Hatfield Select Board Flags $270,000 Sewer Gap, Approves Smith Academy Agreement

HATFIELD — March 4, 2024 — Hatfield Select Board grapples with $270,000 Route 5 sewer funding gap and artifact storage deadline. At the March 4 meeting, Chair Luke Longstreeth pressed consulting engineer Michael O'Brien on a project that has grown from an original $3.6 million estimate to more than $5.4 million, with $270,000 still needed to cover engineering and police detail costs through completion; the board is awaiting word from the state MassWorks program on whether it will cover the gap, with approximately $325,000 in remaining ARPA funds identified as a backup. Interim Treasurer-Tax Collector John Clark presented a $3,057,279 budget — a 5.67 percent increase driven largely by an 8 percent health insurance hike and a $922,000 county retirement assessment. The board also received a formal request from the Historical Commission to use 864 square feet of Town Hall second-floor space for artifact storage, with co-chairs Mickey Sanderson and Kathy Olsen citing $40,000 in facility spending on a private lease set to expire in September; the board directed staff to pursue a structural estimate for the floor's balcony area as a possible compromise. The meeting opened with Longstreeth announcing a USDA award of $2.4 million in grant funding and a $9.491 million, 40-year loan at 2.875 percent for the town's wastewater treatment plant.