LEYDEN — Back-to-back Town Meetings Saturday morning will ask voters to approve funding for new Highway Department equipment, the reconstruction of the Avery Field pavilion and the continued buildout of Leyden’s broadband service.
Held outdoors in the front parking lot of Town Hall, a Special Town Meeting will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the Annual Town Meeting immediately following at 9 a.m. Chairs will be placed 6 feet apart. With brief agendas, and articles recommended for approval by the Selectboard and/or Finance Committee, Selectboard Chair Jeffrey Neipp said the meeting could be over in less than two hours.
“There’s nothing really controversial on there,” Neipp said of the warrants.
One article asks the town to transfer $57,800 from the town stabilization account and $60,000 from the highway capital stabilization account to purchase a new backhoe for the Highway Department. Neipp said the current machine has “pretty much reached its life expectancy.” To use stabilization money, Neipp explained, the article requires a two-thirds vote.
Another article requiring a two-thirds vote asks to transfer $30,000 from the town building stabilization account for the demolition and replacement of the Avery Field pavilion. Neipp said the building was originally built for $10,000 roughly 25 year ago.
“This time around we think it will take about $30,000 to replace the bathrooms and roof structure,” Neipp said.
The warrant has multiple articles related to the buildout of Leyden’s broadband service. One article asks voters to allocate roughly $63,000 to put in the town’s broadband construction account. Another asks to appropriate roughly $85,550 “for a Broadband Enterprise Fund operation expense in fiscal year 2021,” $79,634 of which will be funded by user fees.
“We’re anticipating broadband is gonna be up and running in late 2020,” Neipp said.
An unrelated article asks voters to allocate $2,000 to place veterans’ plaques on the town common.
As part of the town’s budget, Neipp said the Selectboard will recommend voters approve Leyden’s contribution of $811,726 toward the Pioneer Valley Regional School District budget. The town’s total proposed operating budget is roughly $1.7 million, an increase of 1.69 percent from the current fiscal year.
According to Neipp, it’s standard practice to hold a Special Town Meeting just before the town’s Annual Town Meeting.
This year’s Special Town Meeting warrant only has three articles. One asks voters to rescind a May 18, 2019 Town Meeting vote to transfer $25,000 from Leyden’s stabilization account to cover expenses incurred from the closure of Pearl Rhodes Elementary School and the repurposing of the building to town office space. Another, which requires a two-thirds vote, asks for a vote to transfer $25,000 from the stabilization account to the broadband construction account. A third asks to consolidate the Historical Commission building and Historical Commission stabilization accounts, totaling $14,832, into the town building stabilization account.
“We expect a good turnout of faithful residents to help us make the decisions necessary to keep our town running during this pandemic,” Neipp said.
According to Neipp, the Selectboard voted to reduce the Special Town Meeting quorum from 25 to 10 for this year only, as allowed by the state. In a normal year, Neipp said Annual Town Meeting draws a crowd of 65 residents, but it has no quorum requirement.
Residents are encouraged to bring umbrellas or sunscreen and their own refreshments. There will be two check-in stations so residents can provide contact tracing information and pick up meeting materials.
West Leyden Road will be closed off from Mid County Road to Town Hall, and entry by vehicle will only be allowed from Greenfield Road in front of the Robertson Memorial Library.
The Special Town Meeting warrant can be viewed at bit.ly/3ercfk8. The Annual Town Meeting warrant can be viewed at bit.ly/2BDaOR1. Or, to view the Leyden budget for fiscal year 2021, visit bit.ly/2NqwimR.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.