Uh, welcome to our September 9th meeting. I call the meeting to order. And with that, I will read our public participation at town meetings. The Hatfield Select Board welcomes everyone to meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield. All regular special meetings of the boards
and commi committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall confform to the open meeting law. Executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statues of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is
important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate. During meetings of the select board, an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing
from members of the community and conducting the required business of the half of the select board. For the public's information, this meeting is being uh recorded under announcements. I do have a reminder. Uh if the lights are
flashing, don't be a passing school buses. Last year there were some incidents with cars passing the buses when their lights were flashing and that's pretty serious. So I I want people to remember, you know, those lights are flashing on the buses. Please
stop. Also, there'll be milling uh of Elm Street. We finally uh Marlo's been involved getting that project going and that'll be started uh this week with the milling. But uh listen to the the billboard that's out there in case
anything changes and it's weather dependent. So uh remember and then they'll be paving shortly after that. So I just want people be aware of it. Those are my announcers. I don't my colleagues have any announcements.
Yeah, I'd just like to extend a thank you to the Hatfield Police Department fire and DPW after the storm that we had. Um, everyone had nice quick responses and we were able to get the roads opened back up and um, so very good job by all on that. So,
thank you. Yes. Okay. Public forum. Is anybody here for public forum? Okay. Uh, nobody here for public forum. Um,
I'll look for a motion on our minutes. I'll make a motion to approve the August 12th, 2025 meeting minutes. We'll second that. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion carries. Posted business. Our
topic one will be uh Selena Fornier request a 1-day liquor license for crafts fair on September 28th, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. It'll be at the Lions Pavilion uh in Hatfield. So, I
don't know if you like to come up to the microphone and let us know what's going on. Um, so I am Selena Forier and I'm also the proprietor owner of the Middle River Cavern here in Hatfield. Um, and we
hosted a craft fair last year that invited local vendors, um, farmers, anybody that had handcrafted items to kind of share within the community and welcomed fall. Um, along with that, I
was asked to come and provide some food and drinks for the guests of whoever was visiting down at the pavilion. And so, this is our second annual, so to speak, that we're hosting. We have some more vendors this year. So, we're definitely
excited about that. And again, I was asked to come down and provide some fall treats and beverages and be part of the event. I know last year it seemed to go well. I have no questions on this event. I have no questions. Sounds like a good
time. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve a 1-day liquor license for craft fair on September 28th, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lions Club Pavilion, Billings Way, Hatfield, Massachusetts. Second.
Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Okay. Good luck. I hope you have success. Good luck. We invite you all to visit. Thanks for putting that on. Thank you. Okay. Topic two is Food Bank of Western
Massachusetts requests for a one-day liquor license for a fundraiser on September 21st, 2025 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 pm at the Hatfield Lions Club Pavilion. Uh, a lot going on there.
Okay, here you go. We got um Yeah, I'm Cheyen Bernham. with Food Bank Western Massachusetts. This is our 15th um year doing this event. Um I think we've been doing at the pavilion for about 12 years. Um but we'll have
about right now we're anticipating about 500 cyclists this year uh for the event. And when they return from their cycling routes, there's an afterparty from like 2:00 to 5. And so there'll be free food
and uh donated uh beer, wine, and cider for folks. Well, I do want to thank you for all the work you guys do for the food bank. Uh that helps the community and the residents and comm in the surrounding areas. So I think it's outstanding that
you guys still u do that kind of work for this area. So I don't have any Hatfield's been great to work with and we really appreciate your support and the police department and the EMT coming out um for that event and um yeah just
oh and I just want to reiterate we do not spray paint the road to make sure that's clear. We just put little signs up and we try to make sure they're all down the following week. It's going to stick. It's gonna long as
it's removable. Yeah, we did have that one issue one year, right? I mean, there was an issue. This is my fifth one. So, I just want to make sure that I'm I was against it. Boo her. Sorry, she's your goal.
I appreciate you bringing that up. Do you have my colleagues have any questions? No, that's good. I was actually going to bring that up there. I'm glad you did. Yes. Yeah, I will make a motion to approve a one-day liquor license for fundraiser on September 21st, 2025 from 2:00 p.m. to
5:00 pm at Lions Club Pavilion, Billings Way, Hatfield, Massachusetts. I'll second that. A motion made, motion, seconded. Any discussion? No. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Good luck with your event. Good luck. Thank you.
Topic three. We have a resignation from Stephen Gone. And you know, since I've been on the board, we have people come, people go, but this is a little bit different. Stephen, I I think we always
send a letter of appreciation, but I I I think we should be doing a little bit more with this resignation. And I mean Stephen uh he joined the fire department in 1996 and he rose to chief. He helped he was
instrumental in helping us get a paramedic service along with uh working within our fire department. He gave a lot of hours to the community. Matter of fact, his whole family has been exceptional with donating their time to
community. both his father, his mother and his sister have always volunteered or assisted the town and different organizations. So on this resignation, I think that besides a letter of
appreciation, something else should be in order for his 29 years of service to our town. But I I open it up to my colleagues trying to find out what should that be. Should it be a plaque? should be something else
or what what are your thoughts on this? Um I I agree with you. I think there should be something else done. Um I think a a plaque would be would be fitting. Okay, Greg. Yeah, if Okay. So, we'll work on something uh
at least with reg I mean he's right now it's he's assistant chief in Ammerst. So, and I think he moved out of town, so it's almost impossible for him to continue. Yeah. And even though he wanted to, he just he
just doesn't have the time. So, uh, we'll work out something with Andrew to come up with something and maybe we'll have, uh, maybe he's present here or something, we can give it to him. Sounds good. That sound like a That's a great idea. Yeah.
Okay. So with that, I guess uh I'll make a motion to accept the resignation of Steven Gone from the fire department. I will second it. Motion made, motion second. And I say it's with regret, but uh any discussion? All in favor?
I Okay. Thank you, Stephen, for your years of service to the town of Hatfield. It is appreciated. Uh resignation of Kelie Bird from Agricultural Advisory Commission. Do I have a motion on that? Yep. Uh, I'll make a motion to accept the
resignation of Kelby Bird from the Agriculture Advisory Commission. Second. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? Uh, yes. I'd like to send her a letter of thank you for her time on the Agricultural Advisory Commission. Uh, all in favor?
I. Okay. Motion carries. Uh, topic four. I I know I see Shawn walked in here, so I know he wants to say something on uh he's requesting a wage salary adjustment
for Jerry, which is welld deserved. So, I'll let you speak on that, Sean. Great. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah. And Jerry, what we're really looking at is a change in responsibilities. I mean, I think you all have seen how much the council on aging has grown in which we knew the
population of Hatfield was aging, so there were going to be more seniors, but we've also seen more activity from the Council on Aging. So, some words prepared uh by the Council on Aging board for you all. Uh this year, the COA board voted to reallocate $1,900 of our
long-term state grant funds. So these are state grant funds intended to go towards the delivery of services to Hatfield seniors from the state to provide a modest wage adjustment for our director Jerry Rogers. Uh this decision was based on both a salary comparison
with surrounding towns and the clear measurable growth and the responsibilities of the role which is really our focus. Neighboring COA directors are compensated significantly more. Uh obviously you have big towns like Beluretown at 92,000 but you know we've got South Deerfield
about uh 2500 above us. Uh Hadley at 76,000 we're at 65,000. Um and we've got a very experienced uh council on aging director. Some of these places have younger new council on aging directors. Um at the same time we've
expanded the job description too. So we updated the job description. I have a copy of this letter and the documents to provide to Andrew after for you all. Uh to include managing my senior center which is a data program that the council on aging uses that provides us all with detailed data on participation uh
maintaining our website building a social media presence and providing direct support to the friends of the council on aging. That's another big responsibility of Jerry's. You know, in the past, we always had the Council on Aging events that would happen regularly. But now with the friends that
raise, I want to say six $7,000 a year to support the Council on Aging, which Jerry led the effort to create, that's additional events that she has to be involved in. And though they operate independently, obviously, still she has a role to uh play in making all of that happen. So
that's additional work. Um, so you know, now there's multiple evening and weekend events each year. Uh, but beyond the numbers, Jerry's redefined what leadership at the Council on Aging can look like. She's transformed the space into a warm, welcoming hub that draws people in. We
would regularly hear in the past, we need a new council on aging. We need a new council on aging. I don't hear that as much these days. Of course, people would appreciate one. Uh, but I don't hear that come up as much. And I think largely that's because of the quality job not only did we do in the renovation, but actually I credit Jerry
because she was an artist on the side. And so she visually was able to sort of put together down there in a way that I know I couldn't that makes it feel really welcoming. Um, you know, it's so it's a welcoming hub that draws people's people in. She's bringing creativity and
innovation like the new newsletter that's been in color the last couple of years. That's something we never had before. that's paid for through outside uh fundraising uh ads that go in there. So, we don't even have that a cost anymore. Under her leadership, our programming has flourished. We've
introduced multigener generational events like the Christmas event, the treelighting that'll happen again this year, uh that has all ages and families there. Uh partnerships with farm to improve nutrition. They partnered with Prospect Mill Farm. We offer um our
seniors an extremely discounted farm share that they're able to pick up right in the Council on Aging and uh otherwise usually those are subsidized through um CISA but we were unable to get into the CISA program. They didn't have enough money. So she was able to sort of talk
to us and work out to get the same price that CISA would have provided to our seniors uh through Prospect Metal Farm. Uh so that's been great. But really the biggest reason I think this $1,900 makes sense is in the numbers. We collect a lot of data we have to for our state funders. So one thing we collect is the
number of interactions we have, meaning people coming to our events. So if you look at 2021, again it's right after COVID, so obviously it's going to be lower, but that was 6,300 interactions. Uh 2022, 10,584. 2023 12,58.
