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Date: 11/21/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – A Special Town Meeting is scheduled in South Hadley on Nov. 30 at South Hadley High School, where attendees will consider five articles on the warrant.
There is no consent agenda or any financial articles within this year’s warrant. Town Moderator John Hine will convene the meeting and the Selectboard, town administrator, town clerk, town accountant and town counsel will all be present at the meeting.
One of the bigger articles on this year’s warrant is Article 4, which will see if the town will vote to amend the Town General Bylaws by adding a new section 7-7 titles, Veterans’ Council. The Selectboard approved to support the creation of this council at their Nov. 1 meeting.
At that meeting, Town Administrator Lisa Wong said the town looked at other communities’ establishment of a Veteran’s Council including Easthampton, and said duties are similar across communities. Mass General Law allows for five to 15 members on a Veterans’ Council but this bylaw specifically calls for a membership of seven veterans.
Appointments would be made by the Selectboard and the council would work with the veterans’ service officer. These councils are made up of veterans who are voters and residents of the town. Wong also noted they would be looking for members to serve staggered three-year terms.
“I think the important part for us to consider is this is another avenue for veterans in the community and residents to participate,” Wong said. “This has been a goal of ours through a number of warrant articles initiatives to provide more support for the population.”
A South Hadley Veteran’s Council would help with a number of veteran related events throughout the year in terms of planning, organizing and input in the community, she said. Wong also added that it will be a great addition to the town in terms of outreach as it will establish a new working relationship where the town’s veteran’s agent can have more from the community in support.
It was confirmed to Wong during the meeting by Veterans Service Officer Mike Slater that close to 10 percent of the town’s population is made up of veterans.
Another veteran-related issue on this year’s warrant is Article 3, where Town Meeting members will vote to accept G.L. c 60 sec. 3F, to allow for the donation and collection of funds for a municipal veterans’ assistance fund.
Section 3F allows voluntary donation to municipal veterans assistance fund by designation on municipal property tax or motor vehicle excise bills. The Selectboard approved to support the creation of the fund at their Sept. 6 meeting and like Article 4, Town Meeting members will vote on the enabling legislation.
Veterans or surviving spouses who live in South Hadley would be eligible. It is entirely funded by voluntary contributions and funds would be used for assistance with food, transportation, heat and oil expenses for veterans and their families.
The town will establish an application process, standards for documentation of veteran/dependent status, and financial eligibility criteria for determining need and amount of assistance. The Veterans’ Department would review applications based on those criteria.
Article 1 on this year’s warrant will see if the town will vote to support the resolution in support of changing the State Flag and Seal of Massachusetts by adopting a resolution. This article is a citizen petitions that was submitted before the last Annual Town Meeting but after the deadline to make the warrant, automatically brining it to this Town Meeting.
The State Legislature formed a special commission charged with making recommendations back to the legislature for a new design for the state seal (and flag) and motto. The special commission will only be able to make a recommendation.
“This is just my understanding of resolution to support that effort,” Wong said during the Nov. 3 meeting.
Only an act of the legislature can change the commonwealth’s current seal and motto, with approval for the new governor. An estimated 57 other cities and towns in the commonwealth have considered a similar resolution. Fifty-five of those chose affirmatively, including the City of Easthampton on Sept. 7.
Article 2 is a vote to make a minor change in wording to the town’s wetlands bylaw. The Selectboard voted unanimously to support the article. The Conservation Commission is proposing adding a new paragraph to Local Wetland Bylaw, Chapter 240. The language will allow the commission to collect permit fees, mitigation payments or fines.
Simultaneously, the commission has proposed changes to the Local Wetland Regulations related to tree placement performance standards. These performance standards would allow an in lieu of payment to be collected in unique circumstances when tree replacement mitigation requirements cannot be met due to site constraints.
To allow the Commission to make said changes to the Wetland Regulations, a Wetland Bylaw change must be made to give the commission proper authorization to collect mitigation payments for these unique circumstances.
The final piece of the Special Town Meeting is Article 5 which is removal from civil service. The town had previously voted to move the police chief out of civil service and this new article is to remove the entirety of the Police Department out of civil service.
“This would then enable us to not have to follow the rules of the Civil Service Commission which also means that we need to establish our own policies surrounding hiring, promotions and discipline,” Wong said. “All those things are actively being developed and negotiated right now. That can be done concurrently with this article.”
The Civil Service law was passed and implemented in 1884 in state and local governments to deter the “spoil system” of government jobs being offered only to political supports. In 1933, South Hadley Town Meeting voted to have the town join Civil Service. All sworn South Hadley police officers, except the chief, are covered under Massachusetts Civil Service.
Civil Service is still utilized in 131 communities and an estimate of 40 of those having removed or currently in the process of removing the law. Some of the Western Massachusetts municipalities that have completed removals or “in process” for removal from Civil Service are Greenfield, East Longmeadow, Athol and Palmer.
According to the background information provided by the town on this article, the Western Massachusetts communities that will likely remain in civil service will be Springfield, West Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke and Pittsfield.
Town Meeting will begin promptly at 6 p.m. Votes of each Town Meeting member will be tabulated with the same hand-held system used in previous years. The votes will be shown on a screen after each vote, and also made publicly available.