Wilbraham’s last Town Meeting took place on May 11 and residents will gather again on Nov. 9.
Reminder Publishing file photo
WILBRAHAM — Wilbraham’s Special Town Meeting is fast approaching, and the Select Board has begun reviewing the proposed warrant articles, giving residents a first look at what they might be voting on in November.
The meeting is set for Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium.
There are 12 proposed articles but the Select Board’s Sept. 28 agenda states the list is “not comprehensive or final.”
Proposed warrants include regional agreement amendments, repair and improvement funding for Wilbraham Middle School, easements, free cash funding and a bylaw banning cryptocurrency kiosks.
An easement is a legal right to use someone else’s property for a specific purpose, such as utility installation and repair or right-of-way access from a landlocked property or shared driveway.
The proposed easements are for 404 Main St., the intersection at Dudley and Verge streets, the Stony Hill Road to Boston Road sidewalk project and for Eversource at 859 Stony Hill Road.
The proposed Free cash funding would be used for a Glenn Drive traffic improvement study.
Residents voiced concerns about Glenn Drive at the board’s Aug. 17 meeting. Resident Amanda Elliston stated drivers do not follow the 25 mph limit and requested a traffic safety review.
Another resident cited the roadway as a “racetrack road” and Wilbraham Police Chief Ed Lennon said speeding has been a problem on Glenn Drive for 25 years.
Proposed repairs to Wilbraham Middle School will cost about $86,000, grounded in figures from recent district equipment purchases, project costs and vendor quotes.
The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District School Committee voted to increase its initial fiscal year 2027 budget assessment to allot for the repairs in July.
The assessment increase requires town approval from both Wilbraham and Hampden residents to go through.
The repairs include one set of exterior doors, lock replacements for all exterior doors, condensation pumps to dehumidifiers in non-air-conditioned spaces, hoses to transmit pumped water safely outside of the building, portable air conditioning units with external venting and mini-split air conditioning units with accompanying electrical supplies and infrastructure upgrades.
Lennon joined the Select Board to present the cryptocurrency kiosk ban. He said there is one known kiosk in Wilbraham, which allows users to put funds into a machine to convert into payments sent to untraceable accounts.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 13,400 complaints reporting the use of cryptocurrency kiosks in 2025, with losses tallying over $388 million.
“Once the funds are sent, the transaction is irreversible and almost impossible to track,” Lennon said. “Depending on the type of transaction, these machines can have transaction fees of up to 20%. In my opinion, there is no legitimate purpose for these machines. They only exist to scam unsuspecting, vulnerable populations or to allow for anonymous criminal transactions.”
Lennon said a typical scheme with the kiosks involves a scammer directing an elderly person to make a withdrawal from their bank account right into the scammer’s account.
Wilbraham’s draft bylaw is based on Longmeadow’s bylaw, which has been reviewed and approved by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office.
“Ludlow, Longmeadow, South Hadley, Agawam and Westfield have recently passed local ordinances and bylaws prohibiting the machines,” Lennon said. “The Attorney General’s Office Municipal Law Unit has begun allowing towns to enact bylaws on this issue.”
Town Administrator Nick Breault asked the Select Board what order the articles should appear on the warrant. Breault said part of him wants to recommend putting the school articles near the end so everybody stays.
Select Board Chair Marc Ducey said he didn’t see the articles as being a “heavy workout,” but the regional agreement amendments will take some discussion. Breault said he is afraid nobody will be there anymore if the cryptocurrency ban is at the end.
Select Board member Susan Bunnell asked to put the budget increase vote before the regional agreement vote to “lay some understanding of how we’re approaching the middle school.”
The Select Board did not vote to close the warrant and planned to do so at its Oct. 5 meeting, according to the Sept. 28 agenda.