2024, 14,848. And that's all because we're doing more activities, more classes, and Jerry's leading all of this. She's got one uh two part-time uh retiree staff and her that manage uh all of these programs.
The uh growth represent not just more activity, but a fundamental shift in the scope and scale of the work required by our director uh for the compound aging, which again we could have all anticipated knowing that we had a town with a aging population. uh the wage adjustments we're proposing does not
begin to match what her pays are her peers are paid or really truly acknowledges the increased uh workload the expanded responsibilities uh but it is a gesture we can make within state funds that were meant for this purpose
uh and provide to her and I'm actually off I'm working on offsetting that even further so even though she'd get the $1,900 um we pay $1,500 a year for my senior center. Uh my job through exposure to my senior center here, we
went with my senior center uh at service for a contract. So, I've contacted my senior center, you know, letting them know that the referral came from here and asking if they can wave the town's $1,500 fee um this year because of that referral. I believe I haven't gotten an answer yet. I hope to get one before
this meeting. Uh but I believe that that will be a yes as well. So, we're double offsetting it even though it's state money that we could allocate for any purpose. I know Jerry's been doing an exceptional job down there and I and this rate increase is very modest and it's within
your funds to do it. So, uh because of that, I don't have a problem with it myself. I do want to thank Jerry for all the work that she's done and I've seen the programs increase downstairs and I see more people utilizing those programs
and I encourage uh others in the community that are seniors to look at those programs and and go to a couple they might enjoy themselves. So I mean as far as I'm concerned I don't have an issue with it. I don't know if my colleagues do. I don't I'm just curious
how is this uh workload is that gonna make her does she gonna need longer hours? I mean she is not longer hours. Yeah. Yeah. She is because of the evening events. So even for instance some of you might have gone to the concerts the last couple of Fridays. Those are extremely
long days for her. Her day still starts at 8 and those she'll be I mean sometimes I've seen her to 6:30 7 o'clock. Um, so yes, I'd say we did try to figure it out in anticipation of this and it was hard to come with a firm number, but I ended up at around 40 to
45 hours over what she would have been expected to do even last year with the number of new events that Okay. I just want to make sure that because there's added hours on top of this increase if that would be able to cover it all. Yeah. No, it balances out because she's
salary. it it ultimately yes there is more work um but this is something we can say even though we can't fully compensate you for what you're worth. We do have this in our budget. It is available. You are doing the task that
otherwise we could spend that $1,900 to pay someone else I guess to do if you could find someone to do it for money. Just want I don't want her to be overloaded either because she is doing a lot. So yeah. Yes. that's something we want to revisit, you know, over time. And we
want to look for grant funds, too, additional grant funds that can pay for some additional help. And then also, we're interested in looking into uh college interns and potentially in the future being able to utilize some of that to help with evening activities. There are a lot of college students out there, nursing programs and things like
that that would be interested in the connection to accounts on aging because that's one path they could take in a career. Okay. And the uh the annual grant. Yes. Highland Valley. That's really going to happen every year. Highland Valley. We've gotten it every single year. Yeah. It's a state it's a
formula grant pretty much based on a number of seniors. I was on the Highland Valley board for years probably almost a decade ago and we were getting it 10 years even before that. It comes like paperwork. Yeah. Okay. I have a motion on that.
Sure. I'll I'll make a motion to accept the wage salary rate adjustment request for Jerry the director of COA to 3234 effective August 27th 2025. Second second
motion made motion seconded. Any discussion? Um all in favor? I thank you Sean and also Sean thank you for all you do for the COA down there too. It is appreciated. Yes. and that paperwork and it has all the data and the job description.
Perfect. Our next topic will be uh meeting with our opiate settlement task force. Uh I'd like I'd like to ask you guys to come up in front uh have a seat and then also you know mention your names and and
mention to the town the stuff you've been working on a little history and and it's and it's all yours. It's all yours. Everyone, uh, I'm Tim. I'm, uh, on the
opioid settlement task committee. I'm the chair. Um, and Lyn Harlo, just a member, Liz Kubler. Uh, so we have a few with us. So, um, you should have gotten the packets with more detailed information, but we just
have a little, uh, presentation will be really quick. So, um, so next slide, please. Um so basically we're just going to talk about the opioid abatement funds and then you know what are we what what is the uh settlement task for uh funding task force. Uh we're going to go over the
survey that we developed and also the results and um the acceptable use of funds and the survey categories uh per the abatement agreements and then we'll go over the goals and summary recommendations that our group came up with. Next slide please. Okay. So,
regarding the opiate uh abatement funds, Massachusetts joined a nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies uh as well as marketers to hold them accountable uh in their role uh for the opioid crisis. And the lawsuit awarded Massachusetts over 900 million million in settlement
funds, which is great. Um the Commonwealth made the decision uh for 40% of these settlement funds to be allocated to cities and towns. And a few years ago in 2022, Hatfield began receiving funds from the Commonwealth as part of the uh agreement. Next slide,
please. Uh sorry, brief previous slide. Um so these funds can be used by uh municipalities for a variety of things. prevention, harm, uh, reduction, treatment, recovery, support from opioid addiction in accordance with the
Massachusetts abatement terms, uh, which we reference in the, um, packet if you want more information on that. Um and then f fund use must reflect the input of the community which is where we come in and you know uh us members of the the
task force um and especially people who have had personal experience with opioid crisis um and help address disparities in existing services, address mental health conditions and leverage is existing state programs. Okay. So what is the funding task force?
Um so group of community members representing Hatfield. Um and we were created to help determine how to use the funds which is one of one one of the recommendations uh um for how to you know allocate the funds. Develop and
administer a survey for community support um uh community input and then prioritize categories for acceptable use of funds. Then develop strategies for implementation. So we developed a survey um which we
reviewed extensively. We had you know uh monthly meetings um and we conducted it via survey monkey um uh from March 26 to May 26 and we had it as visible as we could. So uh it was on the town website.
There were QR code links on posters at the Smith Academy School, the town meeting, um, local stores, post offices or post Yeah, I guess both post officeices, Hatfield Library. Um, and we had 131, uh, responses, which were is
great. And so, uh, we weren't, you know, we weren't sure what what to expect, but that that was a good number. And the respondents age from 18 to 75 plus, so we got a good, uh, sample size with regards to age. And so this right here is um uh the respondents were asked if
any of the following statements were true and to select all statements that apply. Can you uh do one more click? So we we pointed out these three sections because it's interesting. So the first two arrows it talks about I have lo you know the question was I have
lo um uh lost a family member or loved one to opioid addiction overdose and I have lost a family member or loved one or I have a family member or loved one in recovery. Um I thought it was very telling that 40% of respondents had you know answered you know yes to these um
questions and um specifically the first uh the first arrow there's 20 residents that had someone who you know passed away from opioid addiction overdose and this is something that I didn't know about and you know it's not something people are posting on social media and it's just something that you don't
really you know talk about it's not it's it's it's kind of uh taboo and so I thought it was very helpful that people were able to kind of uh you know you know express and you know talk about it in in this way and or it says that we have 22 people or
families that are currently struggling with this right now. Right. Which this is what through the survey we one of our goals is to try to help these families too. Exactly. Um and so and you know Lynn did a you know wonderful job on this you
know she's amazing. She did a lot of the um heavy lifting on this. So, um, so thank you. Um, and yeah, so we thought this was, you know, some of the results were pretty pretty striking. Go to the next one. So, you know, we're not going to go into every individual
category, but these were the seven um categories that were the acceptable use of funds. Um so we had opioid uh opioid use disorder uh support people in treatment and recovery connections to care harm reduction
address needs of crim criminal justice involved persons support pregnant or parenting women and their families and prevent misuse of opioids and implement prevention education. Next one. So uh from the se seven categories above uh survey respondents
were asked to select their top three priorities uh for the opioid settlement funds um and the top you know as you can see there prevent misuse of opioids and education was the most popular um which is great and then connections to care was the second most popular at 50%. Um
and coming in third was support people in treatment and recovery. Anything else you want to say on that? No I think we're just going to focus on the top two for now. Right. Top two. So um all right next slide. So what was the you know what was our goals um after going through this
process? Um so you know initially it was to reflect um the Hatfield community's wishes desires for how this money should be spent which is the initial intention. So we felt like we got a pretty good sample size. Uh meet the state opioid settlement requirements. Um create
information and education so that as to lessen opportunities for drug use addiction in Hatfield. um and also create support for individuals and families currently uh experience opioid misuse. Um and you know we've gotten this through some of the survey
responses and some other communications but this is you know there is no uh additional funding that the town needs to um provide. This is not coming out of taxpayers money. This is already allocated money for Hatfield. So So here's our summary recommendations.
