HAMPDEN – Nearly one week after the Hampden Board of Selectmen issued a press release stating that the members recommended Hampden residents vote to approve the settlement agreement (warrant article four) at the Oct. 29 Town Meeting, the townspeople swiftly voted against the Board’s endorsement after Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) School Committee member Heather Zanetti stood in front of the town and stated that as a resident of Hampden and a mother of three, she would be voting against the plan.

Warrant Article Four

Warrant article four, a proposed amendment to the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District agreement, was to see if the Town would vote to amend a section of the agreement that would allow eighth grade students to move into Minnechaug Regional High School during the 2018-2019 school year and add seventh grade to the high school in 2022-2023.

Wilbraham hosted their Special Town meeting on Oct. 15 and defeated this measure, however both towns had to take a vote on the plan to satisfy the legal requirements set forth in the settlement agreement in place between the town of Hampden and its Board of Selectmen, HWRSD and the School Committee.

The Advisory Committee recommended unfavorable action on this warrant at Hampden’s Special Town Meeting, which was held at Bethlehem Church. After their recommendation, many residents spoke against the plan.

“We authorized selectmen to go to court to stop from closing our school [TWB], and they did a backroom deal and we wound up with our school closed,” resident David Blais said. “It’s overcrowded at Green Meadow [Elementary School], my kids should be at TWB not with 800 other kids. They should be opening back up our school.”

HWRSD Superintendent Albert Ganem Jr. came before the town following Blais’ comments, stating that despite what Blais said, Green Meadow has 311 students total within the school for grades kindergarten through eight, with only 53 students combined in grades six, seven and eight. Ganem also stated that Green Meadow has the lowest population of students in their district.

“We need to be thinking differently, we need to be thinking forward,” Ganem said.

Regardless of Ganem’s presentation on declining enrollment, financial projections and the schools goals, the town protested. One resident questioned what members of the School Committee thought of this warrant article.

Hampden School Committee member Rita Vail came before the town and stated that when she applied to be a member of the School Committee she agreed that the School Committee would speak with one voice, and she leaves that up to the Chairman, however she added, “At that time I said I would vote with my conscience, and tonight I will vote no.”

Zanetti stood at the microphone following Vale and expressed that as a member of the School Committee she is restricted as to what she would share, however she too would vote against the plan.

Resident Rick Green came before the town at the microphone and stated that as a former member of the regionalization committee in 1993, he owes the town an apology.

“There were 11 or 12 points made in that report of all the things we were going to accomplish as two communities in the regional school district, that we were going to accomplish equally, for every single one of our children. Having sat on that committee, I owe you all an apology because we accomplished very little of it. The bottom line, it seems to me like with the questions I’m hearing from parents, it seems like our best move as a community is to simply vote no, force the discussion, and get on with this until it’s equal for all of our kids,” said Green. He was met with a round of applause.

When it came time to vote the majority of the town shot down warrant article four.

Warrant Article Seven

In a related matter, warrant article seven, a citizens petition, asked residents to compel the Select Board to take all necessary steps to revive the lawsuit brought by the Town against the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School Committee. The result of the initial lawsuit was the aforementioned settlement agreement.

At Town Meeting, Hampden Town Moderator Robert Howarth reinforced that though the town can vote on this warrant article, it’s truly advisory in nature because the Select board can’t be directed to do anything.

“A yes vote for this article lets the selectmen know exactly where stand,” a resident came before the town and stated. “Will it be TWB today, Green Meadow tomorrow? Will we win the lawsuit? Nothing is guaranteed. To my mind, it is never a waste of money to stand up for your town.”

The Advisory Committee explained that they recommended negative action on warrant article seven, with one member in favor, three against, and one abstained. Co-Chair Doug Boyd spoke in private capacity, stating that he has heard the arguments for and against the unification of the current five-year plan, and that as a resident of Hampden, he’s tired of being told that they’re victims in this matter.

“It’s not a Hampden versus Wilbraham issue, despite what you’ve been told. The solution is through the school budget,” he continued. “Everything we’re going to do requires funding, it’s a budgetary issue. The budget this spring was $60,000 less than the previous year, and that’s largely because of the shift in enrollment.”

“The solution folks is to sit at the table and work it through, it’s not to sit here and pretend we’re victims, we’re not,” Boyd said.

The article came to a vote, and majority prevailed in favor of the article.

