EASTHAMPTON — Important financial milestones are set to take place in May for the city, but exactly how officials will involve the public is up in the air given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle would like to deliver a proposed budget for fiscal 2021, which begins July 1, to the City Council on May 6. Once the budget is delivered, the council’s Finance Committee will hold a series of public hearings.
In a separate matter, the Board of Public Works is still discussing how it wants to handle a public hearing scheduled for May 13 to take more public comment about controversial proposals to increase water and sewer rates, as well as whether to create a separate stormwater enterprise fund. A hearing in February in City Council chambers drew more than 100 people.
Where and in what format the budget and public works hearings will take place is still unclear and depends on when Gov. Charlie Baker lifts a stay-at-home advisory.
LaChapelle said that the budget hearings could be done with the video conferencing application Zoom, if the state’s Open Meeting Law still allows for it, or in person at a larger space that allows for social distancing. She said holding it in City Council chambers is a distant third option.
The mayor said the city is currently not deficit spending, but whether that continues is a big question mark.
“You’re going to see a very tight, miserly budget out of Easthampton,” LaChapelle said.
She said she hopes the city will not have to do layoffs or furloughs, but “it’s just tied to how bad it gets,” referring to the pandemic.
LaChapelle also said that conversations have not started about how city employees’ raises might be affected by the current situation, and she’s not sure if those conversations will happen.
Meanwhile, Board of Public Works chairman Thomas Malsbury wrote in an email that the board will soon decide whether to hold the May 13 hearing using the city’s Zoom meeting system, or whether to postpone it to allow proper public involvement.
“I will also see if the new acting DPW director would like to make a new recommendation to the BPW based on the current state of the city, or if they feel the hearing should be closed without moving forward with a new rate increase for FY21 until the state of emergency has been lifted,” Malsbury wrote.
LaChapelle said that she is not looking for a repeat of the conditions at the February meeting, where the space was too small to accommodate the crowd. Even if the governor’s stay-at-home advisory is lifted after May 4, as it is currently set to be, “I find it highly unlikely we’d have a hearing in the City Council chambers,” LaChapelle said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.