So the top priorities based on community input. So like Lynn mentioned you know it's pre prevent misuse of opioids and implement prevention education and connections to care. So with the first category event opportunities to involve and educate community um we're working
on some now I think but we you know we'll save save the details. Uh training and awareness of you know knowing what you're putting in your body. Um, uh, Mike Docic, the police chief who's also on the committee, you know, talked about how successful DARE was previously and having something some derivative of that
or, you know, something that was that could be successful. Um, Narcan training, which is the reversal agent for opioid overdose, um, with CPR and first aid. And then we were thinking about maybe surveying students at some point down the road, uh, which we hadn't done this time. And then with regards to
connection to care, um, form support groups for individuals and families. So even if they just want to come and just not even talk about opioids or, you know, their their loved one that's um, you know, involved in that and just kind of form a community, a connection with
someone um, adult information, education on opioids, uh, recognize signs of addiction and connections to available resources. So that's about Yeah, I would just say that not only were these based on the community's top priorities, but a
lot of the comments in the end of the surveys, they really wanted us to focus on education and early education probably in the schools. and um getting maybe to households and elderly. They may have medication or opioids in their,
you know, um cabinets at home or something that somebody teenagers, children could get access to and maybe get information out there so people are aware of what is in their homes and then the education in the schools. So that could be something like through
the COA when they ever they have a a group meeting or something they you could have something in the council something that's what we're talking about here and things of that nature and the school could the school be something like an inspirational speaker something
that talks about drugs to come in and do a a thing I I don't know I know they have a lot of different resources out there. But Jean uh Jav's also on our committee, the school nurse. So, okay. Yeah, she's been very helpful in that. Yeah, we were working on some of those
options, which um thankfully there's uh we have a few in the pipeline, which is nice. So, I know the schools what you can have and you can have is nowadays is sort of issues sometimes of what's allowed and what's not allowed, I guess.
Yeah. setting up something like a drug takeback day with the coordination with both police and fire I think would be probably pretty successful. You know, um a little bit of education prior to and get it out to the schools and COA and stuff like that I think would be a good
avenue. Mike even mentioned a um maybe a fair of that safety type theme going with it. Yeah. Yeah. We could even expand it beyond Hatfield maybe. Exactly. Yeah. Sounds great.
I think Andrew, do we have to is it a formal just okay by the select board that we can proceed with this? Is that what we need? I think the next step would be to come with more of a rough outline of a budget
or at least an idea of maybe how we would want to spend funds in in a first year, first two years. And I think just bringing that to the select board so they can more formally sign off on an idea of roughly where funds would be spent since the select board is still the authority that's that's uh in charge
of of how the funds are spent. But as long as you you know roughly agree with with this idea of of how they're how they're planning to proceed, then we're in good shape and then they'll bring in more of a fleshed out budget at some point. Do we have a rough idea of how much funds were allocated to app buildings?
Yeah. So, uh, it'll be over $125,000 that arrives over the next 10 years. There's an additional settlement that I was authorized by the board to sign at our last meeting that adds around $25,000. Now, we're talking around $150,000 over the next uh 10 to 15
years. By the end of uh this next fiscal year, we'll have over $50,000 in the bank ready to use. So, the way I've kind of framed it for the board is or for the for the task force is what could we do with with funding around $10,000 a year
to do something for for the next 10 years to do something to make a real big difference here because it's it's more than that. They can use more money in the the first few years, but if you think about sustainability of a program, you're talking around 10 to 15,000 a year for the next 10 years.
That's great. Well, I mean, you guys have had the surveys and I I'm assuming you might have had discussion on where to target some of this money for or or what what you can do. So, um I'm I'm
assuming you will be producing some recommendations of how to use the funds that we can sort of agree with you on or not or and this slide is kind of your sneak peek of of and I think we'll have more detail coming, but this is kind of the
outline of things the plans flushed out a little bit more like it list Andrew was mentioning like okay, how much is it going to cost for this event and is this event going to be recurrent and things like that. So, Great. That's good. Well, thank you for all your work on
this. Yeah, thanks for doing all that. That's too Thank you. Very great. I mean, it's a work in progress. I I do appreciate all the work your committee has done. and I think it's very important especially to the town in this community and I want to thank you for
all the time you've put in on this and I hope you continue to come up with uh uh recommendations for us because I consider you more of an expert on this than than myself. So I hope uh you can continue to work on that.
We will. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for caring. Thank you guys. Okay. Topic six, DPC engineering service proposal for MS4 permit compliance project. I think is as
far as uh this this particular item previously we sort of had approved it but we didn't get the funding approved at town meeting and we had to do it a second time. Was this the one that we did a second time? The second time is actually uh regarding the asset
management project for the strong. So this is a different Marlo wants to speak on this or or not. I'm I'm happy to start on this one. Just um this is something that I've been covering and going to pass along to Marlo once the work gets started. So
this was approved at the town meeting $90,000 allocation from free cash. Uh you'll see that the total amount of the project is $120,000. that's marked down from north of uh I think 170,000 based on some overlap with the asset
management project. So some of the the steps in here you might say wait a second aren't we doing this with the storm water asset management project and you'd be correct. So so anything that's kind of in both projects they've discounted the price of that we've already paid for it we're already doing it. Yeah. So um this is separate from that
asset management and this is more about the implementation of the state's uh regulations on MS4 um municipal small sewer no I shouldn't have committed to that small sewer um separate storm sewer systems um so there's a number of of
regulations that we are not yet in compliance with uh and that's spelled out here in the scope of things that we need to be doing there's a um set of polic policies that we need to adopt by the planning board that catches up with the bylaw that was passed at town meeting earlier uh this year. Um and DPC
would be helping us through this process. So, as I said, we've already allocated the money towards this $90,000 from town meeting and an additional $30,000 that's built into our budget for professional services. So, this is already funded. Uh this is something that I feel like the town has been made aware of through uh the presentation of
town meeting and through just other talk about uh these regulations. Uh, so we should be good to go. But but because of the size of the contract, I thought it made sense to bring to this board for their sign off. Okay. So, yeah. So, it's sort of that's that's right because this is sort of like we're we're doing one and we got to
do another one to satisfy the state even though we're doing an asset management already. So, yeah. I mean, it's just the kind of thing that you've seen towns across the state decide to hire more engineers, build out a stronger engineering department because there's so much more
work that has to be done in in S4. I think in the future, we'd like to see if there's a way to bring this program in house. I think having Marlo on board is going to be really helpful because he's he's uh dealt with things like this before, which is great and at least comfortable overseeing it. Um, but we're, you know, we're happy to have DPC
as good partners on on this and I we know they do good work. So this is a this is the start and then hopefully in the future we can find ways to instead bring this work in house but for now we need we have some catchup to do and I think DPC will be helpful on that. There's more regulations for us that's
all. Yeah. A question I did have on this is this going to be created into like a GIS overlay or layer for us to be able to use in the future? I would think anything that we get in say like the asset management plan like those are all
things that that we should have possession of like any of the map is that part of like actually it says that they're going to uh update redefine and map it but it doesn't say anything about it being created in like a GIS file for us to be able to I should check the scope of work in of
the uh asset management because I think it's more likely that it's in there but I can find out that answer and get that back to you because that's that's important that we own that. gets a make or break but it is important to to include fairly simple to do. Yeah, the data is there,
right? It's just whether or not we have to spend the time inhouse to enter that data and put it together or if it's part of this this price and package. So, okay, I'll ask again. And I don't think it's a make or break, but it's something that
we should have outlined whether or not. It's a very useful question. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure we have the answer to that. Any more questions on this? Nope. I'll make a motion to approve the signing of the DPC engineering services proposal for MS4 permit compliance project.
