Hatfield Select Board Hires Accounting Firm, Advances Fire Chief Search

HATFIELD — January 21, 2020 — Hatfield Select Board hires accounting firm and advances fire chief search at January 21 meeting. The board unanimously approved a contract with Melanson Heath to handle fiscal year 2020 bookkeeping and assist in closing out fiscal year 2019 — at roughly $48,000 annually — after a preferred full-time candidate declined the position; the Finance Committee recommended the firm over a competing service because it could start immediately rather than waiting until April. The board also accepted a report from its fire chief screening committee, which interviewed three closely scored finalists from an original pool of seven applicants and forwarded all three for final televised interviews with selectmen, noting the outgoing chief's contract has been extended past its January 31 deadline to allow a smooth transition. DPC Engineering presented a proposal for a 25 percent sewer rate increase — about $9.40 more per month for the average residential customer — as a prerequisite for USDA grant eligibility on a $12 million capital improvement project, warning that without the grant, conventional financing could cost residents $50 to $55 more per month once the project is built.