##VIDEO ID:8k_9qjxlg3E## okay great um good evening welcome to the August 27 2024 meeting of the Hatfield select board I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order and as usual I'm going to start by reading our public participation policy the Hatfield select board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield all regular and special meetings of the boards and Committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting law executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings of the select board an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the public and conducting the required business of the Hatfield select board um so for announcements tonight I just want to acknowledge um you know with sadness the passing of Bob Shay um Mr sheay was a very kind man that um was known to many people in town it um and had served as a firefighter volunteer firefighter in Hatfield at one time um so we just wanted to pass our condolences along to the Shay family I would bump into um Bob and his wife sometimes and he was always always so kind so very sorry to hear that um so we send our condolences Ed did you have anything yeah I mean school's starting and there's always been reports of people not stopping for school buses I'm just letting you know the police will be stepping up patrols to make sure you stop for those flashing lights kids are out there slow down think smart stop for the bus excellent and kids will be walking too kids walking on the sidewalks and in the crosswalks and certainly we want to wish um all the all the students here in Hatfield a great school year and um wish good luck to the teachers and administration up for another good school year did you have anything Greg no nothing okay um is anyone here for public forum okay uh we have a very light agenda tonight we expect this to be um fairly quick um our first item of posted B oh I'm sorry we need to approve some minutes so the minutes of the August 13th meeting I'll make a motion that we approve the meeting minutes from August 13 2024 second a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I our first item of posted business is um we are joined um by the food bank of Western Mass um they are requesting a one-day wine and Mt liquor license um and this is for is this your will bike for food okay which you do annually and you do it here in town which I love so that's great um so we have the application here it certainly um looks complete to me we have um Risley with us um from the food bank to answer any questions I don't have any questions Karen this looks all in order I I know that if it's gone through you that it's complete um do you do does anyone have any questions no I just want people to know if they can go on your website to find more information on this or registration because I know this is starts at 7 a.m. and you have people with bikes and stuff I don't know if you want just want to tell the people a little bit of that so they understand it in case they want to register their bicycle and get involved sure let me just it's fine it's good okay excellent so our website is willfor food.org if anyone wants to see any information um in specific to that um it does start at 700 a.m Our Roots um and they randomly start we have S A 1015 and they just go on continuously from there we have a 100 mile route a 50 mile route a 25 mile and this year we have a 12 Mile and a Four Mile as well and the four and 12 are also family fun um so the kids can play we also have an obstacle course for children uh face painting um we're trying to you know rev it up a little bit more this year so it's a little more fun for everyone because we're really hoping for great weather this year I should mention it's on September 22nd yes um so in addition to if people want to participate people should expect that they may see some extra bikes on the roads throughout Town um that day but certainly this is a a great event for a great cause we're glad you're still you you've moved um out of Hatfield um to a really beautiful new facility in chape um but I'm glad that you still hold this event here so we also will have the um signs that go up that say watch for cyclist and stuff going up about the week before the week of the event as well okay perfect good yeah that's great I mean you guys you've been doing this for a long time you kind of got the hang of it at this point we like to think so yeah um I don't have any other questions um I'll make a motion to approve the one day liquor license for the food bank of Western Mass to be held on September 22nd at the Lions Club and the license would be only from 12 I believe till 8 8 the event is longer but the corre the wine and M will be just from 12: to 8: okay did you second that I'll second that okay a motion made and second any further discussion no all those in favor I I easy enough Risley thank you good to see you thank you have a nice day have a great have a great event topic number two is mass do systemic Safety project um this is the um um so the last time you received information from Mass doot it was what was it 50% design right I believe so now it's 100% design um you know I I responded to the the gentleman uh at Mass doot and I followed up with him yesterday because I wanted to just make sure that if the selectboard has comments or questions that they would still accept them after today's date I haven't received a response from so just to backtrack