Second. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion carries. Topic seven will be to accept a grant from Commonwealth of Mass for ditch mapping. As you're probably aware, part
of the comprehensive plan was to uh try to find a way to start cleaning up our ditches because a lot of ditches are overgrown. Uh they were all used. The farmers used to burn them out, clean them out, but all that's gone away. So
this grant I believe you can fill me in is to give us a understanding of our ditches and what kind of shape they're in and help us down the road to try to figure out a way to get them fixed. Yeah, that's that's an excellent
summary. So this is great news that we've received uh announced a municipal vulnerability plan uh grant action plan grant from uh from the state. Uh this is for $179,000. Uh and it's a joint project between uh
towns of Hatfield and Hadley. Uh we have similar situations here. We're both trying to work in these these agricultural grants and better understand the mapping of them, the own the ownership, uh our regulations on them, uh everything else. So uh this project would allow us to hire a
consultant to advance. This project does need to be done somewhat quickly. The the the due date here is by the end of next fiscal year. So, um, fortunately, we've had good conversations, consultants. We should be ready to to get right into action, uh, and move this project ahead quickly. So, um, we're
looking for formal acceptance of this grant by the select board. Select board needs to approve all grants that we receive. Um, and of course, if there's any questions about it, happy to to take them. But this is a, you know, this is a a big project that we're excited to move forward on and take a bite out of that
comprehensive plan, as you mentioned. Questions? No questions. No, this good. I will say though that from the conservation end of things, this is something that has been on conservation commission's radar for a very long time. So, it's good that we're moving forward with this and and it allows for
potential funding sources in the future to be able to do some mitigation and some some other work. So, it's the the groundwork for moving forward. So, all good stuff. Good. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to accept the grant from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for motion made. Motion seconded. All in favor? Any discussion? No. All in favor? Okay. So be it. Motion carries. Next we have presentation on updated FEMA flood maps. Yeah,
indeed we do. So this is um you have a lot of documentation in front of you and I've set up a u page on on the select board section of the website uh as well just to post some of this information because there's a lot going on here. Um
this is a long process. We're in the dead middle of it I would say maybe maybe at the beginning of the end of this process um from FEMA uh flood mapping updates. So, um, I sketched out the process on on the website. The
information is there. FEMA has a number of different pages on this. Some of them are very helpful, some are more confusing. Um, but it's just a very long process. Um, but basically where we are now is we've received the preliminary new flood maps and these flood maps have
not been updated and since uh 1980. So, uh, these new maps um would capture a lot more information. They're they're based on new hydrarology, new hydraulics, new infrastructure that's been put in. Uh as well as looking at the impacts of climate change and and
sea level rise and and and river rise and and everything else that FEMA and everyone have their eyes on. So these maps are are not the easiest to view in the format that I've shared them with you tonight. Uh FEMA sent them to us, sent a letter addressed to I don't know
who Edward Jorski is, but uh they sent a letter to to him. But I I think they meant Ed Ed Edmond here. Um but but that that letter spells out where we are in the process and we should be receiving communication from FEMA at some point in the next two
months that uh sets up a coordination meeting. And at that meeting they'll go over more of the the detailed maps with us and that kicks off a 90-day appeal process. That appeal process is when we really need to be taking these maps to the public and getting any um uh any
input from folks who are concerned that something in the maps is scientifically incorrect. We're in a 30-day appeal process. Sorry, not an appeal process. We're in a 30-day review process right now that began when they sent this letter to us. Fortunately, that process
is really just to look at are there any streets labeled incorrectly in the maps? Are there any bodies of water that are labeled incorrectly? Are there any just map issues? Um, and the maps have been shared with us. They're in your packet. Um, I posted a link to to the maps on on
the website. So, I'd say at some point you, the public, take a look at those maps. See if you see any errors like that. Uh, locationational errors. Those can be reported. There will be more time for all of this feedback, but this is a really useful moment just to check in on how this process works so that that
we're all aware of it. Um these maps do set the foundation for some insurance rates and other things in the future. They won't immediately change anything. Um there's a lot of different insurance and other uh mechanisms already in place. Um but they are important to make
sure that they're correct and they do show changes in um in where our uh high hazard flood zones are. So that's kind of my long-winded introduction. Happy to take any questions. Um, and any suggestions on how we, you know, move
forward this process? But you've got the maps in front of you and we can go from there. Yeah. I mean, the maps in front of me show me maps from all over the place, not just Hatfield, which makes it a little bit more uh difficult to go through all the
information when I'm reading about stuff in other towns. And it's it's included in here, but that's the way they set it up. There's there's there's a number of tools that they have in a website. Unfortunately, not all of them work. One of them iso is
designed to um show you just the changes. They have like a little slider tool. If you move it one direction, you get the full map from 1980. You move it the other side, you get the map from now. That should be updated uh in the next couple weeks. So, that actually has the new maps on there. It only has the old
ones right now. They have another tool where you can put in any point and it will show you the old map and the new map and compare them side by side, but only the new map is working there. The old map isn't working. So, they've got some really great tools that they're trying to use for the public that they're not quite there yet, but
Okay. So, we're at the point where we just take a look at the maps to see if the streets are all named correctly. And then the next process is when we get and notified from them, we have a 90-day window to to do a presentation or
something. Right. I mean, that's correct. And and at some point, so after the appeal process, once that closes, then there's a 7 to 10 month period in which they come back to us with the final final maps. And in that
time, we also uh if if there's any any um changes in our maps, which we believe there will be, those need to be accepted um at town meeting, if there's any bylaws or anything they're attached to. So, for instance, we have a a uh flood
plane bylaw and that references the FEMA maps. We'll have to accept them with the new maps. So ideally that'll be ready for next May May uh next May's town meeting um 2026. If for some reason the process lasts
longer then we'll have to look at either a special or May 2027. So we'll we'll just have our eye on that. Okay. So that this is just a update for tonight on this topic. No votes needed tonight. Any more questions? No. No.
Okay. We'll move to uh topic nine, town hall hours. Yes. So, we uh piloted summer hours uh starting in uh June of this year. Um they've been received well. Um and our our staff are enjoying the the
7:30 to to 4:30 hours Monday through Thursday and 8 to 8 to 12 on Fridays. Uh it seems like it's serving the public well. So, um, we are asking the board about their interest in keeping those hours moving, uh, in the same direction,
uh, for the future. So, so continue with the 7:30 to 4:30 Monday through Thursday, 8 to 12 on Fridays. Uh, it seems to be working well. I don't have a problem with that. Do you guys have any? No, I think this is great. Everybody's happy with it. What else could you ask for?
Um, if we get more feedback from the public about issues, then, you know, we'll look at changing it, but for now, that seems to be working. Sure. Since those hours were previously voted in, I guess we don't need to make a motion because you're we're just continuing the hours or, you know, I don't have the motion in front of me. It's possible that we voted
on it provisionally, right? So maybe if we want to vote on it moving forward, uh just in case that the vote was to authorize it only until a certain date in September. Okay. I can make a motion. I'll make a motion to change the town
hall's regular operating hours. to 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m. on Fridays until further notice. Motion made. Second.
Motion seconded. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor? I. Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Topic 10. I see our chair Stephanie is here and we're going to get into the planning board request for zoning change. Hello.
Thank you for coming this evening. Yes, thank you. Um, it's my understanding, Andrew, correct me if I'm wrong, around the process for this. This is more like courtesy kind of conversation and heads up to the public as well around how this how this goes.
Under NGO, uh, chapter 48 section 5, um, a zoning change can, uh, begin with a planning board or with a an individual or or someone else. uh but then it needs to be brought to the um the select board. They they're informed of it and
then within uh 14 days they shall bring that to refer it back to the planning board for study essentially. So uh what you have in front of you tonight is the um proposed change and then Stephanie can discuss it more. But then what you'd
be doing tonight is referring that to the planning board for study and then a public hearing and that the planning board has already scheduled that public hearing which is just a good thing to get more advanced notice out. So we need a motion before the discussion. No. Um you I think it's uh Stephanie can
explain it all to you and and then you can your motion when it's done. Uh so Stephanie Slash, chair of the planning board. Um we have a proposed hearing just to get that out for the public too. Um on this potential change
next Wednesday, September 17th at 700 p.m. at the Hatfield Elementary School. Um the reasoning kind of behind this zoning change, you know, it was outlined in the 20 um a land use master plan uh
recommendations from 2012. It was re-emphasized again at the comprehensive plan and then we have um fund we have a study underway with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission looking at our zoning and this is also highlighted there. um just like the long-term
planning goal is to update like our zoning map and bylaws in their entirety and this is just phase one um and was uh you know one of the things that was brought up multiple times from the professionals and through the studies and then also um like I said action in
the comprehensive plan. So what we are proposing is um resoning approximately 40 parcels on our zoning map. Um those are what we're calling like zoning islands or zoning inconsistencies. Uh we've been notified abutters, we've
notified the land owners, which according to council goes above and beyond um what you know the the notice be sending those notices. So we you know want to make sure that the public is informed that we're doing this. When it comes to zoning map changes, um, we only
have to just technically post in the newspaper and come to you all, but we've also sent notified notices to the butters with a FAQ. That FAQ is also available on the town website for anyone that is interested in looking at that as well, but kind of outlining what this
means. So when I say zoning island, like we're going to give a full presentation next week, so I don't really want to like dive into this too much, but essentially what is doing is taking um parcels that
arguably should have been zoned pre-existing non-conforming uses when we came out with this map in the early 2000ish time. um and making that correction and um so that it it it um ends up being more consistent use of the
neighborhood of those parcels. Um this is again, like I said, something that has come up multiple times in multiple studies over the years. No one's really pursued it. And so this is just the first step in updating our map um and doing so, you know, with the the
long-term plans of of the town in mind. So, um, like I said, next week, Wednesday the 17th, 7 o'clock, Hatfield Elementary School. We're anticipating a good number of people there. That's why we're having it at the Hatfield Elementary School because this impacts
40 land owners plus the Butters in the neighborhoods that all these parcels are part of. Um, what is the complete process? I mean, you have your meeting, we have our motion. Thank you for asking that. Um, yes. So this is kind of like the formal process
here. Then we would have this special hearing that would happen next week. Um in that hearing you can come. We have the way that's hearings are set up. You have to speak either for or against the the project. That's just the way it's set up. So we entertain comments from
the public. If you can't make it, please feel free to reach out to our town planner, Bella Joerger, who will be taking comments and we will enter them into the record. and um re re uh reiterate those at the meeting as well.
