CHARLEMONT — Of Charlemont’s 961 registered voters, 110 made their way to the Hawlemont Elementary School’s gymnasium for the annual Town Meeting on Tuesday. The operating budget, recommended by the Selectboard at $5.1 million and by the Finance Committee at $5.01 million ended up at approximately $5.04 million.
The final budget was the result of discussion and deliberation primarily on police chief’s salary and police wages, the two largest increases in the fiscal year 2027 budget over the current year. The police chief salary, originally requested at $90,000 but ultimately amended and approved at $82,553, represents the largest line item increase. The police chief role has been part-time with a salary currently at $10,744. The position is being made full-time beginning July 1. The original $90,000 vote failed before $82,553 was approved by a 57-22 vote.
For police wages, $140,000 had been requested for two full-time officers at $65,000 a year and $10,000 for overtime and part-time work. The Finance Committee recommended $65,457, enough for one full-time officer. The figure was amended on the floor to $85,000 for one full-time officer at $65,000 and $20,000 for overtime and part-time work after a failed vote on the $140,000. The $85,000 passed on a 41-39 vote.
The Finance Committee read the line items one by one, and if someone wanted further discussion on a line item they would say “hold.” The aforementioned salaries, the fire chief salary, the Assessors/Finance Committee clerk salary, the highway department wages and the Hawlemont Regional School District operating assessment all drew discussion, with all but the police salaries/wages passing with no changes. The rest of the budget, besides the held items, passed unanimously.
Jason Pelletier, the current police chief for Charlemont, a role he has been serving in since 2022, said on the Town Meeting floor that his request for a police chief salary wasn’t about getting himself more money, it was about making the salary competitive with towns across the region.
“Where it’s currently at is nowhere near competitive,” Pelletier said. “The job is essentially all liability and no reward.”
In regards to the police chief salary, multiple residents raised concerns over why this large of a budget increase wasn’t put as a separate article on the warrant, saying that the position is moving from part-time to full-time. Ron Smith, a member of the Finance Committee, said that when the position of town administrator was created in Charlemont, that was its own article, and looked to current Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds for clarification.
Reynolds explained that because the town is not creating a new position it’s not a new budget line, and that Pelletier had been working 40 hours. She said that “salaries are always in the general fund budget,” and that the Selectboard “are the ones who hire and fire.”
After over an hour of discussion, with moderator Bob Handsaker asking if anyone in the crowd had any further comment, a request for paper ballots was made for the vote on the police chief salary. Handsaker began by saying he was going to divide the question, meaning that they would start at the highest number recommended, and if that vote failed, he would entertain a motion for a lower number. After the paper ballot vote determined that the $90,000 salary did not pass, the Finance Committee’s recommendation of $82,553 was introduced which did pass.
Similar discussion followed on the police wages. Residents asked if two full time officers meant that there would be more officers patrolling Main Street, and Lori Merrigan, a resident of Charlemont asked that if the money was approved, “are we going to see the police?”
Pelletier clarified that even though the town will have two full time officers, it will not have a full-time department. He said Shelburne’s Police Department, which has six full-time police officers, is not even a full-time police department. But he said with two full-time officers, they will be more visible.
“The very simple answer is yes to your question,” Pelletier said.
The Finance Committee was asked how they got to the assessment for a full-time officer, to which Chair Amy Wales said that the committee used the Franklin Regional Council of Governments salary survey and included communities of similar size, and then added a 2.8% cost of living adjustment. She noted the Finance Committee “recognizes the need for a full time police officer.”
No paper ballots were used in this voting, and the $140,000 failed on a 50-26 vote. Kyle Sweeney, a police officer with the Charlemont Police Department, recommended the $85,000 figure before going to the Finance Committee’s recommendation, saying that there needed to be space for part-time officers and overtime. This number was ultimately passed.
All other articles on the warrant passed unanimously or with a solid majority, except Article 13 which failed on a voice vote. This article needed a two-thirds majority to pass and did not have a simple majority by voice vote, ultimately being the only article that didn’t pass. The article would have created a special stabilization fund titled “Vehicle and Equipment Stabilization Fund,” which would have been solely for purchasing equipment.
Wales said that the Finance Committee didn’t really see a need to create this, as the stabilization is already pretty much used for equipment. Reynolds told those in the crowd that the reason this article was on the warrant was because all of the department heads requested it.
One slight change was made on the floor to Article 21, which updates Charlemont’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) bylaw. Under the bylaw as written in the warrant, ADU’s can either be 900 square feet or half the size of the primary unit, whichever is smaller. In the amended version, the town removed the language saying the ADU would be half the size, instead saying the maximum size of an ADU could be 900 square feet.
