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Date: 4/13/2022
HAMPDEN – The Hampden Board of Selectmen began its April 11 meeting with a dangerous dog hearing during which resident Steve Haskins said his neighbor, Anne Thomas, allowed her dogs to run loose and onto his property. Roughly a year ago, one of Thomas’ two dogs killed one of Haskins’ chickens.
“This has been ongoing for years,” Haskins said. He sent photos of the dogs in his yard to animal control officer Shelley Sears.
Thomas said her late husband worked from home and took care of the dogs during the day. She wrote a letter to the board detailing steps she has recently taken to keep her dogs from wandering, including hiring a dog walker to exercise her dogs rather than allowing them out while she is at work and installing long tethers so the pets can roam the yard but not go past the boundary. She is also pursuing quotes on an invisible electric fence around her 30-acre property. Sears said they are appropriate first steps.
“The dogs should be able to use your property, but when they cross onto someone else’s property and go after livestock, that’s where the concern is,” Board of Selectmen member Craig Rivest told Thomas.
“I’m committed to whatever I need to do,” Thomas said. Sears was asked by the board to follow up in one month.
Two requests for radios were brought to the board. Police Chief Scott Trombly said the radios in two cruisers were having difficulty with updates and one of them is corroded. While a work around was found, no additional necessary updates will be possible in the future.
Rivest noted that the cruiser radios were part of the town’s contract with Marcus Communications. Trombly said that was “news” to him and Rivest acknowledged that his copy may be out of date. He asked Trombly to verify whether the radios are covered.
Fire Chief Ed Poulin told the board that due to the surrounding towns regionalizing with WestCOMM for their dispatch services, the Fire Department’s radios can no longer communicate with them. He asked that the town pay $17,679 for a software upgrade that will allow the existing radios to access the higher frequencies that WestCOMM uses.
“It’s a good idea for public safety,” Rivest said. Board of Selectmen member John Flynn motioned for the money to come from excess radio communications funding, and it was approved.
Flynn, who is the Board of Selectmen liaison to the Council on Aging, told his colleagues that a well on the Senior Center property was curtailing plans to expand the facility. After contacting the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Flynn said the well is no longer needed and can be removed.
Board of Selectmen Chair Donald Davenport told Flynn he was “a little surprised” that the latter contacted MassDEP without first speaking with the board about it. Flynn responded that he simply checked on the well’s status, “and [MassDEP] replied back to the board and now the board’s aware.”
Town Administrator Bob Markel reported that the $60,960 requested by the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District for network switches has been added to the projects covered by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. He put a request in to state Sen. Eric Lesser’s office for an earmark to replace the Town Hall windows and is also getting quotes on the repairs and accessibility upgrades needed at the Town Hall.