date will be March 10, 2023. Boscher states that the next step is to start the search process for the upcoming vacant position and believes it is the best interest to allow Town Administrator Gary Brougham and Human Resources Director Joanne Misiaszek to lead that process now.
The board agreed and the search process can begin as soon as possible.
Volunteer firefighter exemption
There has been discussion over the last couple of months about laws pertaining to a couple of full-time Belchertown employees and whether they can be on-call firefighters.
There are two Belchertown employees who are also on-call firefighters to whom this conversation directly pertains. The Select Board received a declaration from Chief John Ingram indicating that the two employees are to be exempted from Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 268A section 20F.
Select Board member Ron Aponte read the declaration aloud.
He announced, “The prohibition of multiple office holding does not apply to a municipal employee if the contract is for personal services in part-time call or volunteer capacity in police, fire, rescue or ambulance department of a fire district, town, or any city with a population with less than 35,000 inhabitants. Provided that the head of the contracting agency makes and files with the clerk of the city, district, or town a written certification that no employee of said agency is available to perform services as part of his regular duties and the city board can approve the exemption of his interest from this section.”
Aponte added, “This was a combination of a lengthy process involving our human resource director, the town and labor counsel, and Chief Ingram. There were some interest laws that due to interpretations, may or may not allow full-time employees of Belchertown to also be on call firefighters but after a discussion there has been an agreement that yes there is a specific clause that will allow a full time Belchertown employee to serve as on call firefighters.”
The labor counsel also determined that MGL Chapter 268A Section 20F, would allow a full-time employee to work as an on-call firefighter and still receive stipends.
Aponte moved for the Select Board to approve and accept Ian Knight, a full-time dispatcher with the Police Department, and Josh Miller, a full-time Department of Public Works employee, to be exempt from the law restricting them to be on-call firefighters.
The motion passed allowing those two employees to be exempted from the restrictions inherent in MGL 268A. Barry stated that he was happy that this was brought to the board’s attention to fix.
Belchertown Fair afterthoughts
The Select Board and Brougham had nothing but positive comments about the success of the Belchertown Fair and everyone who helped contribute.
Brougham said, “I would suggest that it was an exceptional event, and I would like to recognize efforts of the Director of Public Works and his entire crew, Chief Ingram, Chief [Kevin] Pakunas and the coordination between all of our town departments was phenomenal.”
Boscher added, “I would like to thank the whole community for their efforts for the help with the fair. It is part of what makes Belchertown a great place. All different crews regardless of how you think or feel, we all come together for a weekend to create a wonderful experience for not only our families but the surrounding communities as well.”
He also said, “We have six days before the next election and have two of the three candidates in the room [Peg Louraine and Lesa Lessard Pearson] and I would like to say thank you to the both of you for attending meetings for the last couple of months to see what we are trying to do here and I wish you both the best of luck next Monday night [Oct. 3].”
Aponte also expressed his thankfulness to everyone who helped make the fair a success and said, “It was nice to have the fair back after a two-year hiatus. It is the social event of the season, and you get to talk to folks we may have not seen in months. It is something that everyone looks forward to and there are plenty of folks behind the scenes who make it work.”
Barry ended saying, “I am pleased with how the event this weekend. It is a multi-generation event and one of the things that identifies Belchertown as Belchertown.”