AMHERST — The Town Council could reconsider its rejection of an extra $1 million going toward roads and sidewalks next year, with a councilor making a formal appeal to add half that amount to the town’s capital program.
District 3 Councilor George Ryan, in a memo to his colleagues, is requesting that $500,000 from free cash be allocated to supplement state Chapter 90 money “to address the enormous backlog of road and sidewalk repairs.”
Ryan’s request, which was to have been taken up at the council’s meeting on Monday, comes after councilors deadlocked, 6-6, with one councilor absent, on a $1 million financial order similar to one passed in 2023. Councilors who voted against the appropriation said they were responding, in part, to concerns from parents about money needed for school budgets.
“For many of us on the council, the most frequent complaint we here from constituents involves the condition of our roads and sidewalks,” Ryan said, elaborating that the complaints he has received include road and sidewalk initiatives, which in his district have included Farmington Road, the repaired sidewalk linking Crocker Farm School to the Pomeroy village center, and the Pomeroy village center roundabout.
“These sorts of initiatives are not only long overdue, they also provide residents with a vivid and immediate sense that government on occasion actually works for them,” Ryan wrote.
During a Cuppa Joe meeting last Friday, a periodic gathering in which Town Manager Paul Bockelman is joined by a department head, complaints were brought about the condition of roads in town, with one resident comparing them unfavorably to both Hadley and Leverett. Some of the concern centered on the condition of Blackberry Lane in North Amherst.
Bockelman explained that roadwork is expensive and that he had sought to use the $1 million from free cash, but the council controls the purse strings.
Council President Lynn Griesemer said she expects Ryan’s appeal to be formally voted on Jan. 13, when it would be referred to the Finance Committee for a recommendation. Action could then be taken later in the winter.
Bockelman was joined by Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgrem, who was recently appointed to the permanent position. Stromgren discussed the use of hybrid ambulances and hybrid fire engines, using both diesel and battery, and the two to three years to get new vehicles.
Stromgren also noted that if a new fire station is built on the former Hickory Ridge Golf Course, identified as the best site, losing the downtown presence at the Central Fire Station would be unfortunate. He observed that some of the firefighters like being close to the businesses downtown.
But Stromgren compared the situation to what happened in Northampton 25 years ago, moving its main fire station from Masonic Street in the center of the city out to a King Street location. That move in 1999 came despite pushback from some firefighters.
Griesemer said while some residents have suggested the Central Fire Station be maintained as a substation, that would likely not be financially feasible to staff or for upkeep of the aging building.
