Hatfield, Whately boards weigh shared chief plan

Select Board · Meeting of September 8, 2026

Hatfield and Whately weigh sharing a police chief as Hatfield's retires. Chief Mike Jokoszak, who is retiring at year's end, pitched a phased plan with Whately Chief Jim Sabine to split a single chief between the two towns, an arrangement officials estimated could save Whately roughly $65,000 and help Hatfield restore weekend patrol coverage lost as its part-time officer roster fell from eight to two. "We're sharing officers.

We're not regionalizing," Jokoszak said. Select board member Edmund Jaworski pressed on whether added administrative costs would erode the savings; officials said compensation adjustments were already factored in. Both boards agreed to form a six-person working group to draft a memorandum of understanding by October.

Separately, auditor Tony of Roselli Clark & Associates reported Hatfield's fiscal 2025 audit found no material weaknesses, with reserves at 10 to 11 percent of expenses and pension funding at 76 percent.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of September 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.