Hatfield Select Board Approves Transfers, Withholds Pay on West Street Project

HATFIELD -- June 24, 2025, Hatfield Select Board withholds final payment on troubled West Street sewer project pending resolution of a lengthy punch list. At the June 24 meeting, Chair Luke Longstreeth read aloud the town's punch list of unfinished items, including sinkholes, damaged driveway aprons, incomplete hydroseeding, and a pump station missing key components, while residents from at least six addresses added their own complaints, including a discrepancy between official as-built plans and the actual installed elevation of a lift station at 32 West Street that has prevented the property owner from connecting a sewer lateral. "The control we have right now is not paying the contractor," Longstreeth told the room. In separate action, the board unanimously approved year-end FY25 budget transfers covering a dozen short accounts, confirmed the town is in overall budget surplus for the fiscal year, and voted compensation adjustments for four staff positions following the retirement of Assistant Town Clerk Karen Dowski. A public hearing on new water and sewer rates is set for July 15.