The Hubbardston Report
June 2020
This Month
Continuing to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak was a primary focus of the Executive Office in June. The Town Administrator, Board of Selectmen, Emergency Director, Public Safety leaders and Board of Health responded to federal, state and local guidance, implementing many measures to combat the deadly disease. Updated information about the town's response can be found on the red emergency banner on the town Web site.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and in consultation with federal, state and local officials, the Town of Hubbardston started it implement a reopening process in June. This included planning for the resumption of town services and the opening of public buildings and spaces. Highlights include:
- Opening the town offices for appointments in early July
- Opening all public open spaces to include playgrounds
- Starting curbside pickup library services
Public safety and town office functions continue despite the closures and limited public hours. Residents are encouraged to interact virtually with all departments and make appointments if business must be conducted in person.
The Executive Office was also busy this month planning the first outdoor Annual Town Meeting in recent memory. Town Officials hosted 132 residents and presided over a Town Meeting Warrant that passed 20 articles. Highlights included passing the Fiscal 2021 Operating Budget, authorizing a CPA borrow to fund the renovation of the Rainbow's End Playground and authorizing a debt exclusion override to repair the Center School Roof. To see an unofficial summary of the Town Meeting, please click here.
The Annual Town Election was also an executive focus in May. Postponed until June 30th, the election was run safely and professionally by Town Clerk Laurie Reed. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 era, residents reported a safe and efficient voting environment. Click here to see the official election results to include the passage of the Center School Roof Debt Exclusion Override.
The Town Administrator gave special recognition to the entire staff in June for their efforts to conduct an Annual Town Meeting and Annual Election and end of year procedures in the COVID-19 environment. Additionally, the Town Administrator thanked the staff for covering down on executive duties during his brief call up with the Army National Guard. Here was one of the many Town Administrator comments given to the Board of Selectmen:
"Our staff is tremendous, all of them."
Hubbardston Fair 2020 COVID-19 edition was a good day to get outside, enjoy some music and get a bite to eat. There was plenty of different artists, crafters and vendors to check out. Everyone did a great job social distancing! We unfortunately did have some rain but that held off until the end of the event. Overall was a good day outside.
Dinghy Dash is Coming!
August 29th, 10am at Brigham pond.
Join Hubbardston in the 3rd Annual Dinghy Dash! Come have a day of fun, competition and laughs as we race cardboard boats made out of nothing but cardboard and duct tape. Open to all to enter, see official rules for details and regulations. Registration is $20 per dinghy. All fees go towards the Special Events Fund for this and future event. Entries due by August 10th
1st prize - $300 gift card
2nd prize - $150 gift card
3rd prize - $75 gift card
Trophy for best sink & most creative vessel
So grab some friends, help promote your business or just have some family fun and enter today!
This Month
Virtual Story Time will be posted once a month for the summer. The guest reader videos on Fridays are still well received, and I have had some interest from the public offering to read books for us. Curbside pickup began June 15th, with about 40 patrons taking advantage of it so far. The patrons who have utilized this service have provided positive feedback about being able to access the library’s collection and they are all looking forward to when the library will be reopening. Pending approval from the Trustees, we are hoping to reopen at the end of July with limited hours, and continue the curbside pickup option on Mondays and Thursdays.
For 2020, the Library Road Race Committee has decided to make the Road Race virtual this year. The racers will run their own 5K race and submit their times via email to Mark Wigler before September 12th. The application form is on our website. We have had a strong response from our runners so far.
In July, Miss Michelle has suggested that we offer simple STEM/Craft kits for parents to pick up at the library. And our the majority of our summer programming events are being moved to our Facebook page with either prerecorded videos or Facebook live options. We are excited to be able to offer additional programming this summer to our patrons.
We would like to extend our thanks for her service to outgoing Trustee Heather Bourque and greet our newest Trustee Krista Goguen.
In closing, I want to thank our library patrons for their patience and understanding during this pandemic. They have been happy to have access to the library collection, and have reminded with their positive outlook us why we love working at the Hubbardston Library.
This Month
Our focus in June was been repairing roads. This included grading dirt roads and adding millings to town trouble spots like Mount Jefferson Road, Lombard Road, Birches Road, Old Princeton Road and Mile Road.
The Gardner Road (Route 68) resurfacing project is going on and will continue through the summer. The Evergreen Road Bridge reconstruction project has started and is going well. We expect this necessary repair to cause a detour for 18 months.
This month’s equipment and repairs include undercoating the 2015 Freightliner, the new Oshkosh and the 2009 Sterling
Next Month
The Chapter 90 Paving Projects for this year will start on July 13th for Flag, Hale Road Extension and parts of Mt. Jefferson and Williamsville Roads.