Um from there, the board decides to recommend it or not to then go to a special town meeting or a town meeting if it was I think we have within six months to enact on it after it's passed. There's possibility at the meeting next week we would continue the hearing if there's questions that we want to find
um or we can make a determination that night. But then that would be the next step bringing bringing it getting the input from the town uh next and the butters um and land owners and anyone else who's interested in attending um and that what it means and then um we
would refer decide whether or not to move it towards a article town helps make that decision and the land owners if they don't want it change can protest it or appeal it or whatever. I know change is
hard and especially when it and and land land is personal and I get that. Um but it's our job as a planning board, your job select, you know, it's all of our jobs as elected officials to be thinking about the town um in the f in like making those steps in the towards the
comprehensive plan. I mean there's different ways we could could approach it. Um but this is the way that we're proposing going forward with it in like a phased approach. Um, so I can understand the reasons behind this
because I if I recall years ago a lot of a lot of the folks would say what do you want your land uh and some people would say I wanted business I want industry and the town basically said okay and it created a lot of spot zoning all over the place. It
didn't centralize things as different areas except for the the town center here. So, and it's been sitting like that. I'm I do appreciate your board taking the initiative to to look at this and try to bring it back to something
that's more effective for the town, I guess, or makes more sense for the town. Yeah. And thank thank you. Yeah. And I definitely recommend people come next week because there'll be maps and visuals and things because um Yeah. So, I have a actually quite a fair
amount to say about this. Um, I personally think that this was quite rushed. Um, and there is a much better approach that could have been taken to this. Um, for a couple reasons. One of which being that
if we're essentially looking to get to minimize some of our commercial developed land in town and we have yet to put any thought into where we are going to help recreate that commercial development. Um myself and Steph both
sat on the comprehensive plan and one of the major topics that was discussed was making sure that the Route 5 corridor was zoned properly for that future development. Um, and here there's a few different parcels that are within that
corridor that we're looking to take out of business and put back, excuse me, into rural residential, which until we identify where the areas we want to develop are, makes no sense. We're putting the cart in front of the horse.
Um, there's also numerous properties on this map that are some of the legacy businesses in town that have been operating here far longer than probably anybody in this room has lived in this town. And I think we owe them the respect and the due diligence to take a
look at these parcels parcel by parcel. Um, it would be my opinion that a survey should have went out to these parcel owners and asked if something of this nature um was something that they felt
comfortable with. And you might got some responses back that said, "Yeah, no, I don't care." And then we can go ahead and reszone those as we see fit. But I do know that there are quite a few parcels that are outlined here that um are very very much opposed to this. And
I also disagree with some of the zoning that is being proposed as changes. There's also some errors on this sheets for what the mapping is for the the town's website currently has as the
zoning maps. So, from a town's perspective, the data that we're portraying on our own website isn't actually accurate to what the tax cards are, which is a pretty big problem for anyone who wants to do research about this. Um,
the other portion that I will say is that um I think it's our duty as a select board to really review stuff like this and also protect the town from any future litigation. And I have been approached by numerous people uh who are
very unhappy with this due to the fact that it ultimately will reduce their property values um and the other businesses that they'd have the opportunity to sell their parcel to in the future. Um ultimately making their
parcel worth less money and then hurting taxation because of that. Um, I know a lot of people have invested in some of these properties because they are they were zoned as business. Um, and it's part of
their financial plan both for the business that they're operating, but also for their retirement in the future and when they plan to sell these parcels off and who they leave them to in terms of their children and stuff like that. And all of this affects all of that planning. Um, and you know, if it does
affect the the pricing of these lots, then whether they have equity lines on them, all of that gets affected based off of valuations of it. So, I respectfully, I'm not going to get into this back and forth, I think, at this meeting. I think it's appropriate
to encourage you to come to the next meeting if you have opinions and thoughts on this because I think some of the things that you said are um more fear tactic than not and and I think you're and I agree that we as a board uh elected
officials should hear our constituents and I would encourage them to come to the meeting u and and and give those thoughts to us. I also think as elected officials I and as chair of planning board I'm very conscious of creating situations that like I'm all about
trying to reduce our risk um when it comes to legal litigation and this is one of the reasons why we are moving forward with something like this. So we are not putting um
I think reducing property values to whom I think is is a question because some of the people with reszoning this could in could impact property values in a different way. We are not putting anyone out of business. I think that's super important to say in this uh before before next week is like this would be
taking parcels and reszoning them. If there's a current use on the parcel that use will not be like that use can continue. you can even sell the parcel and that use can still continue. Um, and it would just um be not it would be
changing what's then allowed if like they wanted to change the use drastically to a heavier use for most of the parcels I believe not all of them unless the parcel sits vacant for two years. Correct. That is the legal thing standing of a pre-existing non-conforming use. Um, there's lot lots
of pre-existing non-conforming uh use properties and with businesses operating on them in this town that are long-standing families also. So, I like I said, I don't really I don't know if this is the avenue for us to be getting to like have this conversation. I think it would be it's also like should be for
the record, but like I'm also open to going I guess I have an opinion question then. So, a a property such as Helena Chemical, right? that it it's a warehousing facility. Correct. Yeah, it depends. I'd have to look at the table of use or what their
right. But for all intents and purposes, it's a warehousing facility. I mean, depends on what how it's how we have it zoned and have issued the special permit. So, I don't want to specifically say yes or no to that. Okay. So, depends on that. I think most people know the property that I'm referencing. Uh if this let's
say property was sold sat vacant for two years it then reverts back to rural residential um whatever yeah that's pres the presumed zoning changes would be yes. So if that was for a special permit or it can go through a special permit
process. So the board has leeway to like um if someone wants to appeal like come to us and be like oh we want to continue the pre-existing use we would allow that. We would likely allow that given the history of a parcel. But legally, what a pre-existing non-conforming use is is.
But what are you going to do with that parcel as a rural residential parcel? If it went back to rural residential, what could you possibly ever do with that parcel? I understand how you want how someone would want to like glob onto like individual parcels. I get that. And it's also our job to think about the
neighborhood. And that neighborhood is a residential neighborhood. And so that's the whole point of reszoning is to make the uses consistent with what is in the neighbor, what matches the neighborhood. I mean, you have commercial and industrially zoned properties uh both to
the east and the west of it. Not direct. Do you mean directly abuing? not directly abuing but within within three parcels of it. And with again it's could stay that use as a pre-existing non-conformed forming use with the resome.
I just think it'd be more appropriate for the land owner to be able to make that decision rather than it being blanket. That goes to the whole um I know we talk about legal risk here when legal like I know we have to make
decisions that are based we can't be making decisions based on certain landowners property values. It's legally we cannot be making decisions like that. We need to be making decisions that are best interest of the town and also reducing like the plan like the planning board piece of that. And so I want to
like underscore that that I understand that there's constituents that are reaching out to you and me about that, but that is something that like we legally shouldn't be making our sole determination and decision on. But you don't have to make a decision based off of individual people's
feelings off of their property value. It's more of an opinion whether or not they have a problem with it changing. Right? Someone wants to continue to operate their business out of it and not have to continue to jump through hoops or they want to sell the parcel to their daughter if he was if an owner was to
pass away or something like that or however they want to go through the legal process of it. That sale for or transfer of a deed shouldn't trigger all this two-year stopwatch for people to have to be able to either get a new business to rent it or whatnot. It just
doesn't seem right. There are currently plenty of pre-existing non-conforming uses that operate in this town. I mean, basically this you make a lot of valid points. Basically, this hearing is determining whether you guys are moving forward with this or not. Right.
