HADLEY — Before any municipal staff layoffs are announced, including the possibility of half of the town’s full-time firefighters being let go, the Select Board will have another conversation about the recent failed Proposition 2-1/2 tax-cap override.
At Wednesday’s Select Board meeting, which also will provide an overview of the warrant articles for the Oct. 23 special Town Meeting where the $22.76 million fiscal year 2026 budget is expected to be finalized, members and the town’s financial team will have a “discussion of potential layoffs and the impacted departments.”
This follows from the Oct. 1 meeting where at least three full-time firefighters/ EMS appeared to be on the chopping block due to the $2.25 million override being rejected by voters in September, both at a special Town Meeting and at a ballot vote. But the exact positions that will be lost remain uncertain, due to a vacant deputy chief and lieutenant position in the department.
The discussion will come as the Hadley Firefighters IAFF Local 5486 recently released a statement anticipating “profound and far-reaching consequences for every Hadley firefighter, resident, business and visitor” should the department be reduced from eight full-time firefighters/ EMS professionals to four. This would mean not having any full-time staff on duty between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., though the private ambulance service would continue to run around the clock.
In a recent letter to the Gazette, Michael Mazulis, president of IAFF Local 5486, encouraged Hadley voters to show up for the special Town Meeting because “Hadley cannot afford to balance its budget on the backs of firefighters and the public they protect,” adding that residents will face a clear choice Oct. 23, “to restore funding for adequate fire protection, or risk paying a far greater price later. Public safety must never be negotiable.”
As the Select Board on Oct. 8 set and closed the warrant for the special Town Meeting, members declined a request from Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel to add a warrant article requesting $235,000 be moved to the Fire Department’s budget from the stabilization account. Spanknebel said this would give voters a chance to save the positions.
None of the board members were persuaded that was a good idea, though, with Molly Keegan calling it a Band-Aid rather than a funding solution.
“Just wondering what that’s getting us right now?” Keegan said.
Board member David J. Fill II said he would be against taking money from stabilization at this time, based on feedback from voters, and the town needs to find another way to stave off the loss of personnel.
“It seems we need to do some belt-tightening around town everywhere and to see if we can come up with a way to make things work,” Fill said.
Chairman Randy Izer said a majority of residents likely wouldn’t support that approach. “If we do this we’re going to get jumped all over,” Izer said, adding that he and other board members don’t want to see Fire Department come apart.
While a supporter of the override, board member Jane Nevinsmith said voters spoke and their opinion is the Fire Department needs to be trimmed.
