HADLEY — As Hadley officials continue to streamline town operations while setting the stage for another attempt at passing a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override, members of the Select Board are asking that more respect be shown to remaining municipal employees.
At a bi-board meeting with the Finance Committee Wednesday, April 1, Select Board member Molly Keegan said she is concerned with comments made at recent public meetings that could be construed as disparaging toward Hadley workers.
“I don’t want to hear any more public criticism of municipal employees,” Keegan said.
Keegan said she worries that discussions about salaries and the amount of work people are doing has become accusatory, adding that employees are at their “wit’s end” and feel like they are not getting support from town boards.
“Don’t accuse, don’t insinuate and don’t suggest people don’t have enough to do during the day,” Keegan said. “It’s unbelievably demoralizing.”
Select Board Chairman Randy Izer, too, said employees asking for help, amid downsizing that has taken place in recent months, is “really real and very valid.”
Izer said he understands there has been more stress for those who are still working for the town following layoffs.
“It’s because they are doing way too many jobs for what they can mentally handle, and stress is the worst thing in the world for any of us,” Izer said.
The conversation came before Finance Committee members asked questions about moving forward with hiring Nathaniel Malloy as the new town administrator. Malloy brings 18 years as planning and economic development experience from Amherst and will join Assistant Town Administrator Jennifer Sanders James.
Finance Committee member Peter Matuszko said the concern is whether positions are “learning as we go” rather than having an experienced town administration.
Izer said the Select Board appreciates Malloy’s skills as a planner who will help the town survive financially and build on the work done by Police Chief Michael Mason, who has been in the interim role for 18 months.
Sanders James has been the procurement officer and licensing coordinator and has added human resources functions in the job. The new title and pay boost reflect, she said, some of the work she’s already been doing.
“In the last four and a half years and maybe even more so during COVID, I’ve been functioning as this town’s ATA [assistant town administrator] for a long time,” Sanders James said.
Partnering with UMass
In other business, Keegan gave an update on the strategic partnership with the University of Massachusetts, with negotiations to begin sometime after July 1 on renewal of the deal paying Hadley $85,000 a year, with expiration on June 30, 2027.
Keegan presented statistics from UMass showing that 463 students live off campus in Hadley, compared to 9,257 with off-campus addresses in Amherst. Some 30% of campus land is in Hadley, but what is in Hadley is mostly open land, the football stadium and Mullins Center arena and the heating plant. In Amherst, the university’s land mass is used for dormitories, where an additional 13,000 students live, and the academic buildings.
Keegan said there are legal constraints on how public money can be provided to towns, unlike with private colleges.
Keegan said the biggest impact from UMass is on the roads, but UMass can’t just write the town a check to address this.
“There have been many, many asks over the years,” Keegan said.
But most, she said, can’t be funded. “It’s not for the lack of asking, it’s just that it’s very difficult,” she said.