Right. And again, it would have to go to the special town meeting. The town would have towns people could come. It has needs twothirds majority to vote. So, it's something that it's some there's lots of steps in this process. I understand that there might have been some surprise from um land owners who
received this. This has been on our agenda as a planning board reszoning especially certain parcels um on Elm Street corridor for at least six months. So this is and again was reiterated in three different recent not recent 2012
is is when this first came up as something that we should address and nobody has addressed it yet. Why, you know, I understand that it can be seemed jarring, but also in the timeline of government, it uh it's it's been a while. So, I I I appreciate it. There's many different ways we could have approached it. Come
become on the planning board, Lou. come help us make these decisions in the way that know that the conversation that was had at the comprehensive plan when we developed the plan was that we were going to look into the spot zoning and determine which parcels needed to be
responed not just blanket going through the entire town. I think that is the the safer way to do that is to do the entire is to do it all at once as opposed to picking and choosing because then you're paying favorites and talking about again a survey and asking the people
could have eliminated a lot of this too. I'm again like we're re we were reinforcing what the comprehensive plan says. We looked at a map and it's very obvious which ones are the zoning islands here. I'm we can go back and forth about it. I again I encourage everyone to come next week. It'll be a
great bring your popcorn uh next week on the 17th at the 7 o'clock at the elementary school where we'll have a further presentation on this. Um and again like it has to go to town meeting too. So I'm sure a lot of your your ideas will
be coming forward at that meeting and and your your thoughts about this will be what what they want to hear because maybe this has become an important meeting that people can voice their opinions and it may give the planning
board some insight to say well maybe we shouldn't be doing this or that. Right. Right. And it'll also like inform the next like I said this is a phased approach. The next phase is looking at where we would like to see more commercial development, industrial development, that kind of thing. And this so like that is the next phase and
then the following phase would be like update you know there's different ways to approach it and this is the way that we've chosen and lesson learned on on some of this too with with the feedback. So what's the temperature and what's the planning or is everyone in favor of this? Was everyone there when this was
decided? uh when this was discussed we um everyone was brought it was talked yes it was it it was everyone was aware that this was going to be talked about um I don't know approved when it was approved that'll be next week whether that's approved or not
okay we have one question from the back it's more of a statement than a question I think this is a solution without a problem uh most of actually I would say all of our special hearings that we've had recently and our like issues with
neighborhood issues that have come to our attention have a lot most a lot of them have been around these these different parcels. So I you know again this is a a thing that has been highlighted as something to fix and so we are prioritizing doing so. I'll allow
one more. Specifically, speaking of 101 and 103 Elm Street, I spoke with the owners and they're willing to pursue uh developing it into section 8, low
income, moderate income, and workforce housing. There's 12 total acres and that would be about 144 to 168 units with a 120day
uh decision period. So after this meeting, groundbreaking could be January 21st and people have a right to do what they would like to with their land based on its zoning. So
anyways, That'd be a good opportunity. Yeah, some of this discussion is better set at the hearing on the 17th. That'd be a better better place for it, I guess. Yep. So, I'm going to move on this motion.
So, we have a motion on this. Do we need a motion? Sure. I'll make a motion to refer the proposed zoning change to the planning board for a public hearing on Wednesday. the 17th at 7 p.m. at the Hatfield
Elementary School. I'll second that. Uh, all in favor? I I'm in favor of it. Are you Are you opposed? I am. Okay. So, we have one opposition and two
forward. So, motion carries. Any dis Okay. Any discussion? Motion carries. It's noted uh two yeses, one no. Okay. Topic 11.
Thank you, Stephanie. Topic 11, plan for town facilities. Uh now, I I I do want to say something. We under I want to back up a little bit. Originally uh we had talked over the years about
finding a place for our archives. Uh also under the comprehensive M plan moving emergency services out of the flood plane. Also we the fire department was looking for possibly more
space in the future. And there was a fourth thing in town that we've been discussing is a place for pickle ball court. Now I when Marlo came on board I asked him what can we do with this metal
building? Uh unfortunately we had voted as a town to have a salt and shed uh facility and the previous uh director got us a metal building that's sitting up there unfinished.
So we after discussion with Marlo and the and Marlo I believe talked to the police chief. If we take the existing building and frame it for two stories, we could put the archives upstairs which is like
all your birth certificates and important papers for vital records versus archives just in case there's a confusion among historic archives. So, the archives upstairs, uh, downstairs, we could have the police station emergency services,
which moves it out of the flood plane by moving the police department up there. We now have provided more space in case the fire department needs to expand. And I'm being told that there might be enough of space for the pickle ball
court. Uh, previously I was against the pickle ball court going up there if it was a DPW facility, but if it becomes the police station and emergency command center, then that sort of makes sense. So, we could actually uh kill four birds
with one stone and and my thought, but I want to open it up for discussion. uh whoever wants to comment on the idea. Also on that building on the uh norththeast side, you could actually put in three garage doors for three
cruisers. So you can get all this stuff done. Of course, there'll be a cost to do that, but it'll be far cheaper than and then building a a new building at this time because we already have it halfway done. So, I don't know how my
colleagues feel about this, but the these are some things I was thinking about after talking to Marlo and Andrew and and the police chief. So, last Tuesday, I believe, myself, Andrew, Chief Doek, and uh Marlo met on
the site and we kind of walked through um some of the ideas that were being proposed, and they all seem like that they're very viable. um by moving the police station up to Elm Court. Uh like you had mentioned, it
gets it out of the flood plane. And then the idea would be to repurpose what is the existing police station into um having some overnight quarters and stuff for folks who are staying over and working the eve shifts on the fire
department as well as opening up a couple other bays for storage and such so we can get um some of our store some of the fire department storage can come out of where the COA parks their their vans and such. Um, so like you said, it's it's checking off multiple boxes.
Um uh we had asked Chief Dohack and and Marlo were going to look at um trying to get some like rough designs put together um as well as costs associated with
those designs and what would be the best layout both for the police department's input as well as for the vital records um storage in the second floor. um as and then you know would there'd have to be some paving and stuff and one
of the questions that we had discussed was how would this affect um like police response times and stuff throughout town by moving it towards an outskirt of the town and um Chief Doc I can address that in the future but very
much assured us since most of the time the police officers are on shift patrolling throughout the town if there's an they could be patrolling on Depot road and if the emergency is on Elm it's the same amount of response anyway. So, that portion isn't isn't something to be too concerned about. Um,
but it really would be a great use for for the space and um the other portion of it would be developing a plan for moving forward for the rest of that development and buildout of that lot. So, um it really it it's a step in the right
direction for sure. That's a good idea, but we have to figure out, like you said, the logistics of how much it's going to cost and right and like to have the building open and what it would take to convert this to whatever it is that they want to do with this. Yeah, I think it would all be Sounds
like it would all be developed under either one plan or one phased plan. So that way there wasn't a stagnant use of the space um over here. Everything would be phased. But we need to figure out is this a $500,000 buildout or is this a $1.5 million
buildout? So, right. I mean, well, right now it it'd be cheaper than building a building. Absolutely. And and it would I mean, the other way we need multiple spaces in different locations to accommodate everything and
we would have to build out the fire department, which we don't have to at this time. Maybe 20, 30 years from now. Yeah, you but it does gives give us more time over the years to get some of the
things done while we're waiting for the future to come in a way. So I I think it's it's a good idea. So I would what I'm hearing we our next step with looking for prices and stuff. So, uh, do
either e either of you have any issues with trying to move forward on this to get cost or prices or, uh, to try to find out if this will work? I think it's a good idea to look into that building. I The only reason I don't really like doing the stuff here with
the fire department is because I hate to put more money into that thing. That shouldn't be a permanent building. That's a temporary building. I'd like to get them stuff. I know it's far out, but I hate putting money into that knowing that we need to get out of there anyhow. The fire department needs to go somewhere else anyhow.
There was a we had discussed a a actually a plan for that. So, the idea would be to take what is the current police station and use it to build out for a couple bunk rooms as well as some additional um internal storage. And then moving forward in the future that like
if the fire department ultimately got moved to another location that current area the apparatus space could be turned into like a public rec center or something like that and then the office space and internal spaces could either become more COA space or it could become
uh like a more of a community room. But again, that's just sinking more money into just changing what we would be changing it into now into what we want it in the future. Well, the I mean, the interesting part at the fire department currently is that like, you know, the bathrooms and the showers are already built. They're
already there. Yeah. So, you're talking about taking office space and adding in a door essentially because you could take like the current existing police chief's office and use that as a bunk room and you're adding in a bed essentially. And the other room
that is their current storage room would stay as storage. Um the processing room again that could be very very easily outfitted to be an additional whether it's a bunk room or um something of that nature. So without really having to do any sort of
major construction, you're cutting in a door essentially. Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. I mean if if we have a small committee, we could move forward on this. Maybe, you know, like Marlo and one of our one of us and and maybe uh the police chief
just to put a plan together just for to look at or cost. Yeah. Yes. Just sitting here listening to this, um I have a property at 197 Streets Roads. Zoning is about to change
with a 20,000t building on it. you might be interested in out of the four plan. Well, I mean, if we form a committee, we could actually have them look at that also, right? Be willing to trade
uh the fire station for it even swap. [Music] So, we may be a small committee. Yeah, I think uh either one of you would like to be on the committee. I I I will if neither one
you already Yeah, it seems like you know what's going on a lot better than I do already. I would say both police and fire chief should be involved. Um seeing as how the ultimate plan Okay. kind of impacts them. Marlo, myself and maybe someone if we're
going to involve do the pickle ball court, maybe someone from I don't know if that would be open space or recreation committee or I don't know need that. It's right now the pickle ball court is finding a location. So, okay. All right. So, maybe those four for now and
we can come up with a a plan and then come back with um options. Options and then ultimately it's going to be a you know we're going to need some sort of money appropriated to have a design done. Yeah. A lot. Yeah. Do you want me on it for everything?
