Boards Petition Baystate to Postpone ER Closure
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• LOCAL NEWS LOCAL STORIES LOCAL ADVERTISERS • E WARE REGION FOR 1 ING TH 29 YE SERV ARS Vol. 135 No. 6 12 Pages (Plus Supplements) USPS 666100 $31 PER YEAR - $1.00 A COPY THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021 www.warerivernews.turley.com A TURLEY PUBLICATION ❙ www.turley.com Boards petition Baystate to postpone ER closure USDA deems sewer By Eileen Kennedy Baystate’s communications around Staff writer the closure of the ER and medical services as “terrible.” agreement WARE – SelectBoard mem- “From our legislatures to our bers met quickly Monday night local leaders to the region’s resi- to approve a letter that will ask dents, the suddenness of the clo- buyout Baystate Health officials to postpone sure announcement left no room for the closure of the Mary Lane sat- planning or discussion of options ellite emergency facility until June and timing,” the letter reads. “The essential 2022, a year later than Baystate has community has loyally supported proposed. SelectBoard members the Mary Lane facility for decades. Town offers from Hardwick and West Brookfield The legislators have provided sup- as well as the Ware Business & port for Baystate operations. The Eagle Hill $1.8 mil Civic Association will also be asked mistreatment and betrayal shown to end it to sign the letter. by the lack of communication by The letter will also be signed by Baystate was unwarranted and By Paula Ouimette state Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, unacceptable. It was shocking. We Staff Writer State Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren, request that Baystate immediate- and State Rep. Donald Berthiaume, ly and openly include the region’s HARDWICK – The Board R-Spencer. leaders in discussion and planning of Selectmen held a joint meet- The letter also requests the emer- moving forward.” ing with the Sewer Commission gency helicopter landing area on and the Finance Committee on the site be kept and maintained and Monday, March 8, via Microsoft demands a meeting as soon as pos- Sudden closure It also points out the sudden Teams. After much discussion, sible with Baystate officials to dis- closure “does not leave towns and the board voted to send a let- cuss the proposed closure in greater residents adequate time to cre- ter to Eagle Hill School offer- detail. The letter details the commu- File photo ate alternate plans for emergency ing it $1.8 million to end the nities are requesting Baystate pay The Ware SelectBoard agreed to sign a letter asking Baystate Health officials to postpone closing Mary health and amendments to budgets years-long sewer system agree- for a community planning process to Lane’s satellite emergency facility for a year. The company wants to close it by this June and the letter and operations needed to provide ment between the town and the determine the best property use, and requests it be delayed until June 2022. ongoing services. Baystate should school. The USDA has told the they provide details about what is delay this closure for several town its $27 million grant for wrong with the building. June, depending on state regulatory Baystate has said it would demolish towns have to plan for emergency months to cooperatively address all a new sewer system will be in In late January, Baystate Health hearings, and the remainder of its the building and tidy the site, then services as the hospital closes. the impacts this change will have. jeopardy if the agreement is not CEO Dr. Mark Keroack and medical services would end in 18 give it the town for green space, or We request that Baystate please ended. Baystate Health Eastern Region Communications months. Emergency medical care work with the town on another use if keep the ER open through June of Years ago the school paid President Molly Gray announced will be available at Baystate Wing that is what officials want. In requesting a meeting with 2022.” its sewer bills in advance so Mary Lane’s emergency services Hospital in Palmer and at Baystate Local officials and area state leg- Baystate officials be held as soon the town would have money at and cancer care would end by this Medical Center in Springfield. islators have decried the lack of time as possible the letter describes Please see MLH, page 5 that time to fix the sewer sys- tem between the school and Gilbertville. However, engineers currently designing a new sys- tem in that area, as a result of the town receiving a multi-mil- Quaboag proposes Residents beautify town streets lion grant to fix the town’s sewer system, say there are issues within that line and at the By Eileen Kennedy joint where the town’s system Staff writer 1.24% budget increase meets the school’s systems. Over 30 people attended the ing on Monday, March 15, at 6:30 WARREN – Despite the Budget hearing to p.m., via