HAMPDEN — Hampden residents gathered on May 8 at Thornton W. Burgess School for the spring Town Meeting. Of the 26 articles, all but two passed. Some articles received more discussion than others with Town Moderator Richard Green reminding residents to maintain civility with their neighbors.

The town’s fiscal year 2024 operating budget of $15.83 million was approved after a line-by-line reading of department totals. Advisory Board Co-Chair Carol Fitzgerald explained that despite being a mostly level service budget, the Advisory Board, Treasurer Richard Patullo and Town Accountant Cliff Bombard had decided to provide a 4% cost-of-living adjustment, in addition to contractually obligated salary increases, to town employees. This, along with state-mandated chemical testing, increase to shared services costs and some added staffing hours, have increased the bottom line by 4.5% over the FY23 budget.

Fitzgerald said that the assessment for the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District had changed since the warrant was finalized. She explained that Wilbraham had faced challenges in meeting the original assessment as approved by the School Committee and Hampden and Wilbraham asked the schools to “rework” the budget. A consensus was reached that resulted in the assessment for both towns decreasing. For Hampden, this meant the final assessment of $8.09 million was about $150,000 less than originally calculated.

One budget line that raised questions was a jump from $25,000 to $100,000 for monitoring and testing at the Transfer Station, the former site of the town dump. This money will cover testing for PFAS chemicals, which have been shown to cause health issues in humans.

Resident Peter Hatch asked why a Parks and Recreation director was needed. A member of the Recreation Board of Trustees explained the members were all volunteers and the department had only two paid employees. A director could “devote themselves full-time” to developing programs and writing grants to fund park maintenance and activities.

Similarly, Hatch asked why more hours were needed for the Fire Department’s administrative assistant, which added about $11,500 to the department’s total expenses. Fire Chief Ed Poulin said the administrative assistant, Jane Budynkiewicz, volunteered much of her time above and beyond the hours for which she is paid. He added that Budynkiewicz is retiring at the end of the year and her replacement cannot be expected to do the same. Hatch opined that firefighters should be tasked with clerical duty in their downtime.

“They were hired to be firefighters,” Poulin responded, prompting Green to ask the residents to be civil with each other.

Ultimately, the budget passed.

Accessory apartment bylaw

A zoning bylaw amendment allowing maximum two-bedroom apartments to be added to single-family homes in town was passed, but not before a great deal of debate. The purpose of the bylaw as written is to allow residents to “provide housing at their primary residence, while protecting the stability, property values and the single-family residential character of the town.” Occupancy of such an apartment is limited to specified family members, who could be housed while retaining their privacy and autonomy.

One person said he was concerned the bylaw would be used to create two-family homes in town, which are not permitted under existing bylaws.

Patullo said it was “an imperfect bylaw,” but added that homeowners are already “running mother-in-law apartments” without regulations. John Matthews agreed, “It’s not perfect” and “it does take some effort to enforce,” but said is better than nothing.

Planning Board member Heather Beattie pointed out that there are several “checks and balances” built in to keep the bylaw from being exploited, such as new owners being required to remove cooking facilities or register the apartment within 90 days of purchasing the home.

Connie Witt expressed concern that the apartment size is too large and seniors living in them might forget to turn off a stove, leading to fire hazards.

Board of Selectman Chair John Flynn said people regularly ask him how they can legally move their in-laws into their homes. He reminded voters that the bylaw can be updated at the next Town Meeting if loopholes are identified.

Community Preservation

One of the two Community Preservation Act-funded projects on the warrant, the $63,300 purchase of 0 Walnut Rd. to be added to the Minnechaug Land Trust, spurred conversation between residents. Matthews cautioned against taking property of the tax rolls for passive recreation use. He said the property was not the “best use” of Community Preservation funding.

Resident Gary Weiner, on the other hand, said the steep grade of the property is “great for hiking,” but felt the town was overpaying for otherwise undevelopable land.

A representative of the trust explained that the property was assessed at $72,000 but the trust was able to negotiate a lower price.

Defeated articles

Voters decided against approval of $57,500 to fund a new master plan. Despite a recommendation from the state that master plans be updated every five to 10 years, the existing plan was written in 1982. Master plans are documents designed to provide a blueprint for the direction of the town in the near future. The town received a $75,000 grant to create a new plan. The Planning Board was seeking the remaining funding for the proposed consulting services of the firm VHB, at a price tag of $132,500.

Patullo said consulting firms have taken advantage of federal money flowing into states and towns and have “jacked up” prices. Planning Board member Jason Barroso disputed this and said the cost was only $7,000 higher than that of Ludlow’s master plan consulting firm in 2010.

When a resident asked about the return on investment for the master plan, Barroso explained that the existing plan does not address solar arrays or self-storage facilities, two hot-button issues in town in recent years.

Thad Clavette noted that the town had passed the solar bylaw when the issue arose and can handle other challenges as they happen. He said a shrinking town does not need a new master plan.

Weiner said the state can use the master plan to force the town to make changes, but Matthews pointed out that any suggestions in the master plan would have to be voted on at Town Meeting.

Weiner also said he would rather town residents update the plan. Barroso said it was too much work for the Planning Board. Matthews added that he does not believe there is enough community participation among residents to draft a new plan.

A citizen’s petition article to establish a receipts reserved for ambulance fund was also voted down. Jim Smith presented the article, stating that several times each month the fire department responds to calls when Action Ambulance, the private company that contracts with Hampden for ambulance service, is unavailable. He said the Fire Department has an ambulance, but it is not used to transport people to the hospital because there is no funding mechanism to pay for it. He estimated the cost to the town would be about $250 per transport. Smith noted that the Fire Department ambulance would only act as a backup to Action Ambulance.

Donna Hatch, chair of the Ambulance Oversight Committee emphasized that the committee had not recommended the change. Patullo commented that no funding source had been identified and, therefore, creating an account for that money was “putting the cart before the horse.” Bombard said he “appreciated” Smith’s passion, but in his experience, the cost of ambulance trips is far more than Smith’s estimate.

No action

No action was taken on Article 17. Instead, the article was a placeholder to allow members of Whip City Fiber to present information to the town regarding the potential for a town-wide fiber optic network. Similarly, Don Collins, a member of the Senior Center Building Committee, provided a recap of what work has been done to date on the senior center expansion project, including a completed feasibility study. A survey was available at the meeting for residents to provide feedback on their preferences regarding the project.

No action was also taken on articles to add money to the stabilization account and reduce the tax rate. Fitzgerald explained those actions were generally taken at the fall Town Meeting, after free cash has been certified.

Two residents were recognized during the meeting. Beth Burger was honored as the Citizen of the Year for her 36 years serving on the Library Board of Trustees. Burger, who is moving from Hampden to be closer to family, said it had been a “joy” to serve such a “wonderful town.”

Another person who is ending their service to the town is Fitzgerald. She has served on the board for 17 years and told residents it was “just time.” Patullo praised Fitzgerald for her work on the board and Green said the town had been “well-served.”