Yeah. And Andrew doesn't matter to me. Okay. Okay. That's helpful because I I think um I wanted this on the agenda tonight to try to think about you know what the mechanism is you know how we start moving these things forward because what what I keep coming back to is if we move
forward on anything that brings up questions about well what about this facility that we might need or what if we wanted to move this to here or what if you know there's a lot of questions that kind of all interlock and I think you could think about some kind of bigger facility study or some kind of consultant scope but I think another way
to just do it is keep bringing it to these meetings and you're the body that really has to decide on it. And I think if we just keep this as an agenda item moving forward, the archive has been on there since I've been on the board. And I know uh the fire departments brought up the idea of needing uh if they were to have living
quarters, they would need a trailer, which would be very expensive to purchase, whereas uh putting a door in is a lot cheaper than the trailer if you move the fire the police department up there for now. Uh and then and then even
if uh down the road you do have a public safety building, which it's not going to happen for a while, at least you got the emergency services out of the flood plane in case something should happen, I guess. And and we do get a use out of
that building unless it's besides it just sitting there doing nothing, I guess. But I mean if we have the small committee then they can come up with that option or as it was mentioned another building
or something else to serve our purposes. I mean we also have to keep in mind uh cost effective. I agree with you. I mean we we got the uh wastewater treatment plant be coming online. That'll be a cost. We've we've increased we've had to
increase the water and sewer bills in town. We've we've had some other creases on electricity. Uh insurance has been a major increase trying to figure out how to work that out. I mean, so keeping in mind if we if we do spend some money,
it's basically spending money because we don't have to spend a lot of money at this time, I guess. But and I think ultimately having a design done that, you know, outlines what is this buildout cost, right? You know, really gives
the board and the taxpayers a much better feel on is this something that's feasible now or is this a five-year plan, you know? Yeah. Well, ultimately they decide whether they want to spend the money, right? So, right, it's it's up to them and and hopefully we can have some you
guys, I'm sure, will be able to put something together by uh the next town meeting in May. So, we can do some kind of presentation or give them the option and say here's a couple options and which way you want to go, right? I guess.
Yeah. Okay. So, do we need a motion for that committee or not? Probably not. Right. Do we do you um do you want it to be a formal uh I don't think I don't think you have to be a task force. Yeah.
Okay. We'll move to topic 12 marbles here with the DPW report. Okay. Uh thank you for your time. Um, so following the agenda, if you'd like, we can we can talk about the appointments first. Um, and then we can
go through uh areas of my report that I sent you all. Okay. Um, appointment for Max uh Bartlett, a highway crew chief. Um, as I had said in my report, we posted all three positions on August 14th. Uh I was immediately
receiving uh applications and resumes for all three positions. Um so just to be clear, it isn't three openings in the department. It's technically two. Max is just being promoted to the new job description that was approved last month. Um so basically
we're giving up a heavy equipment operator which is Max Max's position which he will fill in uh as the crew chief at times um to provide that crew chief position if you will. Um so we had
um I think I had five or six applications for heavy equipment operator and I think five or six for um the laborers position. So I started out by reviewing the best two applicants as far as um um qualifications and
experience. Um so we we we did um four interviews uh well technically five. I interviewed Max also. Um and so it it came down to offering uh Robert Zakitis uh as a heavy equipment
operator. He'll be coming to us from uh uh the town of Ammerst. uh got quite a few years 27 years experience I believe but um with that being said um in the municipal system he started at a very young age so uh he'll work a lot of
years to retire how the system works so uh I think he'll be a great addition uh very experienced in all areas of the DPW um the second appointment Jackson um he's coming aboard from uh from Chipe
uh I believe he has four or five years there. Uh he's got quite a bit of uh parks and tree background and experience. Uh he's right here in Haydenville. Um so I I believe out of the four interviews we uh Dwayne and I had picked
the the best two candidates uh for the town of Hatfield. as far as experience uh in their licensing. Uh there's some licensing that that uh Jackson has that's not required on the job description that's going to make us very u uh interchangeable. Let's say he has a
hoisting license. It's not required, but he can run equipment. We're short staff vacation. We got an emergency. We got vacations going on and there's projects we have to get done. Uh it's a great asset to have those additional licenses in the laborer's position. So, um, he's
very excited about at some point getting his class B license, which will make us, um, even more efficient. So, um, those are my recommendations for the three positions. Any question on these three appointments?
No, that's pretty good. I'll make a motion to appoint Max Bartlett as the highway crew chief. Second. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? Motion carries. Did you vote? What?
Did you vote on that? Sorry. Yes. I Okay, great. Great. I perfect. Uh, I'll make a motion to appoint Robert Cicus as heavy equipment operator and laborer. Second. Motion made. Motion seconded. Any discussion? No.
Motion carries. I I I'll make a motion to appoint Jackson Brewyard as highway laborer. Second. Motion made. Motion second. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor?
Motion carries. Excellent. Thank you. No better time to go into uh winter fully staffed. So, it'll be it'll be good. Uh so, on to my report. Um the voluntary
water ban uh which by the way just yesterday and officially declared today was was um put into significant drought um which makes no changes for a voluntary ban at this point. Um but there's been a a significant savings uh
or usage is down by 200,000 gallons per day since we went to the volunteer um water ban. Uh it's much appreciated. I I just want to give a shout out and say thank you to everybody for conserving um and uh not really beating up our water system too bad in this
drought. So um we have uh incurred a few uh issues with uh meter reading and whatnot. So um I put in the report that we've had a few problems and uh we've decided to contract a company to assist us in trying to work those um kinks out.
Um uh we also received a proposal to replace the town hall letters on the front of the town hall. Um I think it was somewhere I didn't write the exact amount down. I apologize. Uh but it includes painting, refinishing the
bracketry and doing a um a a more composite material that'll last much longer rather than the wood that's out there now. Um, but painting that the the front fat fat cade, if you will, the you know, building the letters, um, taking
care of the bracketry and everything. I want to say it was shy of $8,000 or something. I can get you the exact figure and send it to you. I apologize. Um, I've also been looking into taking the the truck that's assigned to myself and uh trading that in um just for the
simple fact of efficiency and something that makes more sense for myself to be driving or the uh the staff to be taking to classes um so on and so forth. Um I did provide the information here on what I was looking at and and again I'll take
any questions you may have on that. Um, uh, we've been busy in the highway division, again, short-handed, so we're getting a lot of the little things done preparing for winter. We shimmed up a few of the the really terrible roads we had out there just to get us through uh
till next spring. Um, I also um to to do dubtail off the Elmc Court property a little bit. Um, the other piece of it is um there's plenty of room on that property. plenty plenty of acres if if that's the direction we
go in that we can coexist up there as the DPW for for some storage of some things too. Uh we talked about that piece. Um the the pole building behind the highway garage is all framed out. It's re-roofed. Uh it would be pretty
simple to uh close that in with doors at some point if we needed equipment under undercover. Um, as a matter of fact, three of the doors up at Elm Court, I believe, will fit three of those bays because we'd have to put smaller doors on the end of that building for the cruisers. So, um, I didn't mean to get
off base with that, but it just came to mind, uh, when we were talking about it. Um, we're looking for a new plow for truck 4. This one of our CDL, it's a international. Um, price prices have increased astronomically. the the plow
that we have for it is beyond repair. Um, but we may have to go that route because we're looking at the between $18,000 for 11t highway plow for that. Um, I remember the identical plow probably four or five years ago was
somewhere around 10,000 105. So, we're we're still investigating that, but we do have to come up with a plow and I didn't really want to take a big hit on the snow and ice budget right out of the gate of that tune. So, we're still we're still hunting for that.
Um, just got the salt bids in today and I accepted them through the furcog. Um, salt surprisingly has gone up $12.30 per ton from last year's price. Uh, low biders uh both second uh first and
second biders. Um, we're the other thing I didn't put in here we've been talking about is we're also going to be working on the signage for the the purple heart signs. We're going to work with Mass DOT uh to get their approval on the spots out on West Street. Um and then the
other areas will dig safe and the DPW will install them. Um so we're working on that. We hope hopefully we'll get that done pretty quick here pretty soon. Um so the elementary school, the walkthrough went fantastic uh for the
roof and the boiler. We did it on the same day on August 20th. Um the update to this piece is uh we do have the the simals and and we're reviewing them now uh to to pick a designer. Uh we're going to talk about it at the end of the week and I believe we're going to have a
meeting the beginning of next week to choose a designer. So hopefully um we can have them contracts ready for you fairly soon. Parking lots and paving. Uh the update to the actual paving of of Elm Street um
is the 17th and 18th after we mill this week. It's the 17th and 18th weather permitting. They'll be paving uh that section. So, and I do believe we updated Facebook and we got it. We will be changing the sign boards once we mill.
