The Hampden Selectboard and Wilbraham Select Board discussed language in both the regional agreement and memorandum of understanding ahead of fall Town Meetings.
Photo credit: Town of Hampden, MA
HAMPDEN — Hampden and Wilbraham’s fall Town Meeting are both scheduled for October and November, bringing the regional agreement between both towns and the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District closer to resident vote.
The Hampden Selectboard and Wilbraham Select Board met in a joint meeting on Sept. 23 to continue editing the regional agreement and a memorandum of understanding.
Hampden will have regional agreement amendments on its warrant for fall Town Meeting, and Wilbraham Town Administrator Nick Breault said it’s a “good possibility” for Wilbraham’s warrant.
Hampden Selectboard Chair John Flynn said the board is OK with about 95% of things proposed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the HWRSD School Committee.
“We were still having an issue with why the regional agreement was going to be talking about a non-regional building,” Flynn said. “We felt that a great solution to that was the MOU, that both boards and the 75 attorneys employed by everybody were going to work on. The MOU started out good, but then in our opinion, went off the rails a little bit because it seemed a little open-ended going forward.”
The Selectboard discussed the MOU at its Sept. 15 meeting, which covers $86,000 in capital repairs, emergency costs while Wilbraham Middle School is still in use and a plan for feasibility and design costs.
Flynn said on Sept. 23 the two boards had “met graciously” to address the next fiscal year for maintenance issues at Wilbraham Middle School and how it could be apportioned between the two towns.
“We left that meeting with an agreement that both communities would put that on a future Town Meeting warrant to pay for the FY27 emergency repairs, if you will, for Wilbraham Middle School,” Flynn said. “Great process, and in our opinion, that should be the process that is mentioned in the MOU, that the school will develop a list of emergency needs for the building.”
He said the two boards would develop the list, discuss it with representatives from the School Department, bring it to Town Meeting and repeat the process on an annual basis because it “works so well this year.”
Wilbraham Select Board Chair Marc Ducey recapped a meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. He said, from his perspective, the middle school is a “strong candidate” to be accepted into the core program, and Flynn added that the MSBA’s attitude reflected that stance.
Ducey said one of the MSBA’s biggest concerns is community support and how much of it can be garnered. He said another concern clear to him is who will pay for a building or repairs to the existing building.
“There was significant concern on their part about the regional agreement,” Ducey said. “I think for us to put the best foot forward, it’s incumbent upon us to get this resolved prior to, they’re going to vote on it Dec. 9, so I think it’s incumbent upon us to do everything we can possibly do. It probably means no one’s going to be perfectly happy, but sometimes don’t let perfection get in the way of good, right? I mean, we have to make progress here … I don’t think our issues, the major issues at least from my perspective, are not around if we get into the core program. I think that’s pretty clear. I think the issues if we don’t get into the core program, what happens?”
Ducey said those concerns can be alleviated if both agree to the regional agreement.
Flynn said Minnechaug Regional High School’s program went through because of good community engagement and “numbers people could believe in.”
“I just can’t get away from why I think the regional agreement has to stick with regional things,” Flynn said. “To talk about the building owned by Wilbraham as part of the regional agreement, and I thought we had a good solution to address it via MOU.”
Ducey said the MOU can add to the regional agreement but not override it. He said the regional agreement and MOU need to be resolved to get approved and supported at Town Meeting.
He added he will not support a regional agreement without an MOU addressing what happens if the core program doesn’t succeed, and Flynn said the boards can draft a new one at that point.
Flynn said, “If we hear back in December we didn’t make it, we have a meeting and figure out where we’re going.”
Wilbraham Select Board member Susan Bunnell said she doesn’t see the harm in an MOU and appreciates how it provides flexibility in being adjusted for what the middle school needs.
Select Board member Michael Squindo said his understanding of the MOU was to put four corners to the relationship with the middle school. Flynn said he thought it would cover critical needs for the transition period, “hopefully capped by a new facility.”
Hampden Selectboard member Don Davenport said it’s important for the boards to do community outreach so taxpayers can know what they will be paying for, and Ducey said that is a big part of getting accepted into the core program.
Ducey said getting into the core program means doing a feasibility study, building cost estimates and going to residents to present the options.
For language in the regional agreement, Flynn said the Hampden Selectboard would stand against the agreement on the fall Town Meeting warrant if it includes section IV, subsection “D.”
Subsection “D” covered the district’s interest in the core program and the plan if the middle school is accepted.
The middle school is owned by Wilbraham, but would be converted into district onwership if both towns entered a project funding agreement and appropriated the entire project cost through Town Meeting votes.
Both boards agreed to remove the language from the regional agreement and include it in the MOU instead to separate items related specifically to the core program and middle school project costs, passing the work onto attorneys to draft updated language for both.
