Editor’s note: The Greenfield Recorder is publishing stories about what Franklin County residents can likely expect to see happening in their communities in 2024.

Montague, Gill and Erving are ringing in the new year with wide-ranging plans that include everything from considering the reuse of vacant properties to the possibility of merging school districts.

When Montague Town Administrator Steve Ellis thinks of 2024, he pictures “tremendous opportunities and also challenges in transitions.”

At the end of fiscal year on June 30, Ellis plans to step down after serving as town administrator since December 2016. Assistant Town Administrator Walter Ramsey will take his place.

“The biggest transition is that I’ll be leaving my post,” Ellis said. “One of the most important tasks for us here in the Selectboard office this year is to ensure kind of a seamless transition and that’s really what we’re trying to build our process around over the coming six months.”

Another plan for Montague is to use a $975,000 federal award to revitalize Avenue A. The goal is to improve the accessibility and aesthetic of the downtown area.

On the topic of improvements, Montague is seeking a library grant that could be used to pay for the expansion of Carnegie Public Library or construction of a new building. Officials anticipate asking residents during a Town Meeting to provide funding that would support an initial design phase for the project that could receive up to 67% reimbursement from the state.

Another important project is a $2.4 million screw pump replacement at the Clean Water Facility. Funding for the project was through $2.4 million United States Department of Agriculture grant and loan, $860,000 of which is a direct grant.

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“The project is incredibly timely,” Ellis explained. “They’ve not had a substantial reworking in 20 years so this is a major part of ensuring the sustainability and the reliability of a critical environmental service.”

Currently in the works is preparation for the town taking ownership of a 7-acre parcel that was once the Farren Care Center on Montague City Road. Although housing, commercial development and other services have been suggested by residents as potential new uses for the space, there’s no definite plan yet.

“We’ll get a nice, clean, green lot,” Ellis said. “It’s just a significant development opportunity.”

A major project for Montague will be the Strathmore mill complex near the Connecticut River, which Ellis said is moving toward active collapse. To stay ahead of this, he said the town is trying to secure resources for the design of a demolition plan that has already been in the works, but will continue this year with a $163,000 Site Readiness grant the town received from the state.

Long-term, Ellis said the town plans on making the area a reclaimed open space park that would maintain historic features of the buildings that were once standing, while also celebrating Indigenous cultural history, which he said is “central to the community.”

The majority of the project is demolishing the building, which could happen in either a single phase or rapidly successive ones. Ellis said the goal is to secure up to $10 million for the project, with about $8 million being used to remove the facility.

“This is really important land,” Ellis said. “It is our hope and expectation that this mill will be gone and we want to make sure that it is gone before it becomes a threat to the Connecticut River.”

Another major plan for Montague is the refurbishment of Montague Center Park. Ellis said the town will be funding the project using a $340,000 Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant.

In Gill, town officials are working on a long-term partnership with Northfield, Bernardston and Erving for emergency medical services.

“Reliable and timely availability of EMS and ambulance transport is critical for small, rural towns, and is becoming more important as our populations age,” said Town Administrator Ray Purington.

The town is also looking to complete its Complete Streets Prioritization Plan and Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Resiliency Plan, two state-run programs that provide funding for projects involving the safety and accessibility of Gill’s roads while also reducing the impacts of future climate events.

Purington also mentioned the town will be replacing the concrete steps at the Riverside Municipal Building, which is home to the Gill Historical Commission’s museum. The project will be funded by a $5,000 grant from FirstLight Hydro Generating Co.

“Completing the steps project will make it easier for them to reopen the collection to the public,” Purington noted.

Additionally, Gill is recruiting residents to serve on boards and committees that have vacancies to “broaden the number and diversity of minds and bodies working to shape the near-and long-term future of the town of Gill,” Purington said.

Erving Town Planner Mariah Kurtz said town officials have “a lot going on” in 2024, including a project that she’s been working on with the library called “Making it Public,” a selective annual program that awarded the town $15,000 to display public art in Erving.

Near the beginning of 2023, Kurtz went through training alongside Library Director Abby Baines, and at the end of the year, they put out a call for art. Eight proposals were received. This month, Kurtz said they will review the proposals and pick one to move forward with. The artist they pick will then install a temporary sculpture in front of Erving Public Library as part of its summer reading program.

Two other projects that Erving is working on are repaving Maple Avenue and a section of Bridge Street. The town will also be rebuilding a wall on Bridge Street.

Kurtz said the probable cost for the projects will be $750,000, to be funded through a combination of the Winter Recovery Assistance Program (WRAP), Special Project Appropriation and Wastewater Enterprise funding.

Erving has also received a technical assistant grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to pay for a Swamp Road Bridge feasibility study, Kurtz said.

“This was a bridge that was damaged severely in the storms several years ago when we had flooding on Keyup Brook,” Kurtz explained. “The bridge was damaged beyond repair and so it was removed.”

The purpose of this study, she said, is to work with a consultant to consider a replacement bridge.

The Six Town Regionalization Planning Board (STRPB), which includes Gill and Montague along with Bernardston, Leyden, Northfield, Bernardston and Warwick, has also been mentioned by town officials when considering plans in 2024.

Ellis said the decline in student populations in the Gill-Montague and Pioneer Valley regional school districts has motivated the board to research the “educational [and cost] benefits that might be achieved through” merging the districts.

Understanding the benefits while also analyzing the challenges, he said, has concluded. Now, the board is onto the next phase, which entails discussion and consideration of whether a regional agreement and merger is something the communities want to work toward.

“The STRPB’s work has been extensive and exhaustive,” Purington noted. “Whether the merger is recommended to the towns or not, the process has been informative and worthwhile.”