ASHFIELD — Replenishing the Highway Department budget, taking land from Sanderson Academy to fix a retaining wall and authorizing the Selectboard to sell a parcel of town-owned land are among the eight warrant articles coming before Special Town Meeting voters on Tuesday.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

After spending roughly $126,000 on flood mitigation from July’s rainstorms, the Highway Department has spent nearly 85% of its budget, despite being less than halfway through fiscal year 2024. As a result, voters will decide in Article 1 whether to raise and appropriate $130,000 to replenish the Highway Department budget. The state and federal governments have yet to provide financial relief to Ashfield to help pay for repairs of flood damage.

Land ownership

Two votes about land ownership are on tap. Article 8 asks voters to take the land at Sanderson Academy around the retaining wall via the eminent domain process.

Town officials wrote in the warrant explanation that the retaining wall at the old Sanderson Field is beginning to collapse. There is grant funding available to fix it, but the town must own the wall before it can apply for grants.

“The plan is to take the parcel and apply for state funding to rebuild the wall to ensure neither person nor property are harmed,” reads the explanation. The Trustees of Sanderson Academy are in favor of this action.

Article 7 asks voters to declare a parcel of town-owned land on Old Stage Road as surplus and further authorize the Selectboard to sell the piece of land to the highest bidder.

Town Administrator Paul McLatchy III explained the land was taken by the town about 13 years ago due to unpaid taxes. He wrote in an email it is unclear why the parcel was not auctioned off when it was first taken by the town.

Transferring funds

Voters will also decide if they would like to transfer $10,000 from the Police Cruiser Revolving Fund to improve the space where the second cruiser is stored.

For the past several years, the second police cruiser has been parked in an unenclosed bay at the Highway Department. This money would be used to enclose the space to better protect it from the elements and add storage space.

There is currently about $12,257 in the Police Cruiser Revolving Fund. It has an annual spending limit of $3,000.

“Because there have been so many [police] details lately, the town is bringing in more money to this fund than can be spent from it,” McLatchy wrote in an email. “This sort of results in a ‘surplus,’ since it would take [roughly four] years at the current limit to spend that down.”

Articles 3 and 4 ask voters to consider creating a revolving fund for the Fire Department’s collected fees. When the fire chief was a part-time position, these fees originally went toward paying wages. Since July 2021, though, at which time the chief became a full-time position, the fees no longer support wages.

According to McLatchy, there is about $2,500 that could be transferred to a new revolving fund. Money in the account would fund fire education and prevention services.

Article 6 asks voters to transfer $17,419 from the accountant salary line of the budget to a new line called “accounting operations.” Because the former town accountant resigned, this money will be transferred to pay for contracted services that have been used since that resignation. A new accountant has since been hired to handle future responsibilities.

To view the full warrant and explanations, visit bit.ly/47RdSCU.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.