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Date: 12/12/2023
HATFIELD — Should the Hatfield Farm Museum be on the second floor of the library, where it is now, or in Town Hall? That question caused a stir at the Community Preservation Committee meeting on Nov. 29.
Micki Sanderson, co-chair of the Historical Commission, submitted applications for three historical preservation projects. One request seeks $30,000 to outfit the second floor of Town Hall with display cases, bookshelves and furnishings for the museum. The problem? Selectman Edmund Jaworski told CPC members the Selectboard voted to move the town’s public access station up to the second floor.
“We put an elevator in so we could move the museum up there and now you’re putting a TV station up there?” asked John Wilkes Sr., chair of the CPC. “Town records show it’s supposed to be a museum.”
“I don’t agree with that,” Jaworski said. “Do you want the Town Hall to be a museum or a place of business?”
Jaworski said the Selectboard heard the Historical Commission was seeking a house to be the museum. He said the space in Town Hall isn’t large enough to contain the museum collections. CPC member John Pease didn’t disagree.
“We’ve never not wanted this space,” Pease said of the second floor in Town Hall. “It’s not the most ideal … but it’s the best thing we have. It is a town collection.”
Jaworski argued the second floor of the library has more room. Discussion revealed the library space also cannot hold all of the museum’s collections. Some artifacts are being stored elsewhere, at a cost to the taxpayers.
Jaworski sat with a subcommittee tasked with finding locations for the museum. One option was to build an addition onto the library. That idea was shot down.
“We came up with a variety of possibilities and they were all shot down,” Jaworski said.
Jaworski told the committee the TV studio was “kicked out” of the Smith Academy. He gestured to the closet in the first floor meeting room, what amounts to the current public access studio. He implied the situation violates the contract the town has with the station, which calls for the studio to be located in Hatfield.
CPC members also argued in favor of honoring commitments. Steve Touloumtzis said the will of Town Meeting voters was clear, that a museum in Town Hall would be served by the elevator that was partially funded with CPA monies.
“On Town Meeting floor, the CPA item” that partially funded the elevator, Touloumtzis said, “was indeed predicated [on the museum] being on the second floor … You can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. That elevator was intended to be used for the museum.”
Wilkes noted the money for the elevator came, in part, from CPC funds. Those funds came half from local contributions and half from the state as matching grants. The town voted to participate in the Community Preservation Act in 2008, with a local contribution of 3% of local tax receipts.
“Half the money for the elevator is state money,” Wilkes said. “We would be in the wrong if we used this for anything other than what the people voted for.”
Jaworski wanted to go over the issues with his committee before discussing them further.
CPC members had already talked that night about two proposals submitted for the next round of funding. A proposal submitted by Bryan Nicholas requested $313,500 to dredge Day Pond, adjacent to Smith Academy.
Nicholas, a member of the Finance Committee for 21 years, said the project involves dredging up to 1,900 cubic yards of sediment from the pond. That will restore the body of water to depths of approximately 10 feet. Ten feet is required to give proper aeration and support fish populations. Day Pond is the site of the Poppy Thayer Memorial Fishing Derby, the name assigned to the event running yearly since 1938.
Nicholas said the silt and sand dredged out of the pond will be taken to an industrial area available to the Dept. of Public Works. The dredging will take two or three weeks. The Hatfield Housing Authority and Smith Academy will be responsible for walking trails around the pond. Hatfield Fish & Game will maintain the aerator, to be installed on the bottom of the pond rather than floating on the surface of the water.
Lydia and Michael Szych and Greg Chase submitted an application to fund electrical upgrades to the Polish Club Apartments. The total budget request for $65,000 will underwrite new wiring and junction boxes for greater safety in four apartments.
The Polish Club is a privately owned local landmark. Rents for the apartments are below market rate because the club can be noisy. CPC Committee member John Pease commented the town needs living units with low rents to house low income members of the community. Privately owned real estate usually isn’t considered for funding, but the CPC funds for that purpose, according to the discussion, are not being spent.
“It’ll just update the safety of the building,” Chase said. “It is a historical property.”
Applications for funding with CPA grants are decided on the floor of Town Meeting. The CPC ensures applications are complete and serve to promote open space, historical preservation, outdoor recreation and affordable housing.