SOUTH DEERFIELD — No one at Town Meeting made a major stink Monday about a warrant article pertaining to South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Facility upgrades, and voters opted overwhelmingly to authorize borrowing up to $19 million to pay for the work.
Selectboard member Trevor McDaniel told the roughly 150 people in attendance in the Frontier Regional School auditorium that he knows “this is obviously a major ask” but “the needs are great and the time is short.” By adopting the article, residents agreed to take on the costs of the planning, design, permitting, bidding and construction needed at the 150 Sunderland Road facility. The article received the two-thirds majority necessary to pass.
All spending on the facility’s upgrades is contingent upon a Proposition 2½ override vote.
McDaniel said the town hopes to get a low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finance the work. He explained the loan would be paid back through user fees and taxation. McDaniel said not completing the work would result in a $10,000-a-day fine.
Finance Committee member John P. Paciorek Sr., the father of Deerfield Police Chief John P. Paciorek Jr., said he supports the project because it is necessary and vital to the town. Deerfield owns and operates two 1971-built wastewater treatment plants – one in South Deerfield, one in Old Deerfield – to serve its two villages.
McDaniel said the condition of the Old Deerfield facility is as bad, if not worse, than the one in South Deerfield. Finance Committee member Jeff Upton told voters they will be approached “somewhere down the road for more monies for the Old Deerfield facility.”
The Selectboard voted 2-1 to recommend the warrant article. McDaniel and Carolyn Shores Ness voted in favor, while Chairman Henry “Kip” Komosa voted against recommendation.
Voters also opted to adopt the proposed $15,064,539 budget, which is up 2.79 percent from this year’s $14,656,076 budget.
The adopted $9,084,380 education budget includes $4,833,922 for Deerfield Elementary School, $3,812,413 for Frontier Regional School, $162,251 for school bus transportation to Frontier and $275,794 for Deerfield’s contribution to Franklin County Technical School, which educates students from 19 member towns. Residents also agreed to raise and appropriate $33,965 for the tuition and transportation costs of Deerfield students attending Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
Voters also:
■Agreed to spend $13,500 to buy out a lease on a motorcycle the Deerfield Police Department acquired a few years.
Police Chief John P. Paciorek Jr. told attendees his officers hounded him for about five years to get a department motorcycle. He said he locked in his heels until giving in but vowed “the first time an officer fell off of it, it was leaving town on a flatbed and I would shred the lease.” But Paciorek said he soon learned people are more comfortable approaching a police officer on a motorcycle, as opposed to a cruiser, and community relations is more important now than ever for police departments. He also said motorcycles are typically good for 15 years and have about 600 miles put on them each year.
Paciorek said certification to become a motorcycle officer is intense. It is one of the most difficult courses in law enforcement, behind only accident reconstruction and drug recognition, he said. This gives officers “something to aspire to,” according to the chief. Four Deerfield officers are certified to ride the motorcycle, which Paciorek said is valuable for policing and for traffic enforcement.
Finance Committee member Jeff Upton explained his committee declined to recommend this article because the motorcycle is a useful tool, but not essential. He also said taxpayers are also being asked to shoulder a great burden with the South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Facility.
■Designate $10,000 for the town’s 350th Anniversary Celebration. The town turns 350 years old in 2023, McDaniel said.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.