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Date: 1/2/2019
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – In 2018 the towns of Hampden and Wilbraham have experienced mail delivery issues, concerns and much discussion regarding the Hampden–Wilbraham Regional School District including a settlement agreement and school committee resignation and the rejection of the HWRSD agreement amendment, as well as a proposed location for a new Wilbraham Senior Center.
Mail delivery issues left unresolved, USPS responds to concerns
At the close of Sept. 2017 Reminder Publications reported residents in Hampden were experiencing increasingly problematic mail delivery. Some residents were receiving their neighbor’s mail, some were receiving resident’s mail from across town and others weren’t receiving their mail at all. Now, over a year later, Hampden residents are still struggling with their United States Postal Service (USPS) delivery.
The East Longmeadow USPS location at 119 Industrial Dr., is where all of Hampden’s mail is sorted and is subsequently handed-off to carriers for delivery. When Reminder Publishing spoke with East Longmeadow USPS employee Ron Roberts in the fall, Roberts said there were two regular carriers for the town of Hampden as well as at least one substitute carrier who was in frequent use.
The East Longmeadow Post Office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To call and report incorrectly delivered or missing mail, call the East Longmeadow Post Office at 525-8855.
Within the last few weeks, residents have continued to comment on Hampden’s Facebook pages regarding their dissatisfaction with mail delivery. Residents continue to experience misdelivered and missing mail.
Towns release settlement agreement, School Committee member resigns
After an almost year–long discussion which led to litigation, the Town of Hampden released a 17–page settlement agreement and mutual release between the town and Hampden Board of Selectmen and the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) and the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School Committee on July 27.
Over the last 10 months the HWRSD Five-Year Reorganization Plan has been the subject of immense discussion and scrutiny as many Hampden residents are displeased that the plan includes the closure of landmark school Thornton W. Burgess Middle School (TWB).
Following the July 27 announcement, HWRSD School Committee member Mary Ellen Glover announced on July 30 in a letter to Hampden Town Clerk Eva Wiseman that she is resigning from the Committee. Glovers resignation was in response to the portion of the Settlement Agreement that suggests all who enter the agreement refrain from commenting negatively about the agreement and highlight the positive aspects to the agreement instead.
“I neither voted for the settlement agreement nor do I agree there are ‘many positive aspects associated with the Reorganization Plan,’” Glover wrote in her resignation letter. “Nor will I cooperate with the implementation of a plan repeatedly rejected by the voters of the town of Hampden.”
Residents reject student consolidation at Town Meeting
In the midst of Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent Albert Ganem’s presentation to the Wilbraham residents gathered at the town meeting, the Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium’s drop-down screen went blank, and then began ascending back toward the ceiling.
Ganem smiled, looked up at the lighting booth, and said, “You’re killing me here.”
It was a brief moment of levity during a courteous, but tense Special Town Meeting on Oct. 15 at which Ganem’s plan for consolidating eighth grade into Minnechaug for the 2019-20 school year and moving seventh grade to the school in 2022-23 was beaten up, criticized, and ridiculed before being soundly defeated.
Residents vote against HWRSD?agreement amendment
Nearly one week after the Hampden Board of Selectmen issued a press release stating that the members recommended Hampden residents vote to approve the settlement agreement (warrant article four) at the Oct. 29 Town Meeting, the townspeople swiftly voted against the Board’s endorsement after Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) School Committee member Heather Zanetti stood in front of the town and stated that as a resident of Hampden and a mother of three, she would be voting against the plan.
Committee recommends location for new senior center
In early November the Wilbraham Senior Center Feasibility Building Committee met to discuss three potential sites for a new senior center. On Nov. 28 the Committee reconvened and revealed the site that they endorse: Springfield Street behind the Wilbraham Town Hall.
The group stated that this is a recommendation, not a decision. Continuing, Dubord explained that they’re in the middle of a feasibility study. She stated there are seven parts of a feasibility study, three of which have been completed. The next four parts of the study can only be completed when a site has been chosen.
At the close of the meeting, the Committee voted to recommend the Springfield Street location to the Board of Selectmen contingent on a proper site assessment, referencing the completion of the feasibility study. This decision was unanimously in favor by the Committee.
Moving forward, the Committee will contact John Catlin of Catlin and Petrovick Architects to walk through the site and complete the rest of the study.
Dubord shared that following the completion of the feasibility study with Catlin, they would then put out a request for proposal (RFP), the submissions would then be vetted for the actual building. Once the feasibility study is completed, the Feasibility Committee’s job is done and this moves on to a Building Committee. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to build a new senior center will be taken to Town Meeting for residents to decide. Dubord added that the environmental study on the ground cannot be done once the ground is frozen, so they may be looking at spring for a timeline.