Hatfield Select Board Approves Storage Lease for Town's Historical Collection

HATFIELD — August 9, 2022 — Hatfield Select Board unanimously approves artifact storage lease, reversing years of scattered collection housing. Facing a November 30 deadline from Smith College for a donated Sophia Smith furniture collection, the board voted to lease unit 102 at Diamondback Properties on Elm Street — a 620-square-foot, climate-controlled space with immediate availability — funding the lease through ARPA money until June 30, 2023. Chair Luke Longstreeth called the consolidation "the best space available" after years of items split across multiple sites. The board also approved two water abatements, including a $96.13 relief for an unmeter property at 108 West Street and a reversed denial for a leaking-barn case at 3 Prospect Street, and signed an engineering services agreement with David Prickett Consulting to move the voter-approved wastewater treatment plant upgrade into its design phase. The board accepted resignations from Agricultural Advisory Committee veterans Bob Wagner and Russell Powell, both praised by member Edmund Jaworski as irreplaceable contributors to preserving Hatfield farmland.