SOUTH HADLEY — An effort backers said would show that the town is taking concrete actions to address systemic racism by reallocating about $93,000 from the police department budget to the schools failed to muster enough votes at the annual Town Meeting this month.
The meeting, held June 9, took place in a drive-in format amid the COVID-19 pandemic — the second such Town Meeting. The warrant articles, all of which passed, included a $53.57 million town budget request for the coming fiscal year, the purchase of 20.7 acres of land on the Mount Holyoke range in order to conserve it, the acceptance of River Lodge Road as town property, and several capital expenditures using free cash.
The most contested item up for discussion was an amendment a group proposed that would have reallocated $93,288 from the police department budget to the Mosier Elementary School Stabilization Fund.
Town Meeting member Adam Reid, who introduced the ultimately unsuccessful amendment, said that the Black Lives Matter movement has called for concrete actions to address systemic racism.
“This requires a reallocation of funds at the federal, state and local level from policing and incarceration to long-term safety strategies such as education, local restorative justice services and employment programs,” Reid said. “Yet instead we’re seeing an increase in the police budget in South Hadley for at least the second year in a row.”
Among those speaking in favor of the amendment was Trevor Baptiste, who said he enjoys the help of the Police Department but there is way too much support of the police as a way to “protect South Hadley from Black and brown people.” Baptiste, who is himself Black, said the benefit of reallocating the funds to education would outweigh any potential harm from taking that money from the police department.
“Our money would be much better spent on our children and our future,” he said.
Others rose to speak in opposition to the proposal. Raymond Rondeau, who is white, said he had never seen racism in South Hadley.
“Rather than cutting the police budget … we need to salute the police and call for unity amongst all of our people,” he said.
Another Town Meeting member, Marilyn Ishler, a former Select Board member, said she opposed the amendment and would like to see proof positive of problems within the Police Department. She said that during the five decades she has lived in town, she has seen the police department improve.
“I have seen the Police Department go from a group of racist gentlemen to a group of very fair, caring ladies and gentlemen,” Ishler said.
Ira Brezinski, another member and former Select Board member, said that as an older white male he doesn’t see racism every day in South Hadley, but that it’s absolutely present, whether intentional or institutional. He said he agreed with most of what the amendment’s supporters had said, but that he would oppose the change for process reasons because the amendment was never brought up over the six months that municipal officials were crafting the budget in public meetings.
Ultimately, the amendment was defeated with 34 members voting in favor and 47 against. The budget passed soon after that discussion. The new budget represents a 3% increase over the current fiscal year, with the school budget up 2.3%.
Other items that passed included spending $197,700 from unreserved free cash to purchase and conserve a 20.7-acre parcel of land adjoining the Lithia Springs Reservoir, several purchases in the schools and Police Department from unreserved free cash, and $485,000 from the town’s wastewater treatment plant enterprise account to repair the plant’s roof and replace a generator.
Town Meeting also approved the possibility of spending $150,000 in free cash to help the state complete the purchase of an easement that would allow for the permanent protection of the working 210-acre Lauzier Farm on Alvord Street for agricultural use only. The town will try to fundraise that money first, however, and the ultimate use of town funds for that project would still require approval from the Select Board, Appropriations Committee and Conservation Committee.
A proposal for the town to take control of a portion of River Lodge Road also passed. Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said that the town’s acceptance is based on the current owners — Meredith Properties, which owns Riverboat Village apartments — taking several steps beforehand, including demonstrating that they indeed have complete ownership over that part of the road.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.