Warrant Article Eight

Warrant article eight, another citizens petition, was to see if the Town would vote that prior to entering any future settlement agreements with the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School Committee relative to school issues, the Hampden Selectmen would hold a duly convened Town Meeting where a discussion and vote on the matter would be held. Former School Committee member Mary Ellen Glover stated at an Oct. 22 Advisory Board meeting that this petition was inspired by what she said was a sense of surprise among townspeople to the news of a legal agreement in February and in the future the town should have more of a voice in the process.

At Town Meeting, the Advisory Committee recommended negative action, three to two. Howarth again explained that this article is advisory only, and the Select Board cannot be told what to do.

Hampden resident Randy stood before the town, stating that he was disappointed in the actions of the Selectmen.

“The settlement came as a complete surprise and it really didn’t accurately reflect the various votes taken by town residents indicating that they supported a judicial decision on the issue. In doing so, the selectmen failed to put the town’s interests as they understood by voters into appropriate action.  Under these circumstances, I would suggest that it is wise for voters to do what they can to prevent this from happening again,” Randy was met with applause.

An additional resident spoke on this, Lisa Sterberg, commenting that it’s important for citizens to have the opportunity to take a hard look at any future settlements that are entered into.

“The wording in the settlement says that they intend to explore possibilities, and that’s not good enough for me,” Sternberg said of wording on inequality in Hampden and Wilbraham schools in the settlement agreement. “We want to come to the table, we have not been invited to the table. I encourage you to vote yes.”

When it came time to vote on warrant article eight, majority prevailed in favor of the article.

Warrant Article 10

Also related to the HWRSD, warrant article 10 was put in place to see if the town would vote to transfer from unappropriated available funds $50,000 for legal and/or professional fees for the purpose of modifying the regional school agreement or resolving other outstanding regional school issues.

Boyd came before the Town once more, stating, “In the spring we voted $50,000 for litigation. We now have the Select Board asking for another $50,000, the same Select Board that entered into the settlement agreement, and I think the town is looking for an explanation from the Select Board.”

Board of Selectmen Chair Vincent Villamaino responded, “Since we ran out of money, we had to appropriate more money. We no longer have any more money to fight this.”

At voting time, majority prevailed in favor of the fund allocation.

Warrant Article Nine

Warrant article nine asked residents to approve a one-year moratorium on ground–mounted solar energy systems for non–residential, non–personal and commercial use. The moratorium was intended to allow the town to execute a comprehensive review of the zoning bylaws. Excluded by this article, is the proposed solar array on the town’s capped landfill, which has previously been approved by the Planning Board.

At Town Meeting, an amendment to the article was proposed. This amendment strengthened the original language of the article. The Planning Board noted at the meeting that they had recommended the original article voting with three members in favor and one against. The Board endorsed the article, cautioning that the originally proposed article could’ve been strengthened by an amendment, which was presented at the meeting. The Advisory Committee added that they recommended favorable action.

Resident Patty Ellis spoke in favor of the moratorium, “I do not believe in jeopardizing the air we breathe and the food we eat by cutting down trees and mowing down forests. How will our natural resources be protected for future generations? Let us be aware of the companies who come into town.”

Hampden Planning Board member John Matthews spoke against the moratorium stating that though he doesn’t think solar panels are attractive, the town needs to look to the future.

“I’ll agree, it doesn’t look pretty, but it’s an alternative energy source that should be explored. We have to look not just right here and now, but to the future,” Matthews said.

The amendment to the article required a majority vote, which it received. Following that vote, the Town voted to pass the warrant as amended.

Warrant Articles One, Two, Three, Five, Six, 11 and 12

Warrant article one was passed at Town Meeting, allocating $20,000 toward computer hardware software upgrades.

Article two passed, which consisted of $1,037 being allocated to the senior center outreach programming.

Article three passed at Town Meeting, which was a money transfer from unappropriated available funds to satisfy State mandated Storm Water Reporting requirements.

The town passed article five, which was in reference to amending and reducing fiscal year 2019 budget line items, which related to the Regional Dispatch Project.

The majority of voters passed article six, which was a money transfer from unappropriated available funds to various non–bargained salary accounts for salary rate adjustments.

Article 11 passed at Town Meeting, which as explained, was a reduction in the tax rate for Fiscal Year 2018. At the meeting, some residents questioned why it appeared that the rate was going up, as they were told that there would be a one to 1.5 percent increase in the tax rate. Hampden Town Treasurer Richard Patullo explained that the tax rate usually goes up roughly 2.5 percent, but by approving this article, it would only go up one to 1.5 percent, thus it was a reduction.

The Town passed the final article of the evening, article 12, which was to transfer $270,299.64 to the towns stabilization account from unappropriated available funds.