HATFIELD — Town Meeting voters decided Tuesday to expand the town’s Recreation Commission from three members to five, but rejected a similar proposal for the Select Board, which will continue with three members.

In a little over two hours at the Smith Academy gym, residents also voted to preserve approximately 94 acres of forestland on Horse Mountain and approved a $9.7 million budget for fiscal 2018, among numerous money articles.

A proposed moratorium on the sale and distribution of recreational marijuana was tabled because of a missed hearing.

“We’re not putting the pot on the table at this time,” Moderator Joe Lavallee joked.

Architect and Open Space Committee member Mark Gelotte spoke to the forest conservation article, calling it priority habitat for endangered species and the highest point in town. The project calls for $157,180 in borrowing, along with $40,000 from Community Preservation Act funds, an amount that was reduced shortly before Town Meeting by a $29,000 grant from the Kestrel Land Trust.

Public access will be provided via a trail from Old Stage Road, Gelotte said.

Another substantial money article concerned the extension of the town water main from Chestnut Street to Gore Avenue, which called for $740,000 in borrowing.

Engineer Michael Ohl, of Comprehensive Environmental Inc. in Marlborough, said town appropriations in 2011 and 2012, supplemented by state funding, have allowed construction of the water main from the reservoir, down Rocks Road to West Street, under Interstate 91 and the railroad tracks, through the Brockway Smith property and under some wetlands to Chestnut Street.

The new project would extend the main to Gore Avenue, with an annual tax impact of $45 on a $300,000 home. Town Meeting approval is contingent on a townwide Proposition 2½ override vote.

Town Meeting also approved spending $82,250 in CPA funds to rehabilitate and restore the east and south sides of the Old Mill at 87 School St.

Owner George Burwick said he has put almost $200,000 into renovating the formerly abandoned building, which is now an inn with up to 12 rooms.

“The mill’s a special place,” added neighbor Melody Edwards, speaking in support of the article. “People from all over stop to take pictures there.”

The town appropriation comes with historic preservation restrictions that prevent future changes to that part of the building, Planning Board Chairman Bob Wagner noted.

Voters spent little time considering the citizen petition article proposing to expand the Select Board from three to five members and impose a term limit of six years.

Marcus J. Boyle, who resigned in February during his fifth term on the board, said there was no need for either change, and most voters agreed with him.

Another citizen petition article, to urge more transparency in political donations and limit the influence of money in politics, passed without discussion.

On the budget, resident Mike Cahill raised concerns about increases in the town administrator’s, treasurer’s and town clerk’s budgets.

Finance Committee Chairman Shawn Robinson said the money was not for extra raises but to give these departments the flexibility to hire help while the town evaluates the need for more permanent personnel.

In addition, he said, the town clerk’s office is now open for more hours than it used to be.

The budget requires $8,889,895 to be raised through taxes.

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