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Date: 8/17/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – Increased numbers of positive COVID-19 cases was a significant topic of discussion at the South Hadley Selectboard meeting on Aug. 10 when making several important decisions.
One day wine and beer licenses
The discussed a one-day beer and wine license for Aug. 27 requested by Mount Holyoke College, which Chair Jeff Cyr explained was for a “facilities managers gathering.” Member Andrea Miles expressed concern over the possibility of a large indoor gathering. She questioned, “Is it just us endorsing having a large gathering inside at this point with what’s going on with COVID?” She said while the college was allowed to host such a gathering, she wanted to ensure they were not endorsing such events.
Town Administrator Mike Sullivan said prior to recent meetings there was a moratorium on beer and wine licenses and suggested that the Board of Health may be able to create a list for license applicants to “try to keep them safe and remind them.” He said while he was sure the college was “being responsible” it was “a valid concern” and it may be the best course of action to place a moratorium on one day beer and wine licenses once again due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers.
Board member Sarah Etelman said she was unsure that the moratorium was ever officially lifted and while she was sure that the college was being responsible, they might want to consider making hosting gatherings outdoors a condition of receiving a one-day license. Miles said while “it stinks” as they had just recently approved a one-day license for an indoor event at Tower Theater, circumstances had changed so quickly. Cyr questioned if they placed restrictions on licenses or stopped issuing one-day licenses altogether, what would stop residents from having their gathering at venues such as the Yarde Tavern or The Boathouse.
“Nothing,” Sullivan said, as he shrugged. He added that he hoped that “the licensee would make sure there [were] safety protocols in place.”
Miles said they were “not in the business of behavior control as elected members.” She said, “There’s nothing that stops people from speeding down the road, but we still put speed limit signs up and kind of hope for the best.”
Etelman said while she understood businesses were eager to get patrons back, she was in favor of once again implementing a moratorium. Cyr said, however, he was not in favor of implementing a moratorium during the meeting. “If the numbers start climbing…” he began to say, but was interrupted by Miles stating, “they are climbing.”
Sullivan suggested approving the license in front of them as they knew it would be hosted outdoors. Then, he said, the committee would be able to look to surrounding communities to see what they were doing, and if numbers continued to increase they could go back to moratorium. “Really, we’re going out of the season for one day licenses. Once we usually get to October, there [aren’t] that many applications even in a normal year, so we’re kind of at the end of it,” he said.
Board member Carol Constant said, “I would love to see this being managed on the state level so it didn’t put us in such an uncomfortable position of trying to micromanage things that are public health issues.” Ultimately, the board voted unanimously in favor of approving the license under the condition that the address reflect where the gathering was taking place and that the gathering should take place outdoors.
Budget amendment/policy review
The board then went on to approve a budget amendment of $30,000 from the Housing Rehabilitation Fund to the Lathrop Village Housing Improvement Project. Sullivan said it would “hopefully satisfy the need” for the South Hadley Housing Authority with regard to “the handicap units we’ve been trying to get in” to the facility.
Ted Harvey, a deputy director of community development for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), explained that they had already “gone out to bid” for the project and bids had “come in higher than we originally allotted for.” The low bid, he explained, was $91,269 and there was about a $23,000 “gap.” The $30,000, he said, would allow for a buffer.
When moving on to their remote/hybrid public meeting policy, Executive Assistant to Administration Kristin Maher said the technology team had met and they determined the library or senior center would be the best location for remote/hybrid meetings. She explained, “Some scenarios had been tested out there,” and at the moment the tech team was working on “making sure the Council on Aging’s policy aligns with what we’re looking to do.” Once that was in place, she said once “COVID was a little better” they could “hopefully try hybrid.” Sullivan said while they’d like to have a policy in place by September, they didn’t want to make any promises due to vacation scheduling conflicts and having the necessary equipment. He emphasized that “whether we’re ready to go in September or not” they would have a policy in place should they need to use it in the future.
Town Administrator transition
In an update regarding transition planning for the new Town Administrator Lisa Wong, Sullivan said they had scheduled meetings with department heads to start in the following weeks. “She’s been kind enough to provide us with a limited number of times she’ll be able to, as we all know she’s still town administrator of Winchester and has a busy schedule there, but she has given us some dates and times and we’re filling in department heads via Zoom and other key individuals,” he said. Sullivan said that while he was working to set up the meetings, he would not be present for the meetings to allow for individuals to “speak freely” and help her to build relationships necessary for the position.
Special Town Meeting
The board moved on to discuss a potential Special Town Meeting. Sullivan said since the discussion for a Special Town Meeting began, an “uptick” in COVID-19 cases had occurred. Sullivan said “a number of issues” that would come before a Special Town Meeting would not easily be discussed in a remote, drive up or hybrid session such as bylaw changes and zoning changes. Such topics, he said, would be “historically debate rich or discussion rich at a Town Meeting.” Sullivan said he hoped to “clear the deck” before Wong took over to ease the transition further for her.
Etelman said she didn’t see “us being inside in the next six months.” She said, “I don’t see us putting 120 people in a room in the next year.” She went on to say that if there were issues that needed to be addressed, then she felt as though they should move forward with a Special Town Meeting. Board member Chris Geraghty said he’d like to know what types of issues would be addressed at the meeting.
Sullivan said he could “pull a list together” and while they were “critically important” to various individuals and groups “the world will not stop turning if you don’t vote on these.” He went on to say that since Memorial Day, the town had a positive number of 23 cases and 19 of those positive cases had taken place in the past two weeks. Sullivan agreed that he would put together a list of issues that needed to be addressed at a potential Special Town Meeting and would come back to the board during their next meeting.
Face covering request
In one of the final topics of the night, the Town Administrator’s report, Miles expressed her gratitude for Police Chief Jennifer Gundersen, as she had extended her contract for an additional three years.
Following Miles’ comment, Sullivan addressed comments and concerns he’d received from residents regarding the town’s request that residents wear masks in town buildings, regardless of vaccination status. He went on to say that he had received numerous calls in support of needing to wear masks at the senior center, but had received some difficult calls in regard to needing to wear a face covering at Town Hall. He said South Hadley residents had been cooperative, but added these requests had been put in place for the safety and well being of all residents.
“Please just wear a mask whether you’re vaccinated or not vaccinated, all the rest of the debate can wait,” he said. Etelman said Sullivan had avoided mandating and/or requiring masks and echoed that people should please wear a mask in public buildings. Miles echoed this, stating that they had the data to support wearing masks and it was a “community health issue” and it was “not about politics.”
Despite a call for Sullivan to make a mandate for face coverings, he said he wanted to convince people to wear coverings rather than force them. Miles said the School Committee had met the week prior and decided that all students in grades K-12 would be required to wear masks. Ultimately, each board member agreed that they needed to do all they could to reinforce their request for residents to wear masks.