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Date: 8/16/2023
HAMPDEN — Representatives from National Grid met with Town Manager Bob Markel to discuss infrastructure improvements. He took the opportunity to discuss installing electric vehicle charging stations.
Markel said at the Board of Selectmen’s Aug. 7 meeting that there are 389 charging stations in the metro Springfield area and all but one of them are categorized as level two, meaning they take six to seven hours to fully charge a vehicle battery. He said it does not make sense to install level two chargers at the Senior Center in Hampden because most people who use the Senior Center will not be there that long and, with so many other charger locations, people will not seek out Hampden’s chargers. Instead, he told National Grid he would like to have level three DC chargers installed. These faster chargers can replenish a battery to 80% in just 30 minutes.
Markel acknowledged these chargers were expensive, however, he said the company Rise Engineering can install two chargers, with four ports total, which would be paid for with $140,000 in grant services and a town-paid match of $24,896. Markel noted that Hampden has a separate $9,000 grant to put toward its portion of the cost. He recommended asking for free cash for the remainder at the fall Town Meeting.
The board discussed other possible locations for the chargers. Board of Selectmen member Craig Rivest asked if they can be placed on private property. While Markel said he was not sure, he added that the mini mall would be an optimal location due to the traffic. Board of Selectmen Chair John Flynn cautioned that there may be some liability if placed on land not owned by the town.
Rivest also suggested the former site of Cumberland Farms, 500 Main St., and said if they wanted to revitalize the site, they might be able to secure community preservation funding for the charger cost not covered by grants. The board expressed skepticism that chargers would be eligible.
Wherever the equipment is located, it would be up to the town to set the price to use the chargers. He said the town pays 13.3 cents per kilowatt hour and recommended the town set the rate at $0.16 per kilowatt hour.
While Markel said people may be concerned that the chargers would take up needed parking spots, he said he did not see it being a problem. He also verified that the National Grid representatives told him moving the chargers, if needed during the Senior Center expansion, would not be an issue.
Markel wanted to dispel any idea that he was in favor of the chargers because he drives an electric vehicle. He said he fully charges his vehicle at home and would not use the town’s chargers.
Moving on to other matters, Rivest said he planned to write a letter to legislators in opposition to state House bill H.74 and state Senate bill S.34, An act to modernize funding for community media programming. He said that if passed, streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ would be required to pay a fee of 5% of gross annual revenue generated in the state. That funding would be used to subsidize cable access programming, which has seen fewer viewers in recent years as more households have canceled their services and “cut the cord.”
Markel commented that cable providers are attempting to make streaming more expensive, because the services are likely to pass that fee on to customers.
“If there’s a decline in consumers who are purchasing cable TV,” Rivest asked, “why are we going to be artificially inflating the programming for people that aren’t watching it?”
Rivest said the issue would affect the town, because it is pursuing a townwide fiber optic network for internet, over which many customers are expected to stream content instead of subscribing to cable.
At the following Board of Selectmen meeting on Aug. 14, the board approved the letter drafted by Rivest and sent it to state Sen. Jake Oliviera and state Rep. Brian Ashe.
The Eastern Hampden Veterans District, which serves Hampden’s population of veterans, has hired Coast Guard veteran Jason Burgener to be its new veterans service officer. Burgener will be at the Hampden Town House auditorium, 625 Main St., on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. He will also be making regular stops at the Senior Center, 104 Allen St. While Burgener will be assisting veterans in East Longmeadow and Wales the rest of the week, he said he is willing to accommodate people who cannot meet with him on Wednesdays. He also said he is willing to drive to people’s homes if they cannot come to him.
With Jason Barroso stepping down from the Planning Board due to work and family obligations, there are openings for a voting member and an associate member of the Planning Board. Replacement members will be appointed after interviews. The town is also searching for a Board of Selectmen administrative assistant to replace Pam Courtney, as she is retiring in September.