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Date: 3/15/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley Selectboard met on March 2 for their regularly scheduled meeting where they discussed a proposal to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for Mosier School and the upcoming annual town meeting.
The meeting began with an update from the town’s Public Health Director, Sharon Hart. She explained that the town’s numbers had been slowly going down and the week prior there had been 13 confirmed cases, nine contacts and eight probable cases for a total of 30. The week previous to that the town had seen 43 cases, with 69 cases before that.
“We’re on a good path here, and hopefully this continues,” she said. Hart also gave an update regarding the vaccine stating that both Amherst and Northampton had received doses, but the “supply right now is just not there.”
“They had three vaccine clinics last week that they had to cancel,” she said, adding that they were only supplying second doses at the moment due to a limited supply of vaccines. When vice chair Sarah Etelman asked if there was anything they could do to help get vaccines, Hart said it was simply a waiting game for a supply of vaccines.
Etelman also brought up the approval of a regional vaccination site that had been approved at the Chicopee Castle of Knights that would serve Granby, Chicopee, Holyoke and South Hadley residents. Town Administrator, Mike Sullivan, said the site would be corporate run which meant there would be no volunteers. At the time of the meeting, he said they were about 10 days away from “coming online.”
However, he too, emphasized that the addition of new sites without a steady supply of vaccines didn’t “necessarily mean there would be more availability.” He also expressed his frustration at the state for allowing third parties to book vaccines for citizens for a fee. “It’s again taking people in the underserved communities one step away from getting a vaccine and just the general population, it’s really unfair,” he said.
Etelman called it “unconscionable” that the situation was “still at this point” given the timeline and that it was now March. She said she believed the town should send a letter expressing their position and frustration. “The governor needs to get with it, if he is not capable of making this happen in a fair and just way then he needs to give it up and let someone else do it because we’ve got two months of baby boomers getting vaccinated while at the same time we’ve got the president of the United States saying there’s going to be enough vaccines there for every American to be vaccinated by the end of May,” he said.
Member Andrea Miles agreed and said that given Massachusetts’ health metrics and mortality rate with respect to COVID-19 the state should have access to more vaccines. She added that she felt that Baker was “asleep at the wheel.” Ultimately, the board agreed that Sullivan would craft a letter to be sent.
Sullivan added that he had been working with Hart with regards to a reopening plan for Town Hall and other services. He said while it would not be done at “warp speed” they would slowly begin reopening with precautions in place such as limited access and mask wearing. “We hope to have a plan in the next few weeks,” he said. Miles said that while numbers were decreasing with the warm weather around the corner, now was not the time to “take the foot off the gas.”
Etelman expressed her concern with what she said was a lack of gradual reopening and said she was worried that numbers in town would once again surge. “It just feels like ridiculous timing,” she said, and expressed her support of Sullivan slowly reopening the buildings and town services.
The board then went on to discuss a support letter for the Massachusetts School Board Association (MSBA) regarding the Mosier School. Board chair, Jeff Cyr, said the statement of interest will be sent from Interim Superintendent Diana Bonneville. Cyr said he had served on the feasibility committee and the decision was made to renovate rather than replace. He said they were seeking to propose $100,000 towards the stabilization fund for the Mosier School.
Etelman expressed her concern regarding the uncertainty of the economic future of the town and schools. She also questioned if there was leftover money in the school budget if money could be allocated for the project so they could begin financial preparations. When discussing the finances surrounding the potential project, Sullivan said at this time next year if they added $200,000 to the Mosier School Fund and $200,000 to the town’s stabilization budget, there would be about $425,000.
Member Chris Geraghty brought forth concerns regarding how the building would hold up while they completed this process and saved for the feasibility study they would be required to pay for should MSBA accept their proposal. Sullivan added that the portable classrooms they’d been using had “failed” as “they have an extended life of 10 years,” however he said he’d been told the ones the district had been using were 22 years old. “So they’ve gone twice the life cycle,” he said, and outlined several wall and floor failure that had taken place over the last couple of years.
Cyr added that the building was not fire protected as well. He also told Geraghty that the MSBA had emergency funds for situations where there was an immediate need. Miles emphasized that they still had other projects that would need funding such as the district’s pool. She said if the group did not vote on the statement of interest during their current meeting, they needed to be ready for the next meeting as the statement was due at the beginning of April. Ultimately, the group decided to wait until their next meeting on March 16 at 7 p.m.
Next, the board discussed preparation for the annual town meeting that was scheduled to take place in early May. Sullivan said he thought the event would be a two-night meeting due to the number of items that were scheduled to be discussed. Etelman questioned if there was time to make the meeting virtual, but Town Moderator John Hine said it would be tight. Hine also expressed concerns regarding the voting process and recommended the Selectboard postpone the meeting until early June if they wanted to host the meeting remotely.
Sullivan said while there were drawbacks and some people disliked it, there was some success with last year’s drive up town meeting. He said the drive up town meeting would also save the town some money as they would not need to spend money on additional technology. Etelman, however, said she was concerned about the weather and the length of the agenda.
However, Hine said it was not an either or situation and there had been towns that had been hybrid situations such as allowing both remote and drive up participation. Cyr suggested breaking up the agenda into two town meetings, one in the spring and one at a special town meeting in the fall. Hine said he believed the easiest solution was to use the football field and to be prepared with additional dates should there be issues with the weather or otherwise.
Sullivan suggested that they make the town meeting as early in May as possible to accommodate elderly residents and ensure it wouldn’t be too hot. After some discussion, it was agreed that Sullivan would reach out to St. Theresa’s to see if there was available for use of their parking lot for the town meeting.
Geraghty then gave an update regarding the town administrator search. He said the committee had met earlier that day and gone through the applicants, of which there were 20. A group of six candidates were then selected by the committee as semi-finalists. He said he was hoping to have finalists to bring forward to the Selectboard to interview, and depending on applicants availability they were hoping to conduct semi-finalists closed interviews on March 17 and 18.
At the end of the meeting the board discussed a concentrated effort to remind people of local elections on April 13. Sullivan said while early voting would not be allowed for this election they would be using robocalls, newspaper articles, signs and other measures to remind residents to vote on April 13. Miles clarified that should people want to vote early they would need to submit an absentee ballot, which Sullivan confirmed was the case.