GREENFIELD — City Council rejected seven of the 18 capital requests for fiscal year 2024 that were considered Wednesday night, including several from police and a $160,000 appropriation to replace the membrane roof at the current library.

In a meeting at the John Zon Community Center that continued past midnight, City Council also rejected a request to appropriate $55,000 from free cash for the milling and overlay paving of the Legion Avenue parking lot, a project that also failed to receive funding support from City Council last spring.

A handful of the decisions, including the majority vote to reject funding for the Legion Avenue lot, were guided by councilors’ hope the mayor would submit new financial orders for the same projects at a later date, drawing instead from other sources so as to leave more free cash available for the School Department, which saw $1.5 million in cuts to the superintendent’s proposed operating budget.

“We’re hoping [the financial order] could come back in a different form, but there’s no guarantee on either side of that,” said City Council President Dan Guin. “When we make these thoughts, we’re micromanaging the executive side. … They don’t have to follow our recommendation.”

Capital requests for the upcoming fiscal year totaled $40.9 million, according to the FY24 budget book. Some of the requests approved by City Council included financial orders to authorize borrowing $470,000 to buy an ambulance and $290,000 for a road treatment truck. City Council also rejected an appropriation of $80,000 from free cash to support the installation of bocce courts, given that the Community Preservation Committee had recommended it be paid for through Community Preservation Act funding.

Police Department requests

Other financial orders that failed to receive council support include a $575,000 borrowing request for the Police Station’s proposed upgrades, which would fund locker room improvements to address a lack of space for current and future female employees. The request received unanimous negative recommendations from both the Ways & Means Committee and the Capital Improvements Committee.

“I think … we all realized that what had been voted last year had not been touched,” said At-Large Councilor Christine Forgey. “There had not been any upgraded plans. There had not been any attempts to move forward at all on the project.”

Last year, City Council authorized the borrowing of up to $904,000 for upgrades to the High Street station that included an expansion of the dispatch center; addressing water infiltration issues to prevent further water and mold damage; locker room improvements that included creating gender-neutral changing and shower/toilet rooms; and — most controversially — construction of a new sally port to address safety issues and a lack of storage in the building.

During a Ways & Means Committee meeting on March 29, Deputy Police Chief William Gordon acknowledged the delay in progress on projects proposed by the department last year.

“This year, the priority for the town was to work on the library and the fire [station],” Gordon said. “We work with Pacheco Ross, which is the same agency working for the Fire Department.”

Gordon explained the architecture firm was initially unable to accommodate design requests from the Police Department while it managed the new fire station and new library, both of which are under construction on Main Street. The firm is now working with the city on plans for the station on High Street, he said.

Gordon said he’s “crossing his fingers” now for a July 1 start date for dispatch center improvements and addressing water infiltration issues.

At the same Ways & Means Committee meeting, Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. explained to councilors that of the borrowing previously authorized, the department is currently working with $185,000 for the dispatch improvements, $11,000 for securing site utilities and $105,000 for water infiltration.

The $575,000 request for FY24, meanwhile, is an acknowledgment that the department won’t get to the locker room project within the current fiscal year, he said.

There was some confusion among councilors on Wednesday, however, as to why more authorization was needed for the upcoming fiscal year if the authorized borrowing amount this year could potentially cover the cost of the locker rooms. A City Council vote to authorize borrowing does not equate to money spent but rather allows borrowing up to a certain amount for a determined number of years.

Ultimately, City Council voted unanimously against the borrowing authorization. Two subsequent capital requests from the Police Department — both of which pertained to acquiring new vehicles — received more varied opinions, though both were ultimately rejected by a majority.

“I don’t want police officers to not have the equipment they need to do their jobs on a daily basis,” Forgey said in favor of a request for $186,238 to replace three vehicles. “I will not impede their process.”

Other councilors felt like the latter of the requests, which sought $62,180 from capital stabilization to replace a vehicle with a pickup truck that would be outfitted to carry the equipment needed for barricades or other road closure equipment, was more of a want than a need.

“I don’t want to make this a political thing,” said Precinct 1 Councilor Katherine Golub. “I don’t want to be retaliatory against the police. I don’t want to have to do that. [This request] was presented as more of a want than a need.”

Mayor addresses Chief Haigh’s absence

Although Haigh wasn’t present at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner addressed rumors circulating on the status of the chief’s employment.

“Chief Haigh has returned from [Family and Medical Leave Act] leave as of April 13,” Wedegartner said. “He has returned to full duty without restrictions.”

Chief of Staff Dani Letourneau explained that Haigh was on vacation in early March and returned to work briefly before leaving under FMLA.

In the wake of staffing challenges that temporarily reduced overnight coverage by the Police Department, Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock asked that in the future, councilors be informed if and when the police chief is out of the office for an extended period of time.

“I do think it’s important that councilors have accurate information,” she said. “We don’t need to know it’s FMLA.”

Letourneau countered that this was “out of the scope of the City Council.”

Wedegartner added that Haigh was available for negotiations that led to an agreement with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to help provide staffing to restore 24-hour coverage by the Greenfield Police Department. That agreement went into effect on Sunday.

Still, councilors who had received questions from the public about Haigh’s whereabouts echoed Bullock’s request.

“I think some of the councilors would just like information because it makes us look like we don’t know when people call me and say, ‘Is this happening?’” Guin said. “I’m not asking for inside information, just an answer we can give the public.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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