SOUTH DEERFIELD – Upgrades to the South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Facility may be on the horizon, if residents at Monday’s annual Town Meeting opt to authorize the borrowing of up to $19 million to pay for the work.
A warrant article asks if voters agree to take on the costs of the planning, design, permitting, bidding and construction needed at the 150 Sunderland Road facility. This article, which requires a two-thirds vote to pass, is contingent upon a Proposition 2½ override vote.
Voters at a special Town Meeting in March agreed to appropriate up to $1 million to replace the mechanical system inside an existing secondary clarifier at the treatment facility, as the state Department of Environmental Protection has required. The town previously opted to replace a tank at the treatment plant and the March 11 vote allocated the money for it. Public Works Superintendent Kevin Scarborough previously explained that the clarifier is the tank that treated water goes through before it makes contact with chlorine. It failed in December 2017 when electricity was temporarily disabled by brutally cold temperatures and its metal arm bent after power came back on and tried to move accumulated treated water.
Selectboard member Trevor McDanie said the town hopes to get a low-interest loan or a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to finance the work.
The proposed omnibus budget is $15,064,539, up from $14,656,076 this year. This represents a 2.79 percent increase.
According to McDaniel, the proposed $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.
A separate article will ask if voters agree to raise and appropriate $33,965 for the tuition and transportation costs of Deerfield students that attend Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
The $849,372 for Deerfield Police Department payroll includes 2 percent cost-of-living adjustments.
The Town Meeting is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Frontier Regional School auditorium on Monday.
Voters will also be asked to:
■ Designate $13,500 for the purchase of a Deerfield Police Department motorcycle. McDaniel explained the $13,500 will buy out a lease on a motorcycle acquired a few years.
■ Designate $10,000 for the town’s 350th Anniversary Celebration. The town turns 350 years old in 2023, according to McDaniel.
■ Adopt a resolution calling for the United States to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to send a copy of this resolution to U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and President Donald J. Trump.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.