a little bit so this is um some some plans for some crosswalks out on West Street pedestrian signals yes pedestrian signals and crosswalks out on um West Street I when I looked at the plans um I had some questions did because um it looked to me like they were putting in Islands um and I was remembering the sort of Island debacle in up in um South Deerfield and uh so in any case I have to say the folks from Mass do were great I hopped on a zoom with were you corresponding with Matt minahan no um it's been Kobe with okay well I I was on with um Matt minihan I can't remember the the other names um and oh um Hansen anyway it doesn't matter but um so we reviewed the plans together so when you see these plans um just for for Ed and Greg's sake what sort of look like traffic Islands drawn here are actually just going to be paint it's just going to be paint um so even on the last plan it does appear that that's that's the one that concerned me and it is paint it is it's paint and so there's crosswalks and so just so people know there's going to be a signaled crosswalk um sort of at the North Hatfield Road um intersection um and then also it doesn't there's this doesn't show it but I think there's also going to be one up by the prospect Farm others this is all we so there people will push the light so that lights flicker it won't stop it won't stop traffic but it'll be sort of an alert to drivers that someone's waiting to cross that's right um and they that's done this is being done in conjunction with um bus stops that are along that portion of route five so it's really just a it's really a pedestrian safety issue and so I after I talked them and I realized there weren't traffic Islands um it was just going to be paint um yeah then it it just sort of it made sense to me so I I they answered all the questions I had about it I mean there was three right there were three so yeah I thought there was others but there was in fact were there sort of two in the North hfield Road area yes there were on each side of I don't know I missed printing the others um but there should have been other other two other the other one so I know one other one is that Prospect Meadow Farm and the not what what is it called out on five and 10 yeah wasn't there one near Lind seed too is there one near linseed but there is one near Prospect Meto right there's one near the service net Farm that's right there service yes and then there's one there's I think there's two down by North Hatfield Road sort of one on each side I think like all right um anyways the question was is there going to be structures and they not they're going to be just painting so yeah that that clears up I thought it was at first I thought that was similar to what you saw in sundling they actually have a structure in the middle but that's just going to be painted so yeah I was just concerned you know so many tractor trailers go in and out of the CNS entrance right there if there were Islands I'm I just was picturing there being problems and there were just there were problems when they did the islands on five and 10 in Deerfield just traffic flow problems and certainly um you know snow removal and all of that so and it doesn't matter it's just painted all right so there's no questions or concerns no all right bless you bless you bless you um do we need to do anything with this um the the new firefighter it just sign just sign it is it in here too should be in there yeah okay we can move on to the next item Marlene okay the USDA loan approval for that supplemental 1.4 million um so you know had worked on that that application um in conjunction with the the treasure collector and um that has been approved perfect wow we will have a loan for 1.4 million that's excellent from USDA yeah so well that's settled that's settled that's done with perfect okay nice work Mar nice you're welcome yes I was pleased about that so there are some things in here for Signature just the top two the last one is just for my signature oh and then do we need to take any kind of vote on the diens actually the board already support I thought so yeah you supported that resolution so that's just a pledge to continue um providing programs okay for um age friendly and yeah for the community is it just for me or all three of us um it all three of you can sign okay okay yeah the COA director was thinking that you know either when Greg and Ed come in to sign warrants but I let her know that all three of you would be here tonight perfect okay and that's it that is really it um I just want to mention um each of you have received a draft copy of the comprehensive action plan yes uh so I wanted to make sure that you have that in advance of the October 1st meeting so I'm thinking you have time to go through that a little light reading Yes actually I'm excited so the planning board and if members of the former comprehensive plan committee are able to attend as well will'll present this you know an overview summary to the select board and discuss um the actions okay um for the future for the next 20 years and and I know there will be a recommendation uh to ask the board to uh appoint a committee so that this just doesn't sit on a shelf somewhere committee to carry out those actions that will be October 1st great well well I'm looking forward to that presentation but I'll I'll read I certainly look at this ahead of time two two years worth of work in there great I don't have any else