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Date: 10/31/2023
HADLEY — A 14 article warrant was delivered with all 14 passing their required votes at the Oct. 26 special Town Meeting at Hopkins Academy.
Among the major articles presented for vote and approved by community members, $225,000 for a schematic design plan for the DPW’s new proposed building, nearly $1.07 million for building and renovation of new school locker rooms at Hopkins Academy and $2.15 million for a new Fire Department ladder truck.
With the first two articles addressing general fund and capital balance revisions presented and passing quickly, there were more questions from audience members concerning Article 3, containing capital articles, among them IT server replacement, computer aided medical dispatch, Hadley Media and the DPW’s request for the design funding.
Addressing questions about what $225,000 for the design and the $30 million for the new facility will produce, Planning Board and DPW Feasibility Chair James Maksimoski ran down the size and use of a new structure as well as possible alternatives in size and functionality,” The (Feasibility) Committee would be looking at various options and if we have to reduce it down to get within our budget or whatever we decide, that would be and has yet to be determined,” he said.
The article, requiring a 2/3 majority vote passed 110-12.
Going to a town ballot in December, a vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, transfer from available funds or otherwise provide $1,069,531 to pay the costs of a renovation of the girls’ and boys’ locker rooms at Hopkins Academy. The vote, also requiring a 2/3 majority passed 118-4.
Days after the dedication of the town’s first staff-run ambulance service, Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel offered a presentation outlining the need for a new, larger ladder truck for the department’s fleet.
“First and foremost, we’re asking you to reinvest in the safety of our residents, the community and the firefighters who protect it,” Spanknebel said.
Spanknebel displayed examples of past fire responses and current town buildings that would necessitate the use of the larger apparatus and a longer ladder.
The multi-use vehicle would require a $2.15 million financial commitment for the more than three-year construction of the new apparatus. A Proposition 2½ debt exclusion vote in December would be required to allow for the raising of funds.
Questions from the community included why a new truck was necessary when a recently purchased, used ambulance was just launched into service and why the need was now to commit to a new vehicle.
Spanknebel noted the price of purchasing a truck now as opposed to the potential inflated costs of waiting and buying later and explained the differences involved with the used ambulance as opposed to a new ladder truck.
“The ambulance that we received from the city of Northampton has the same impeccable service as my firefighters do on the equipment we have in Hadley,” he said. “The gentlemen and ladies that work for the Hadley Fire Department spent hundreds of hours working on that truck going through it top to bottom to make sure that it was ready to provide you with the best possible service and it looks pretty brand new to me.”
Requiring a 2/3 majority vote, the motion on the article passed 117-5.
Discussions and public comment prior to favorable voting included approval for $125,400 from Community Preservation Act funds for the preservation of the exterior building at 146 Russell St., the former St. John’s Church. A requirement of the grant agreement that if the property is sold within five years of the article’s approval that funds will be returned to the town, was increased to 20 years before the article itself was approved.
Also approved were articles establishing, funding and transferring $45,838.47 from certified General Fund Free Cash to an Opioid Settlement Stabilization Fund, accepting Birch Meadow Drive as a public way and amending a zoning bylaw relating to signs in residence and agricultural-residence districts by increasing the maximum allowed signage from two square feet to four square feet.
A sum of $17,603.20 was also approved for the payment bills incurred during the previous fiscal year.