HADLEY — Decisions on purchasing communications equipment for the public safety departments, continuing to make improvements to the historic Town Hall and whether Hadley should remain part of the state’s mosquito control program will be made by voters Saturday at fall Town Meeting.
Action on the 14-article warrant begins at 11 a.m. at the public safety complex at 15 East St.
Proposed spending includes $629,954 in capital items, all either by borrowing within the town’s levy limit or using money from enterprise fund reserve accounts. Among these are $199,654 for public safety communications equipment, including desktop radios for dispatchers, $130,000 for pipe lining and sewer repairs, and $75,000 to acquire a drum asphalt roller for the Department of Public Works.
From the Community Preservation Act account, $218,600 in spending is planned, with $100,000 targeted to the Hadley Affordable Housing Trust.
There is no project at this point for the money, said Bill Dwyer, a member of the trust, but he said it is a best practice to have the money available should one develop.
Another $31,000 from CPA supplements $35,000 appropriated at the May 3, 2018, annual Town Meeting for preserving and rehabbing the historic columns at the 1840 Town Hall. Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan said the job was originally just to paint the columns, but the work is now more extensive to make sure they are in good repair.
The town would spend $75,000 in CPA funding to support a grant from the Hadley Housing Authority for the installation of new windows at the Golden Court public housing complex, replacing original 1950s-era windows.
Finally, $6,400 would buy eight picnic tables for the pavilion at the elementary school, and $6,200 would be used for the restoration of the John Gnatek “Old Hadley” mural.
Town Meeting begins with a series of budget adjustments totaling $187,440 that will increase the town budget from $18.06 million to $18.25 million. This includes various department increases, including for the Conservation Commission, going up from $14,910 to $25,410, in part to support the hiring of a new conservation agent, Shyla Davis, following the resignation of longtime agent Janice Stone.
Davis is a recent University of Massachusetts graduate, Brennan said. “She’s young, but it’s a great place for her to learn and to start,” Brennan said.
Other items on the warrant include a zoning change that allows the use of the transfer of development rights bylaw, which can help preserve farmland, in more commercial and industrial locations, the transfer of the Goodwin Memorial Library from library trustee ownership to town ownership, and moving $750,000 of the $1.36 million in free cash to the town’s stabilization account.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
