SOUTH DEERFIELD — Covering everything from international issues down to Deerfield’s needs, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern spent Monday in Franklin County connecting with residents about his observations and what he can do to help them.
In a wide-ranging conversation at the South County Senior Center’s temporary location at the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, McGovern, D-Worcester, highlighted the infrastructure needs of small towns like Deerfield, while also addressing national concerns like inflation and gas prices. Later on Monday evening, McGovern joined Greenfield residents at the Guiding Star Grange.
In his key point, McGovern said government investment in infrastructure would help a community like Deerfield save money on expensive repairs, thus allowing a town to invest money in its “senior citizens or students.” He added the state has a golden opportunity to fund these sorts of projects, too, because the federal government has approved billions of dollars in aid through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was signed last year.
“In the past, the issue has always been there’s no money. That’s not so much the case right now,” McGovern said, noting that maintaining infrastructure is expensive and using this money elsewhere could lead to better services for all residents.
“That should alleviate some of the problems,” he continued. “We all have to understand that everything is interrelated.”
One thing that money could be invested in is affordable housing, which the community is lacking and Senior Center Program Coordinator Sue Corey raised concerns about.
“I’m concerned about housing,” Corey said. “I’m wondering what your office is looking into.”
McGovern said the federal government is looking at several different ways to provide assistance for building housing and keeping people in their homes. The most immediate but short-term solution he highlighted is wrangling inflation and gas prices, which would give people additional savings to lean on.
“We have a housing shortage and people who live in Deerfield don’t want to move to Springfield and vice versa. The answer is we have to build more housing,” he said, noting that a short-term solution like tackling inflation would “offset (rent), but doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.”
Residents thanked McGovern for his efforts in saving the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds. The proposed closure of the medical center, he said, was based on “faulty information” and would have been a “great disservice” to veterans in the area.
“We raised holy hell,” McGovern said. “We’re in good shape right now, but that was a close call.”
As for Deerfield itself, which is aiming to undertake several large capital projects throughout the next decade, McGovern said the path to finishing these projects is through grants. The problem is larger towns and cities have full-time grant managers, which means Franklin County communities need to work together or with organizations like the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) to earn this money.
“There’s a lot of federal money and the state has money. How is that money going to be spent?” McGovern said. “We need to be as aggressive as the big cities.”
Speaking afterward, McGovern again hammered the point of investing in infrastructure and how that money could be moved elsewhere.
“Deerfield, like every city and town in Massachusetts, has been here a long, long time. The infrastructure is old … and if they don’t get help, things get worse,” he said. “We need to be working hand-in-hand with them at the state and federal level.”
Although financial difficulties continue to mount for small towns, McGovern praised Deerfield for its long-term revitalization plan and said he will be working with the town to try to find a way to see these ideas through.
“I’m very confident,” McGovern said, “the future here is bright.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.