HADLEY — Voters at a special Town Meeting on Thursday rejected a final effort to prevent two firefighters from being laid off, and to fully fund two other vacant Hadley Fire Department positions.
Following an hour of discussion, a proposal to take $235,000 from free cash to keep the Fire Department intact was turned down by a 127-87 vote, meaning those positions will join five other municipal positions lost in the $22.76 million fiscal year 2026 budget.
The decision comes after voters at a special Town Meeting in September, and a subsequent ballot vote, voted against a $2.25 million tax-cap override that included the money to sustain the town’s fire services.
John Kinchla of Bay Road, a call firefighter, proposed the free cash spending, describing being bothered by decisions in recent weeks.
“It’s time we step up and fund these guys,” Kinchla said. “These guys are sticking their necks out for us, and we need to do the same.”
Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel said the money would be the bare minimum needed to get his department through June 30, 2026, observing that he already has delivered layoff notices to the fire union, and warned that the funding was only a Band-Aid.
“The problem is FY 27 is a whole another beast,” Spanknebel said.
The opportunity to fund the department fully came as Finance Director Linda Sanderson explained that $749,000 in free cash was certified as of July 1, but drawing it down would limit any cushion going into the next fiscal year.
“I think we’re cutting it really close,” Sanderson said.
The vote came after several residents spoke in favor of the funding, with no one advocating against the department.
Lisa Wolf of Middle Street said the town needs to maintain its services, especially as it relates to safety. “We have to provide an environment where people feel they are cared for,” Wolf said.
Nancy Bandman of High Meadow Road said cutting the Fire Department will have an impact on neighboring communities like Northampton and Amherst.
“You have to imagine we live in a larger community,” Bandman said. “It’s important to be clued into that, as well.”
Erica Hollister of Middle Street recalled her house being saved from burning to the ground 32 years ago. “Stretching these services so thin so that these people can’t do their jobs should concern us all,” Hollister said.
In addition to not funding the Fire Department, voters rejected a slate of $1.42 million in capital projects when that failed to achieve a two-thirds vote, only getting support from 117 of the 198 voters. This means several projects would be put off, including $600,000 for sewer and water asset management and $350,000 for security upgrades at the schools.
But voters did support, 112 to 78, appropriating $38,955 from the sewer impact fund to pay the town’s match of a nearly $400,000 study for that will look into whether the town could tie into Amherst’s wastewater treatment plant.
Select Board member Molly Keegan said this is basic long-term planning for future growth that would also stave off having to spend millions to upgrade Hadley’s wastewater treatment plant.
“It’s going to give us options on multiple fronts,” Keegan said
Dylan Barstow Manz of Hockanum Road said the town is being strained fiscally and needs more buildout to get out of this situation, which increasing sewer capacity could allow. “We are not taking care of our services and our town,” Barstow Manz said.
Planning Board member Mark Dunn said voting against the sewer extension study won’t stop affordable housing projects, but would stop tax base growth. “That Amherst plant was built for us as a regional (plant),” Dunn said.
But Ray Mieczkowski of Comins Road said he worries that the town might lose revenue from sewage and that the town would not only be rolling out the red carpet for more housing, but buying the red carpet.
“Are we really willing to look at those stresses that will be put on our police, our fire, our schools?” Mieczkowski said.
“I kind of like Hadley the way it looks right now,” said Dan Dudkiewicz of Hockanum Road, arguing that the town is not ready for an influx of 400 to 500 new homes that could be yielded through more sewer capacity.
Other business
With little discussion, Town Meeting adopted a state law that allows those establishments with beer and wine licenses to transfer these for all-alcohol licenses; adopted a bylaw that allows delinquent taxpayers to enter into specific agreements with the tax collector; spent $415,505 from water reserves for an emergency backup generator at the water treatment plant on Bay Road; accepted Indian Pipe Road as a town way; and agreed to spend $17,700 from the Community Preservation Act account so the Hadley Historical Society can hire a part-time curator and archivist, preserve a 19th century engraving of the Declaration of Independence and display the 1599 Goffe Bible.