Hatfield Select Board Approves Tax Classification, Police Hire Amid COVID Surge

HATFIELD — November 17, 2020 — Hatfield Select Board takes up COVID surge, hires officer, and approves tax classification on a busy November agenda. With COVID Coordinator Carrie Flaherty reporting 16 new confirmed cases in a single week — more than doubling the town's prior eight-month total of roughly 24 — the board spent much of its November 17 meeting debating whether the Board of Health was doing enough to support contact-tracing efforts, with Flaherty warning that her CARES Act-funded position could expire in about five weeks. The board voted unanimously to appoint Brandon Iavecchia as a part-time Hatfield police officer, approved four standard tax classification items for fiscal year 2021, and authorized a 10-year snow-plowing memorandum of agreement with the Town of Williamsburg. Employees received three additional paid or partial days off — the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and a half day on New Year's Eve — in recognition of working through the pandemic and an ongoing Town Hall renovation. The board also previewed a Special Town Meeting set for November 21 at 11 a.m. covering sewer easements tied to a $2 million grant project on Routes 5 and 10.