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Date: 8/3/2023
HAMPDEN — The Hampden Board of Selectmen hosted a joint meeting with the Wilbraham Select Board on July 31 to discuss several pieces of shared business.
Emergency Dispatch Director Anthony Gentile informed the boards that Belchertown was “very interested” in joining the regional emergency response center. This is the third consecutive fiscal year that emergency calls for Hampden and Wilbraham have been routed through a regional hub based in Wilbraham. The two towns regionalized dispatch with the help of grants from the state’s E911 department, which helped with infrastructure and paying the municipal cost for Hampden.
Gentile said the addition of Belchertown would be “beneficial” to everyone. Belchertown has a slightly larger call volume than Hampden and the merger “wouldn’t be too hard to do,” he said. “There’s always going to be bumps in the road,” Gentile said, but added, “I know what to expect.” He said that he would need to hire a few more dispatchers and would like to promote one of the dispatchers to deputy director if Belchertown joins the regional system.
Hampden Board of Selectmen Chair John Flynn asked if adding another town would affect Hampden’s grant income. The state has been incentivizing municipalities to regionalize by paying the satellite municipalities’ costs for three years, then phasing the grant out over the two following years.
Hampden will need to begin paying for a portion of its municipal costs next year. Gentile told him that Hampden’s status as year three of the grant would likely not change with the addition of Belchertown.
Hampden Board of Selectmen member Donald Davenport commented that Wilbraham will be receiving more money next year, but Wilbraham Select Board member Sue Bunnell pointed out that from Wilbraham’s perspective, the cost of Hampden’s services will remain the same next year as it is this year. The only change is that half of the payment will come from Hampden and half from the state, instead of the state picking up the full tab.
Davenport said the intermunicipal agreement between the towns would have to be renegotiated to add a third town, but Gentile said he believed a separate agreement with Belchertown would be sufficient. Hampden Board of Selectmen member Craig Rivest later read from the existing agreement and quoted language that specifies the regional system is between two towns and said the language would need to be changed.
Davenport said the board, which is comprised of members of both towns, would need to be changed to add Belchertown officials and suggested the two-town template on which the Wilbraham-Hampden system was based would not be suitable. Gentile said he would review other three-town systems.
Gentile explained that two-municipality regional dispatches are no longer being approved by the state, which wants three or more municipalities per dispatch system. Rivest asked if having three towns in the system would be advantageous when it comes to future E911 grants. “We would go to the top of the list for any funding,” Gentile said.
Flynn questioned whether the state would push for dispatch systems to be made of a minimum of four or more municipalities. “Yes … but not in my lifetime,” Gentile said. Bunnell said the state will not have to push because the grants are “enough of a carrot” to entice municipalities to willingly make the change.
Wilbraham Select Board Chair Theresa Goodrich remarked that part of the reason Massachusetts is pushing for regionalization is that emergency dispatch is expensive and technologically advanced. She spoke about the efficiency of the dispatch system.
Similar to the regionalized emergency dispatch, Hampden and Wilbraham are also part of a shared health district with Monson, while Longmeadow is the host community. This is the second year of the inter-municipal agreement governing the district. There is one more year of grant funding before the towns will need to begin paying Longmeadow for the shared services. Officials from both towns said they were satisfied with the situation and with Health Director Finn McCool’s leadership.
The last joint item to discuss was the regional agreement governing the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District. Rivest pointed out that there were two issues at hand — funding and reconfiguring the use of school buildings.
Goodrich said Superintendent John Provost was in the process of meeting with the communities to discuss four options for school building reconfiguration, down from the original 135 configurations the Planning Committee had considered. “People can go in and voice their concerns,” Goodrich said. She emphasized that the school building reconfiguration was a “very lengthy process.”
Rivest suggested the towns run studies to see how each of the proposed school closures would impact traffic. Although he had suggested this to Provost, the superintendent told him it was out of his purview, but he would “take whatever data is presented.” After a discussion of how useful such studies would be, Flynn and Bunnell agreed that the first step would be a formal request from the superintendent. Wilbraham Town Administrator Nick Breault estimated such a traffic study would cost about $20,000.
“One of the best ways to control traffic is to put your kids on the bus,” Bunnell commented, pointing out that regional districts are required to provide school bus seats to every student and that the number of parents who drive their children to school has created traffic issues in both towns.
Rivest noted that the bus takes 45 minutes to transport a student, but a parent can drop them off in 5 minutes, as is the case with his children, the bus is not a viable option.
Davenport noted that the settled lawsuit between Hampden and the school district called for at least one school to remain open in Hampden, which he said would probably be Green Meadows School. He recalled that he had been against the K-12 district regionalization and the closure of Thornton W. Burgess Middle School, “but it was not the end of the world.” Population changes have left Hampden with only seven middle school students in the upcoming school year, although he noted HWRSD Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne’s projections show enrollment increasing in the coming years. He said his main concern now was that Hampden’s school buildings would be less utilized while more money would be required to make the district solvent.
Bunnell said, “Last year’s budget experience was notable.” Flynn went a step further and called it “convoluted.” Bunnell said, “As municipalities in a regional district, we are so much more dependent” on state aid. “The needs are great.” She said that while enrollment percentage may be a fair way to split district funding, Wilbraham cannot continue to bear the brunt of funding the district. Wilbraham students comprise roughly 80% of the district, leaving the town to fund the majority of the budget.
“We have to be fiscally responsible to everyone,” Goodrich said.
The boards discussed whether to revise the regional agreement to tackle changes to funding and building utilization at the same time. Rivest said building usage will inform decisions on funding.
Bunnell said an “incremental change” may be more “palatable” to residents but said multiple changes to the regional agreement are “concerning.”
Wilbraham Select Board member Michael Squindo asked, “Is there a way to incrementally plan and singly implement?”
Goodrich reminded the other officials that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must approve whatever regional agreement changes the towns agree to implement.
Flynn told his colleagues and counterparts, “You’re not going to find a solution that makes everyone happy.”