HATFIELD — Residents will get to say whether the Select Board should expand from three to five members when the annual Town Meeting is held next month.
The Select Board at its March 20 meeting voted 2-1 to put an article about enlarging the board on the warrant for the May 14 session.
The article comes after the Town Government Committee, formed by Town Meeting in 2018, issued a report outlining the benefits and drawbacks of expanding the board.
Select Board Chairman Edmund Jaworski said he is uncomfortable having the article added to the warrant by his board because it gives the impression that board members support expansion. In fact, he is opposed to adding new members.
“I am not for this,” Jaworski said.
Jaworski said he worries that more members will require increasing support staff at Town Hall and that the study committee’s report incomplete.
But Select Board member Brian Moriarty, who has been the staunchest advocate for increasing the size of the board, said townspeople should have a vote on the matter.
Select Board member Cindy Doty said she feels there are good arguments on both sides to keep the board as is and to expand it, and ultimately sided with Moriarty in letting residents decide.
The study committee, which started its work in September, was chaired by E. Lary Grossman, who was joined by Christopher Smith and David Keir.
Its report notes that having new board members would add a combined $4,000 in new stipends, but also that meetings shouldn’t take longer since some work can be done by subcommittees outside regular meetings; and that a bigger board may get more residents interested in elective office since the workload would be reduced.
Smith urged the Select Board to add the article to the warrant, rather than having it brought by petition. “Do your job please, vote objectively,” Smith said.
Grossman said the committee’s position is that residents should be able to decide the expansion at Town Meeting.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