The Route 62 Culvert/Bridge project is scheduled to begin in July and will result in significant detours.
This Month
Most of the month of June was spent preparing, printing, and enveloping our FY21 Preliminary Real Estate Tax Bills. These were mailed on June 30th and will be due on August 3rd. Please note that at this time the Collector’s office is still closed to the public due to the Covid-19 virus. Please make payments by mail, online using our Unipay system, or by leaving in the secure lockbox outside the Town Clerk’s office. If you would like a receipt, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a receipt will be mailed to you. If you would like, we will be making a limited amount of appointments for tax payments or other purposes. Please call the Collector’s Office at 978-928-1400 x 205 if you would like an appointment.
Next Month
Demand notices will be sent for 2020 Real Estate and Excise tax. These were payments that were due between March and June. The Selectmen had waived interest and fees through June 29 because of the Coronavirus.
This Month
The department continues to follow state and local official, as well as Heywood Hospital for the latest information on handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently the fire department is adequately supplied with PPE.
Emergency responses for the month of June are up by 30 percent over last year’s numbers.
Full department training has resumed on both the fire and EMS sides with social distancing guidelines in place.
June Statistics
Calls:
Fire 12
EMS 35
Public Service 6
Haz-Mat 0
Vehicle Accidents 6
Alarm activation 5
Total Calls 64
Inspections:
3 Residential smoke/CO
Staffing:
1 Fire Chief/Paramedic
2 Full time Firefighter/Paramedics
2 Full time Firefighter/EMT
2 Call Firefighter/Paramedics
4 Call Firefighter/EMT
1 Call Firefighter
2 Per Diem Firefighter/Paramedics
14 Total
Two of our Community Emergency Response Team members assisted with parking and traffic control at our unique Annual Town Meeting that was held at Curtis Field this year. Emergency Management took possession of a Conex box that was acquired through grant funding. This will allow us to centralize and store more supplies that can be used for setting up a shelter and responding to other events. Work was also continued on filing paperwork to seek reimbursement on expenditures made in dealing with the response to the to the Corvid-19 crisis
After a long quarantine, the Parks were excited to reopen the Curtis Recreational Fields on June 8th. Please remember to play safely with social distancing and plenty of hand washing!!
The Parks Commission would like to thank everyone who came out to the Annual Town Meeting and voted to support funding to replace the Rainbows End Playground. This is an exciting project moving into the new year and the Grant Applications have already been filed. We wait patiently for a grant decision that should come around Dec 2020.
The irrigation system is up and running at the recreational fields with running times early mornings on Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. Please be mindful that if we lose power this alters the running time and it may go off while you are there. If this happens please notify the town so we can adjust it...thank you in advance!!
Parks is hopeful to have Porta Potties and organized sports back on track this Fall.
This Month
The Commission met this month on June 10. Notice of Intent Hearing was held for 106 Old Princeton Rd for the new single family home and an order of conditions was issued. Over the month of June there two complaint calls received in which Tony went out to inspect. One complaint was completed was without finding and one complaint the Commission is working with property owner to rectify.
Since our last report, the BOH has done all meetings remotely, but septic inspections have continued routinely by Catherine Hansgate, board chair and inspector. Monitoring of restaurants, and places selling food has been done as needed by Kate Saab, and Cathy Hansgate. All food places in Hubbardston have followed the state guidelines, under the COVID rules.
There are now 2 cases of EEE in relatively nearby towns. Please spray yourselves to prevent mosquito bites. Empty buckets and other things that can hold stagnant water to prevent hatching of more mosquitoes. Avoid outside activities at dusk and dawn.
The recycling center will be open Saturday, July 11 from 8-12. Please bring your metal recycling and other items such as oil, during that time.
A thank you to everyone in town for your diligence in following the state guidelines to keep yourselves and your neighbors free of COVID. Let's keep doing the right thing until we have a vaccine.
This Month
The Board of Assessor’s has successfully implemented Zoom meetings in an effort to comply with the current COVID-19 situation.
The preliminary billing file was completed and sent to VADAR and back to the Collector’s Office. Much appreciation to Christina Sutcliffe who was very instrumental in coordinating efforts between the Hubbardston Assessor’s office, VADAR, and Vision to help work out bugs that appear to have resulted due to the recent conversion of Vision 6.5 to Vision 8.
Work is continuing on the annual interim revaluation. This process will last until final value and tax rate is set later this Fall.
