Editor’s Note: This week, the Greenfield Recorder begins a series of articles on what residents can likely expect in 2021. This first installment focuses on Greenfield.
GREENFIELD — Mayor Roxann Wedegartner says she’s been thinking about 2021, and while she believes at least the first half of the year will be challenging, she has a “fair amount of optimism.”
“We have to move forward with optimism, at least some, because we’re leaving a very tough year, but we made it through and we have to face the New Year with the same determination,” said Wedegartner, who is beginning her second year in office. “We have two big projects moving forward in 2021, and a lot of intense work remains, but we’ll get there.”
The mayor said the city will have to figure out if it needs to ask for an extension from the state on the new Greenfield Public Library project. The groundbreaking is supposed to take place in April — she believes that will happen — but to meet all deadlines for the library and the temporary fire station, the library might need a short extension.
“I think we’re on schedule for the temporary fire station to be ready to be moved into the municipal parking lot on Hope Street by June or July, so the library can start its work by doing a lot of the prep work on schedule,” she said. “The library needs to be able to demolish the current fire station, but we’ll have to see how quickly the temporary fire station can be built. There are still a lot of steps to get there, and weather and manufacturing delays, if there are any, could determine the timeline. So far, we’re on target.”
Wedegartner said she is still in negotiations with the owner of the Coombs Avenue and Main Street property that houses the open-air market, where the city hopes to build the permanent fire station.
“You have to do your due diligence with commercial property,” she said. “It takes time. But, the library is on time and budget, so it is in great shape and ready to go.
“And it’s a big plus that we’ve secured the money for the temporary and new fire stations,” she added. “That was instrumental to building.”
In December, City Council approved the additional $6 million the mayor requested for the fire station project. The council had previously approved $10 million for the new fire station, but soon realized it would need more.
The project is expected to cost $17.3 million, which includes $1.9 million for the temporary station to be built. The council has, to date, allocated $16 million, and Wedegartner said she plans to use grants and other funding to cover the remaining balance.
“Once we have the library and new fire station built — those two beautiful buildings — people will forget how we got there,” Wedegartner said. “We’ll just have two beautiful anchor buildings in our downtown — one a symbol of community and the other a symbol of security. We’ll all be full of pride.”
Wedegartner said she and Community and Economic Development Director MJ Adams have been spending a lot of time focusing on the city’s economy, and that won’t change anytime soon.
“It has been tough on our restaurants and retail stores during the pandemic,” she said. “Main Street has been filled with challenges.”
In 2021, the focus will be downtown revitalization.
“We’re seeking grants and other funding, making Main Street revitalization a top priority,” she said. “We’ve applied for Local Rapid Recovery Planning, part of the state’s Mass Downtown Initiative, which provides technological assistance to cities and towns that receive it.”
Wedegartner said that would help the city consider what might be the best use of buildings like the former Wilson’s Department Store and the former First National Bank on Bank Row.
“We have a lot of information,” she said. “Now we need a good, solid marketing plan we can work on this year.”
She will also focus on the creative and cultural economy, including entertainment and the arts, which have been hit hard by the pandemic.
“We’ll also be spending a lot of time looking at housing,” she continued. “We’ll be strengthening our partnerships. We have a report that I will be studying much more closely, and we’ll be looking at an inventory of available buildings and how we might use them. We’re always thinking about mixed uses.”
Wedegartner said the fiscal year 2022 budget is another priority — something she has already started working on. That budget will take effect July 1, 2021.
“The budget will be dictated by the amount of revenue we see,” she said. “We ended FY 2020 in better shape than we thought on June 30, 2020, but we still had to cut more than $300,000. We’ll have to see what 2021 brings.”
Wedegartner said the city is “doing the best with what’s available to it.”
“We need to be as healthy as we can be,” she said. “We need to build stabilization and we’re doing that.”
The mayor said $2 million in free cash was recently certified by the state, so stabilization accounts are being replenished.
“There was a snafu at the end of 2019, so the state certified two years’ worth of free cash,” Wedegartner said. “We’re going to have to be quite frugal in FY 2022, but we will have some money put away so if something unforeseeable happens, we won’t have to go to taxpayers.”
Wedegartner said the city will meet its contractual obligations and will certainly cover the “bare necessities” and more, if possible. She said some upgrades will be made to the Police Station so that it meets state certification.
“That’s a good investment because they’ll be there for a while,” she said.
“I have great confidence in our financial strategies,” she said. “Finance Director Liz Gilman has the great ability to forecast and meet financial obligations of the city and find the funding sources necessary. We’re in good hands.”
Another focus will be the Interstate 91 Industrial Park.
“We have a grant to expand,” she said. “MassDevelopment has given us a significant amount of money to do so and hopefully that will come to fruition this year.”
She said the Mackin property, adjacent to Greenfield Road, is ready to be sold. The state is helping the city with planning — there are two building sites on the property, which has been used for gravel operations. She said she would like to see advanced manufacturing there, while the state has also considered warehouse distribution to be a possibility, ideal because of the proximity to Route 2 and Interstate 91.
“Whatever happens there, the goal is to sell the property,” she said.
She said the city is looking toward hiring a new Greenfield School Department superintendent who would start after Jordana Harper leaves at the end of the school year in June. Harper gave notice in September that she will work through this school year but will not renew her contract.
“We’re taking steps to begin the search,” said Wedegartner, who serves on the Greenfield School Committee. “At the same time, we’re starting the process of creating the next school budget. Schools will be facing challenges on several fronts, just like the rest of us.
“I’m looking forward to discussing the future of Greenfield schools with a new superintendent,” she said. “That person will be hitting the ground running.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.