Zoom. virtual meeting, including resi- nippy weather early Saturday dents, representatives from the The total budget, which morning volunteers got their be held March 15 includes the operating and capital USDA, DPG Engineering LLC, garbage bags from the center RCAP Solutions and Eagle Hill By Eileen Kennedy budgets, is proposed to increase by of town or in West Warren, then School. Town Administrator Staff writer an overall 1.11%, according to the headed out to make the town a presentation. The total proposed Theresa Cofske turned the meet- prettier place. ing over to DPC Engineering WARREN – The Quaboag budget is $18,852,789 compared John Fijol, and his wife, LLC Project Manager Justin Regional School Committee held to this year’s $18,644,959, a differ- Carrie Plante-Fijol, and their Skelly, and President Dave an informational session Monday ence of $207,830. friend, Sarah Tetreault, decided Prickett, along with DPC’s on the district’s fiscal 2022 bud- Warren’s assessment is expected to hold the event after hearing financial expert, James Rivers. get, which proposes about a to be $3,809,816, an increase of many complaints about trash 1.24% increase in the total oper- $134,078 over this year, and West along the town’s roadways. ating budget over this year. There Brookfield’s assessment is expect- They got 400 trash bags Project upgrades were about 25 people attending the ed to be $3,903,420, a difference donated and they had two plac- Skelly outlined the work meeting, which included School of $178,675, over this year. The es to drop off the bags – at the needed to be done to complete Committee members and school assessments also include above the old train station in the center the town’s wastewater systems officials. minimum contribution amounts of of town and at the traffic lights upgrades project. Skelly said The School Committee will $543,159 for Warren and $374,139 in West Warren on Jim Allard’s the Gilbertville Water Pollution hold a formal budget hearing and property. Control Facility is “well over- take a vote on it during a meet- Please see BUDGET, page 2 due for an upgrade,” and while both Wheelwright’s WPCF Please see CLEAN-UP, page 6 and the Eagle Hill sewer sys- tem have been updated more recently, both of the systems are Majority of WMS students to “inadequate.” New headworks will be added to the Gilbertville and Wheelwright sites to help be in schools by late March remove rags and flushable wipes that can cause major blockage There will also be 30 addition- problems. Skelly said the most Kindergarteners and al students returning to WMS for recent upgrade, the Eagle Hill in-person instruction after the third Sewer System, “really led to first-graders to join marking period ends, she said. some unfortunate situations in them in SMK All of these students fit in WMS town.” with six feet between each student Prickett said of the Eagle By Eileen Kennedy and six feet between the teachers Hill Sewer System, “Despite it’s and their students, DiLeo said. Staff writer Sarah Tetreault and friends John Fijol, and his small size, it certainly has the Ware Junior Senior High School wife, Carrie Plante-Fijol, in the center of town most challenges.” He said those WARE – School Superintendent students were scheduled to begin Saturday morning as they handed out trash challenges include blockages, Dr. Marlene DiLeo told the Ware attending school for two full days bags for volunteers to fill with trash collected backups within the system, low School Committee at its March 3 per week on March 8, instead of from town streets. pumping rates and odor con- meeting that fourth and fifth-grad- two partial days. The students are trol. Reasons for these issues, also attending Wednesdays in per- Prickett said, are likely caused ers at Ware Middle School were Turley Publications courtesy photos attending in-person school five son as well, and cohorts take turns by five factors: internal diameter days a week after the school was attending three days a week, she of the force main; system-head prepared for their arrival. The said. LEFT: David and Patty Gancorz pick up trash curve hydraulics and pumps; sixth-graders are set to join them along New Reed Street. on March 26, she said. Please see RETURN, page 2 Please see SEWER, page 3 Inside this edition: COMMUNITY EDUCATION SPORTS Connect with us Viewpoints................ 4 Ware tree Hannah Ware Sports ....................... 7 planting Fanelli victorious Obituaries ................. 8 begins a awarded over new scholarship Agawam Public Safety ............. 9 Public Notices ......... 10 Page 3 Page 5 Page 7 WareRiverNews Classifieds............... 11 Page 2, Ware River News, March 11, 2021 Ware River News Regional Ambulance Committee Obituary Policy Each week the Ware River News digs into its submitted photo archives and selects will await SelectBoard decisions Turley Publications a people photo to publish.