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Date: 5/23/2023
EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton City Council accepted a proposal to move forward with making three former elementary school buildings into affordable housing, while also preserving certain aspects of their space for community use during its May 17 meeting.
The council unanimously accepted the proposal from Arch Communities which will turn the Maple, Center and Pepin schools into affordable housing units. The proposal will preserve the gymnasium and auditorium at Pepin, as well as provide a playground and public parking at Maple, all of which the council believed are crucial to the community’s needs.
Councilor James Kwiecinski, in his summary of the proposal, noted that the schools are “wonderful assets” to the community as it begins looking forward and also makes “a dent in the need for affordable housing” in the city.
“[This proposal] met the best interests of our community,” said Kwiecinski.
This agreement would keep the properties as affordable housing in perpetuity, even if the properties were sold in the future.
The proposal includes several details that will help keep the properties in line with the council’s desires to promote sustainability and environmental responsibility, such as environmentally sensitive landscaping with native plantings and LEED certification.
The council also voted to make no changes to the timeline for affirming mayoral appointments, keeping the deadline at 45 days. Councilor Brad Riley, chair of the Appointments Committee, noted that approving appointments can be challenging at certain times of the year when many come up for renewal and that the 60 days requested would make this easier. Several other members of the council noted that challenge and said that they will look to improve that.
“We need to find a way to help without changing the charter,” said Councilor Daniel Rist.
The council approved a plan for how to deal with a mayoral absence, a change necessitated by the move to a four-year term for mayor. If the mayor were to leave the position in years one or three of their term, years with no city election, then the city council president would serve as acting mayor until a special election is hosted 120 days later. If the absence were to occur in years two or four, then the City Council president would act as mayor for up to 10 months until the regular election would be hosted. The president would need to resign as councilor for this. In either of these instances, the council president could decide not to become acting mayor and the council could choose another person to serve.
Several supplemental appropriations were approved for the public works department. Among the largest were $125,000 for maintenance at the wastewater treatment plant, which is over 50 years old and needs significant maintenance, and $324,000 to cover a deficit in the snow removal budget, much of which was caused by the skyrocketing price of road salt this year.