HADLEY — More money to get the long-awaited renovation of the steeple at the First Congregational Church on Middle Street underway, and a financial match to ensure new doors can be installed at all 40 apartments at Golden Court, top $400,700 in requests for funding from the town’s Community Preservation Act account.

The CPA Committee at its Monday meeting began reviewing the seven proposals, with any favorable recommendations, possibly coming during a vote as soon as March 3, to be placed on the warrant for voters to consider at annual Town Meeting in May.

While some money is already spoken for, with $1.1 million set aside for expenditures and $750,000 to a pay a bond, Hadley’s CPA account currently totals $3.43 million.

The biggest ask is for an additional $250,000 for the church steeple, with cracks and rot in the poles holding the steeple up and the spire itself, said John Schott, a representative of the church.

Schott said the church will use this and previously appropriated money to hire a company to do the work. “We’re hoping the process will start to materialize in either late April or starting off in May of this year,” Schott said.

Another $75,000 would be the town’s contribution for insulated Fiberglas doors at Golden Court, that would go toward a larger project, with $85,000 from the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and $139,000 from the Housing Authority’s reserve.

Executive Director Pamela Rogers said a CPA grant previously helped pay for all new windows for the residences there. “Now what we’re looking for is the doors,” Rogers said, adding that sidelights next to the doors have been replaced with heavy duty plexiglas. “We would like to get that all taken care of,” Rogers said.

The 80 doors — two for each apartment — will have more windows to allow in natural light and would replace original doors from when the property was built in 1962.

CPA Committee Chairwoman Mary Thayer said providing money for Golden Court has been a regular thing, with more than $300,000 for the site and the neighboring Burke Way family homes. Rogers said work would be done within six months.

“I can tell you the tenants do support this, very much so,” said Rise Smythe-Freed, who lives at Golden Court and is on the Hadley Housing Authority.

Other projects

The back fence at Old Hadley Cemetery would be replaced with a more durable fence at a cost of $45,000. Cemetery Commission Chairman Alan Weinberg and the Department of Public Works cemetery division are jointly seeking this money to replace a 1,000-foot section of wooden post and rail put up in 2007, but which is falling apart and Weinberg said it’s beyond salvaging. The hope is to have a decorative wire loop fence made from galvanized metal.

Tim Neyhart, representing the DPW, is seeking $9,000, for new Route 9 signs for the West Street common, which would be 6 square feet and will provide QR codes with information about the site, and to place the former bell from the North Hadley Village Hall, removed when that building was sold to a private developer, in an exterior display outside the North Hadley fire substation.

Neyhart said it is known as the fire bell. “It’s been in storage and we want to show it off, because it’s such a very old bell,” Neyhart said.

Weinberg, as the Historical Society representative, is seeking $2,200 for restoration and preservation of an old deed, signed by the town settlers and Native Americans in the mid-17th century. Weinberg said that and a mortgage are two of the oldest surviving documents related to the settlement of town held in Hadley, and need to be properly conserved and fixed.

“They are important documents that need tender loving care to keep them in good shape and preserved for the future,” he said.

The lone project request that appears unlikely to get a vote is $20,000, proposed by Hadley Media Director Alexander LaMarche for a broadband extension, which he said would go toward digital equity work.

“Pretty much the goal is to get the town an alternative to Charter Spectrum and we’re hoping this 20 grand will help to kickstart that,” LaMarche said.

But Thayer and board member Andy Morris-Freedman agreed that likely won’t fit the criteria of supporting community housing and benefiting low-income residents.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.