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Date: 10/18/2023
HAMPDEN — At a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board on Oct. 11, resident Dave Demers was unanimously selected to fill a Planning Board seat left vacant by the recent departure of Jason Barroso.
Demers is a retiring member of the military and a corrections officer in Connecticut, who said he wanted to get involved in the community. He told the board that he has experience with MassGIS, that state’s geographic information system, and has been reading the town’s bylaws in preparation for the position.
He was the only person who had applied for the position, which will be filled with an elected candidate at the next annual town election in the spring.
Also, Board of Selectmen Chair John Flynn and resident Joseph Sibilia interviewed for an associate member position on the Planning Board that had been open for about a year. Planning Board member Heather Beattie asked Sibilia why he had not applied for the full-time position on the board. He told her he wanted to get experience with the board before considering a full-time position.
Planning Board member Madison Pixley noted Sibilia’s vocal opposition to the self-storage facilities that had been proposed in 2021 and denied a special permit in the wake of a strong campaign by a group of residents who objected to the project. Pixley asked if he could set aside his feelings and adhere to the bylaws. Sibilia responded that his views had adhered to the bylaw.
Noting his own qualifications, Flynn said he had previously served on the Planning Board. “If the board so wishes, I am at your service,” he said. His colleague on the Board of Selectmen, Donald Davenport, said he did not think a member of the Board of Selectmen should also sit on the Planning Board as there may be a perceived conflict of interest.
Board of Selectmen member Craig Rivest opined, “It’s a good thing to see new faces step up for public service.”
While Pixley and Beattie voted for John Flynn, the remaining four officials voted for Sibilia.
Prior to meeting with the Planning Board, the Board of Selectmen discussed the search for a new town administrator, as Bob Markel has announced that he will step down at the end of the calendar year.
Markel said there were two executive search firms — the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public
Management at UMass Boston and Community Paradigm Associates — that handle nearly all professional searches for municipalities in the state. He said that he had successfully worked with both companies in the past, and that the benefit of search firms is that they know which towns are looking for new administrators and which administrators are looking to make a move.
Markel noted the cost estimates came in higher than he expected, but Flynn said the estimates are within the range that will be requested at the Town Meeting on Oct. 30. With the quotes being “almost identical,” Flynn noted he liked that Community Paradigm Associates proposed an abbreviated time frame for the search that was one month shorter than their competitor. The board voted to contract with Community Paradigm Associates, contingent upon approval of Article 4 at the Town Meeting.
The board continued a conversation regarding a potential location for electric vehicles chargers. Richard Rediker, who owns a software company on the corner of Somers and Wilbraham roads, had been approached but Markel said he had expressed hesitancy regarding the liability of the public using chargers on private property. The owners of Mountain View Restaurant on Allen Street also declined to place the chargers there. Markel said he had reached out to the owners of the derelict Cumberland Farms at 500 Main St. but had not received a response.
Markel suggested locating the chargers at the Main Street entrance to Gerrish Park. Rivest noted it would require a slight expansion of the asphalt parking pad. The two agreed the site may work, as it is a little-used park, and the chargers would not reduce needed parking.