HAMPDEN — Hampden’s fall special Town Meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at Thornton W. Burgess School. At this meeting, residents will have the opportunity to vote on 21 articles.
One article to note at the meeting is Article 10, which requests the appropriation of funds for renovation and expansion of the Hampden Senior Center. This project was first brought forward at the May 13 Town Meeting with a $6.55 million proposal. A majority of residents voted against this proposal at the Town Meeting as well as at the May 20 Town Election, noting concerns with the project’s cost and the amount of usage at the center.
Within the revised plan to be brought forward on Oct. 29, the total cost of the expansion project is $5.9 million, according to Senior Center Building Committee Chair Gary Weiner. While this plan still includes the $1.7 million in needed renovation work at the building, such as making the bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, replacing the building’s roof, adding storage space, replacing windows, and installing new sprinkler and HVAC systems, it also allows for an expansion of the building to accommodate the center’s growing usage.
Between July 1, 2023, and Oct. 9, the center has seen 2,331 visitors across 34,300 visits, Weiner noted at a recent public forum regarding the updated Senior Center proposal. These visitors include seniors and non-seniors from Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Springfield and Wilbraham, he said. For more information about the revised plan, watch the Oct. 9 public forum at youtube.com/watch?v=mRoVqLlA6Ig.
Article 15 requests funds to plan for the needed renovation work at Thornton W. Burgess School in order to relocate the Town Hall to this building. In a draft timeline read by Town Administrator Brian Domina on Sept. 9, the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District is scheduled to leave the property in January with the Town Hall officially opening in the former school on July 7. He noted at the Sept. 9 Board of Selectmen meeting that the planning funds would need to be approved at the October fall Town Meeting and the funds for the actual relocation would need to be approved at the annual Town Meeting in May.
The warrant also highlights four articles relating to energy usage in the town. Article 18 seeks the approval of a six-month moratorium, or delay, in issuing permits for standalone battery energy storage systems through an amendment to the zoning bylaws. This would allow the town time to review and assess the impact of these systems and to create a bylaw to regulate their usage. Article 17 allows the Board of Selectmen to grant National Grid “a perpetual right and easement” to maintain electric current transmission at 104 Allen St. Articles 5 and 6 both concern electric vehicle charging stations in Hampden with Article 5 creating a revolving fund and Article 6 setting a spending limit for the fund.
Article 11 requests funds for the second phase of the Scantic Valley Water District expansion project, which seeks to extend the water main at the intersection of Scantic and Glendale roads. A full map of the expansion plan is available on page 12 of the warrant.
Additionally, there are five articles on the special Town Meeting warrant that relate to elected positions within the town. Articles 1 and 4 both pertain to the Board of Selectmen with Article 1 proposing the body be renamed to Selectboard and Article 4 suggesting the body increase to five members from its current three members. Article 1 would also change the title “selectmen” to “selectboard member,” the warrant states.
Both of these articles were supported by the Hampden Town Government Study Committee. In their most recent report, the board noted advantages of increasing the board size such as reducing the chance of Open Meeting Law violations and increasing diversity of thought while disadvantages were the possibility of delaying decisions if consensus among members was not reached and concern that the added two positions would be filled.
Concerning why the board supported the Board of Selectmen’s name change, Hampden Town Government Study Committee member Eric Brewer highlighted at the Aug. 14 Planning Board meeting that the change was to make the term “more neutral.” He clarified that the change is not required by the state.
In its March report, the Hampden Town Government Study Committee also supported changing certain elected positions to appointed positions. This is reflected in the warrant as Article 2, which asks to modify the town clerk position from selected by election to appointed by the Board of Selectmen, while Article 3 seeks to create a single appointed position of treasurer/collector rather than the current elected positions of town treasurer and collector of taxes. The board noted the skills needed for each position, upcoming retirements and how appointments allow candidates to live outside of Hampden as factors that influenced their recommendation of these changes.
Likewise, Article 14 of the special Town Meeting warrant notes a request to appropriate funds for the purchase of an electronic voting system. This would be used by residents while voting at town meetings. The Hampden Town Government Study Committee also recommended this action in its report, noting how this would increase speed and accuracy of voting. Furthermore, the board referenced 43 towns in Massachusetts that currently have this procedure, including Longmeadow, Ware and South Hadley.
The full report is available at hampdenma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif656/f/news/gsc_report_to_hampden_final_032024.pdf.
Nine articles concern financial operations in Hampden. Of these articles, Article 12 and 13 specifically relate to the Hampden fire station with Article 12 requesting appropriated or transferred funds to reduce hazardous materials at the building and Article 13 requesting funds for the installation of a generator at the station.
Articles 7, 8 and 9 all relate to providing additional funding for town departments, supporting increased employee benefits, the Police Department’s career incentive pay and maintenance for the Cemetery Commission, respectively. Article 16 asks for the appropriation of Community Preservation funds for two scoreboards to be installed at Memorial Park. Articles 19, 20 and 21 request funds transferred. For Article 19 and 20 these funds would be utilized toward reducing the fiscal year 2025 tax rate. Article 21 then transfers funds from free cash to the General Stabilization Account.
The warrant is available to view at hampdenma.gov/home/news/special-town-meeting-warrant-0.