Uh Route Five, Water and Sewer. I I sent you all a separate letter on a thumb drive that I received. Uh it was camera and video of the the complete new system that got put in. Um we're waiting uh at this point I'm waiting for a response
from CI. We're still waiting on that. So I have no further update on that letter. Uh it's been about I believe it's been about a week since they've had it uh last Tuesday. Um so I I think you know it behoove us to
wait to hear from CI next. Um, as far as the salt we're in, don't we have a contract with Franklin? Uh, the what we Furcog the the new bids come out for this year. Uh, it goes yearly. So, those
were the new bids that came out of Furcog today that I had to sign off on. Those are the bids you're looking at from the cog or Yeah, there was there was five biders on salt. Um and the lowest two it was
leadeds and eastern mineral is the the secondary um all bid by the furcog. Okay. So hopefully we and on the next topic in my mind is CI hopefully within the next couple weeks they respond to
well I think we need to give them a deadline at the end of this week. We have we need to push that forward. I I think I don't want to speak for anybody in here but no I I completely agree. I think the week was a nice courtesy, but now it's time to Yeah. I I you know, we if I don't hear
anything by the end of the week, we can we can send an email and say, "Hey, you know, we had time to look at this because Yeah. Uh I I' I'd really like to see a response." Yeah. I will say at least in our initial
messaging to them, we just said, "We want you to see this." and they did seem to respond with some concern with a lot of concern and they were very quick to get get the materials. So, let's just hope that they've been reviewing it thoroughly and are coming back to us with a plan. But, we're going to check in, you know, this week.
I know what's up. Uh compacted replacement at the transfer station. Um I think we got our 20 years out of that one to say the least. Um we got every penny out of it and then some, I'm told. Um so, things are coming together for that. The question, the
only question now is is the phase three power there if I have to get it upgraded by Eversource with a new panel in the shed. Um, but everything that I'm looking at is on state bid list. So, we don't have to go through the formal bid process. Uh, once I agree or we agree
to, you know, what we're going to going to buy out state bid list, we're looking at four to six weeks for delivery and complete installation. Um, is is what I'm told. So, um, we can probably work around the transfer station hours, possibly get the electrical done if we
we need to do additional electrical there, but, uh, I think we're in pretty good shape. Um, I sent along, uh, an agreement for, uh, the GAP for energy grant, um, that, uh, DPC is putting together, the grant application, scope
of work. Uh I've heard from them a little bit helping helping them giving them information to put the scope to together for uh the Ferry Street pump station. It's one of three or four that uh are definitely seeing some age. Uh in particular, Ferry Street Pump Station
doesn't have a generator. We're hoping that we can get a a large enough grant out of this that we can add a generator to that that pump station or lift station if you will. Um, but you open the cabinet had Kenny I was down there with Kenny and you open the cabinet like wow this stuff's old inside that
cabinet. So, uh, it it's good that we start updating our pump stations. Um, where we can this is a pretty good deal. 10% match up to 350,000. So, um, that's a pretty good deal. Um, the cost for the
the services is 48.50 and I I meant to put in here that the funding for that I'm taking out of the operating budget. There's a line item I can cover that out of the sewer current sewer budget. Um, I reviewed staffing with you. Um,
the new F550 now has its plow, lighting, and lettering. That is good to go for the winter. So, um, I could have written you two or three more pages, but um, we'll just stick to that for now. Um, any questions for Marlo?
No, that's good. Thank you, Marl. You're welcome. I did have one question. We're going back to Bimonthly meetings. Is the first meeting of the month good for my update or do you want you prefer it on the second meeting of the month? Keep it right here or go to the second
meeting? Yeah, I think keep it here because that'll be another month, right? Yeah. What I mean, I can adjust whatever's convenient for you. Yeah, I think first is generally good, too, because um when we don't have a second meeting, say in December, it's
more likely to be towards the beginning of the month. So, I think keep it at the first for now, and I'm sure it will come up times when you do need to come to both and we'll we'll figure it out. But I think uh you know, as long as the updates, we should be in really good shape. Okay, very good. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks. Okay, topic 13, town administrator report. I'll be pretty quick. I think uh it's tough to follow Marlo. He's got a lot of good stuff to to offer and very exciting new hires. Um so I'll be pretty quick. I think my report mostly stands for
itself. Um health insurance. Basically, the next step here is to uh better research our other options for what health insurance would look like next year. Uh the trust of course is is still our strongest option since we're already there, but the state's uh GIC and uh
Maya's uh plans are also worth looking at. If we were to move to those, we would need to have them approved of by our collective bargaining units. So, I've reached out to the respective parties there and just keep them aware of of that. and um they've designated individuals to be on what's called the
town's PEC or public employee committee. The PEC is the one that ends up making these decisions. Uh especially if you're moving to to the GIC. So, um just I'm making sure that I understand the process legally and that I'm reaching out to these folks so that we can get a process started in case we want to be
making any changes. So, nothing's happened yet. Uh Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust has their next meeting uh on on Thursday. I plan to go in case they have any updates, but um they just sent around a financial model and it it nothing's really changed from what they
presented before. So, um there's still concerns about moving forward with them and we may want to look at our other options. Electronic time sheets. Uh I have a meeting with Marlo on Friday with representative from Harper's uh who will be talking about what the process would
look like for moving to electronic time sheets. Um, the plan is to try to move two departments to start with us, a pilot, and that would probably be uh fire and police, sorry, fire and DPW. Uh, and I'll find out more on Friday. If Harpers isn't the right fit, I've got other companies that are very interested
in working with us and we'll be able to to talk to them as well. But I I think if this is something we want to do, which it definitely seems like it, then we'll be able to move forward. Okay. Um, I'll skip it. I included an update on
grants. The biggest one is this uh one that we received from MBP which is very exciting. And then um waiting to find out on the state's one-stop program. We have two two different grants that we applied for there that I'm hoping at least one of those comes through. One of them would actually be on some
consultant assistance on zoning overhaul. So that would really help with what was kind of talked about. It's the larger uh zoning study that that we need to work on. Um and a couple other grants that are on here that we are either researching or
planning on moving forward with. So um some good stuff there. The the Maya safety grants. Uh that's a rolling application just uh working with Marlo on finding a good use for those. We have um trench boxes that we think we should be replacing and a couple other things that we can do with $10,000 from Maya.
So we'll plan on making that happen. Um so that's it on grants. Smith Academy carpets are are done in all the classrooms. Uh if you really love the the green and the orange carpets there, I regret to inform you that those are
gone. Um they're now they're pretty sharp looking carpets there. Um and Connor says it's all going very well there. They just have to finish carpets in the administrative offices which will do over uh December break. And then Tammy and I uh will keep you posted on
this. There's nothing that's happened yet, but um we have some financial work to do and we'll come in here with like we did uh last o last October, I can't remember when it was um when we had all the documents for the borrowing for the wastewater treatment plant. We'll have
some other borrowings that we do uh this year, one to extend a ban, others to to start some other financing. So, we'll uh come in with that uh probably early October. And I think that's all I need to go over this evening unless you have any
questions. Anything else on here? Okay. No, thank you. Thank you. Great. That was great. Uh topic 14, select board goals. So, we've been talking about this for for a little while about um just making sure we're establishing goals for the
year. I think um you know, a lot of them have just been very apparent and things that we need to react to and do. Um, I printed out for you, just so you have it, kind of a color-coded uh, copy of the comprehensive plans goals that were assigned to the select board. And the
green shows you anything that's short-term, the red shows you anything that's long-term, the yellow shows you anything kind of in the medium term. And there's a number of things in here that uh, you can kind of group into different themes. There's kind of a transportation theme, that assistance to farmers theme,
there's a school theme, and an infrastructure theme. I I uh I'm just kind of throwing that out there as as things to look at. But, you know, I think um it's it's really up to this board to think about, you know, if there's anything that you want to make sure we
identify for for this year that we definitely want to make sure we do or, you know, we can just kind of keep this as an agenda item to make sure we're coming back to it. So, I'll I'll leave it to the board to think about, you know, how I can be helpful in in setting uh you know, either goals for this year or delivering any of the things that we want to try to be doing.
Any questions? No, it's good. Comprehensive plan thing like we're doing that and and more and you're on the plan committee, so more will keep coming out of that committee, which is good, too. We'll meet next at the end of uh September. Yes. So, be good.
Okay. Is there any before we make a motion to go into executive session? Do we have anything else? Under old business that needs to be discussed as I know.
Okay. Pursuant to Mass General Laws chapter 30A section 21A exemption six to consider the purchase exchange lease or value of real property of the chair declares that an open meeting may be have a detrimental effect on the
negotiating position of the public body party body regarding a license agreement and potential purchase at 57 Main Street. Do I have a second to go in executive session? Second. Okay. Motion made. Motion seconded by
roll call Jorski. I can I will not be and we will not be returning and we will not be coming back into regular session. So thank you John. Have yourself a good night.