HADLEY — Annual Town Meeting will be held outdoors later this month as town officials attempt to put on the meeting in compliance with state guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We definitely have to have it outside,” moderator Randy Izer told the Select Board during a virtual meeting Wednesday in which the board voted to schedule Annual Town Meeting for June 20 at 10 a.m. at Hopkins Academy, the usual location for Town Meeting and town elections.
Social distancing and masks or face coverings will be required for all participating, and people will be encouraged to bring their own chairs.
“I think as long as we have good weather we can pull this off,” Izer said.
The meeting was pushed to a later date in June for a second time as a result of voter registration deadlines, Town Administrator David Nixon said.
The warrant for Town Meeting includes a $21.95 million operating budget for town, school and library services, which is $1.03 million less than the $22.99 million Nixon had prepared before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The budget is $104,554, or less than 0.5% higher, than the current year’s $21.85 million budget.
Board member Christian Stanley said the budget has been trimmed significantly, but cost-of-living adjustments and contracted wage increases for employees are included.
“All the departments are feeling the pain of this budget,” Stanley said.
Other articles on the warrant include a series of projects supported by the Community Preservation Act account and a limited number of capital items that couldn’t be delayed to the fall, including $100,000 for a new generator for the public safety complex and $63,300 for information technology upgrades for the schools.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