did you have anything else no I mean it's just underr business uh on on the agenda I guess the Smith acard me Park pavilion can be removed because that's been built and Tak care of taking that off yeah and should yeah have to consider when we're talking about upstairs and moving the collection back here so that's there's been some discussion back and forth between the historical commission and the Historical Society about you know moving um the items here and apparently they're looking for more space because they don't feel that that storage room will be sufficient oh boy told us it was they did and I guess they'll have to look at the library I mean at their Museum but I mean that's sort of disappointing in a way but sad to hear yeah yeah um I I guess I would just add sorry not were you done on that or did you have anything else no I just I was just reviewing some of the old business stuff so we don't lose it before uh the end of the year in case there's anything we have I just I I want to um I just want to sort of let Town's people know I did after the last meeting you know we were we got the letter from Chief um well Chief flarity gave us letter from um Chief pis from Northampton about um not responding over here and so I I called um Chief pis um and had a conversation about that and he's he's he the letter sort of said two different things it said we wouldn't be responding but then it said later in the letter won't come if we're down to one ambulance right and so he said you know it is we will come to Hatfield but if we don't have you know we we can't send our last ambulance to have they're running three um and so um so we had we had a conversation about that and I I I felt better they're not saying they're not coming here um but then you know it was on Facebook the other day I think Northampton had nine simultaneous calls nine simultaneous calls um and so obviously they couldn't they couldn't stop that so um you know it I think the issue is all departments are feeling this they're very underst staffed um and they're they're fully funded 247 and they they're under staff they can't find people so um you know it's just it's just a really big issue and I just want people to know it's not specific to hfield but other communities locally and I think it's safe to say probably Nationwide are experiencing the same thing but um it was reassuring to talk to Chief pis that they they will still be responding to calls but um understandably will not send their last ambulance to happfield so um it's their last dispatched ambulance to atfield so well unfortunately I think fire department and the issues will be ongoing discussions trying to tweak a little bit here and there as we move forward and and the balance has always been trying to determine and what the town's people can afford for the services that they're provided I mean that's usually the bottom line and and I think we we keep adding and adding and trying to make it a little bit better so hopefully we can continue reviewing it tweaking it and seeing what works and right and I know getting Personnel will continue to be an issue unfortunately and that is a nationwide problem right now so I'm it just you know what do you do I don't know I mean we we've had conversations of combining or trying to get together with other departments but and chief pis said he's o open to reopening that discussion at some point so um maybe that's a discussion worth having again just to see where we're at I just wanted to let people know that I did follow up with the chief on that because obviously that was very concerning so um and I have a meeting with our chief this coming week um just to follow up on some things too so we're we're just continuing to you know to monitor it as closely as we can so all right I have nothing else I mean the last item is we're moving forward to for a special town meeting right so September 11th special town meeting uh the next select board meeting will be September 17th regular select board meeting September 17th obviously the town meeting special town meeting will take place on the 11th I mean I still like using the idea of using the phone for that meeting but I know the I think the chief supposed to was that correct using oh to put out on that word out yes I will I will ask him actually I haven't done that I willon check with him I mean we've had other non-emergency messages on there this is Town related and it's important it's an important issue it is I mean it is a public safety issue if you want to be perfectly honest I a check with him about using that um and so just to remind people the the article on the town meeting warrant will be to rep repair the restoration of the C yeah the restoration of the Culvert that goes under Main Street just north of the um water treatment plant so uh wastewater treatment plant um and actually you know I happen to be at the at Big Y very early this morning and had somebody ask me about it so um people are aware that we're having a town meeting and we've solicited we you have solicited for some prices right so we when we go to special town meeting we project out to bid okay project is out to bid and the deadline for bids I believe is is next week so we'll have so we'll have that information all right well thank you marleene Karen John thank you thank you I'll take a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn second all those in favor I I didn't even open it for discussion