Town residents will have a chance to vote on a 26-article warrant at Hampden's back-to-back annual and special town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 8, at Thornton W. Burgess Middle School, 85 Wilbraham Road.
HAMPDEN -- Residents will have a chance to vote on a 26-article warrant at Hampden's back-to-back annual and special town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 8, at Thornton W. Burgess Middle School, 85 Wilbraham Road.
In addition to voting on a roughly $13 million budget for fiscal year 2018, which begins July 1, the warrant's big-ticket items include exploring the possibility of divorcing the town from the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District and adding full-time firefighters to the volunteer Hampden Fire Department.
Both proposals have sparked some controversy, but the school issue has arguably dominated discussions in this town of 5,100-plus residents ever since a majority of voters rejected an October 2016 measure to allow Hampden middle-schoolers to cross town lines to attend Wilbraham Middle School.
One school article calls for authorizing the Hampden Board of Selectmen to investigate "the procedure and ramifications" of withdrawing from the regional school district and reverting to the pre-1994 model, in which Hampden students only attended school in Wilbraham for their high school years, or grades nine through 12.
The article also calls on selectmen "to develop a plan and timeline" for such a withdrawal, which would be presented to Hampden voters for their consideration at fall town meeting.
The other school-related article pertains directly to the October 2016 vote, which rejected a plan to amend the two-town regional school district agreement to allow students at Hampden's Thornton W. Burgess Middle School to cross town lines to attend Wilbraham Middle School for a five-year period beginning in fall 2017.
The measure was approved by Wilbraham voters but overwhelmingly rejected by Hampden voters, many of whom viewed it as a first step toward the permanent closure of TWB, as the town's middle school is commonly called. If that were to happen, they argued, Hampden would be left with only one school in the seven-school district.
The contentious issue sparked a civil war of sorts, and not just between the two towns. In Hampden, many parents of school-age children argued that if only they were allowed to vote on the matter, it would have passed overwhelmingly. However, the townwide vote against the so-called middle school merger plan was decisive.
The article specifically directs selectmen to use "all available means, including but not limited to legal action," to ensure "adherence" to the Octboer 2016 vote "against the closing of Thornton W. Burgess" and proposed merger of Hampden and Wilbraham middle school students.
The article also directs selectmen to do everything possible to ensure that both TWB and Green Meadows Elementary School, Hampden's only other school in the regional district, "remain open and provide comparable education between Hampden and Wilbraham students."
Merger proponents have argued that the October vote was never about closing TWB, but merely about amending the regional agreement so Hampden middle school students could cross town lines to attend Wilbraham Middle School.
Anti-merger activists have dismissed that argument as myopic and misleading, arguing that all signs point to the eventual permanent closure of TWB. The school building is owned by the Town of Hampden, not the school district, and no concrete plans have emerged as to what to do with the almost 50-year-old school if it ceases to operate as the town's middle school.
An ad hoc Middle School Task Force that considered solutions for the "middle school problem," which centers around projected declining enrollment at TWB and Wilbraham Middle School and the untenable costs of maintaining both schools, determined that a single-school model was better for the district, both educationally and financially.
Both of Hampden's school articles are nonbinding, meaning they have no legal force. That said, selectmen may view the outcome of the votes as a litmus test of where Hampden residents stand on the issue, which could prompt action by the board.
On the Fire Department issue, voters will be asked to consider two articles: One that calls for hiring three full-time firefighters to cover the department's understaffed day shift at a cost of $141,000, and another to raise, appropriate, or transfer "a sum of money" to construct a building addition to the town's only fire station at 19 North Road.
The first article also calls for allocating $65,000 to pay the department's volunteer firefighters to respond to calls, essentially transforming the all-volunteer organization into a "call" department, and setting aside $20,000 in employee benefits for the three full-time firefighters.
The second Fire Department article doesn't include a projected price tag for expanding the fire station, but Chief Mike Gorski estimates a small addition would cost the town around $200,000.