The assessor’s staff continues to work primarily from home during the COVID-19 crisis. However, plans are underway to begin staffing the Assessor’s office on a staggered hours basis. More on this to follow. Christina Sutcliffe has been monitoring all phone calls and office emails, as well as regular mail. Between Christina Sutcliffe and George Bourgault, all inquires are being addressed within a reasonable timeframe, usually between 24 to 48 hours.
Ongoing assessor’s activities for July, August and September include but are not limited to the following:
- Building permit inspections and review
- Motor vehicle excise
- Periodic/Cyclical property inspections.
- Reviewing real estate sales, interim revaluation.
- Assessor admin training provided by RRG staff
he Senior Center and all our volunteers have been very busy distributing food and household items every week. The Montachusetts Opportunity Council (MOC) has been instrumental preparing home meals twice a week. We have also supplied our Seniors with Meat products and other household items. Heywood Hospital delivers non-perishable Items such as cereals, pasta, canned sauces etc. to our Senior Center for weekly delivery. Growing Places from Leominster delivers perishables to our center for distribution every week also. We package and distribute food every Monday, Thursday and Friday Mornings. Thanks to our Many Volunteers, who are here every week to help.
WE have been doing a lot of outreach by phone to our seniors to make sure they are doing well.
We would like to thank Darlene from our Friends Group. She has written and received three grants to help us through this pandemic. She has received approximately $10,000 in grant monies for the Senior Center.
We are working on the reopening plan for the Senior Center and will have additional information in July.
This Month
In the month of June, the Planning Board Office worked on the following objectives:
- There was one virtual Planning Board meeting in the month of June. To see that video please go here.
- The Planning Board has been working with MRPC with regards to the Master Plan Chapters that are still slated to be worked on this year (albeit remotely).
- The Planning Board Office worked to remotely distribute and sign two ANR applications.
- In addition to these items, the Planning Board Office worked on the other documentation to support Planning Board meetings.
Next Month
The Planning Board Office will be working on:
- Posting and reviewing applications for Full Member and Associate Members positions.
- Continue updating the Planning Board Website for improved information and efficiency.
- Continued cooperation with MRPC and town boards to move the Master Plan forward.
- Starting 7/16 to reintegrate files and working into the Planning Board Office while continuing to work remotely part of the week.
This Month
The Building Department is working remotely as of now. The admin rolled out the new software View Permit and is now imputing all incoming permits via online portal. The system will be going live on 7/13/2020! The building department was very busy with incoming permits and inspections which have still been taking place virtually.
During this time of crisis and uncertainty, it has been heartening to see the huge increase in activity at Hubbardston’s conservation properties and other local open land over the past several months. We are fortunate to have these areas that allow us the outlet that spending time with nature affords. We have met people from Hubbardston, surrounding towns, and from as far away as Townsend and Connecticut, who are out hiking, bicycling, picnicking, horseback riding, or just sitting and enjoying the view. We hope the increased use of our local natural resources will continue as we cautiously enter the next stage of recovery from the pandemic.
Despite being unable to meet publicly due to pandemic restrictions, the Open Space Committee nonetheless has been active during this time with trail maintenance, planning, and working to continue projects started before the pandemic.
One of the most important of these is the work to obtain a Conservation Restriction (CR) on the Malone Conservation area. The area was created in 2008 partially using funds from the Hubbardston Community Preservation Fund One of the state legal requirements for this type of funding was that a Conservation Restriction be created and placed on the property to protect it in perpetuity from development and misuse. Committee member Mark Kresge created the required Baseline Documentation Report required for the CR, mapped the area, supervised its boundary marking, and worked with North County Land Trust’s Jassy Bratko, a Hubbardston resident, to draft the CR. This document then required approval from the Conservation Commission, the Select Board, and the state Division of Conservation Services (DCS). The restriction ensures this conservation area can be enjoyed by generations to come. Another project started last year was the creation of a Monarch butterfly “Way Station” at the Malone Conservation Area.
Hubbardston Girl Scout Troop 11809, led by scout leaders Katie Young and Deb Kaijala, worked with committee member Susan Worth, to begin this work last year as an addition to the wildflower/pollinator garden next to the Malone Road Conservation Area parking lot. They received a grant from the Monarch Watch organization that provided them with milkweed plants, a favorite source of nutrition for Monarchs on their annual migrations. These were planted this spring by the troop and going forward, they will monitor, record, and report Monarch activity at the site.
Among other activities committee member Todd Livdahl has been representing us on the town’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness planning meetings. Committee members have also been attending live educational webinars on a variety of conservation and ecological topics such as stewarding town land, land protection, farmland protection, the Community Preservation Act, agroforestry, silviculture, invasive plant species, and apicology (all about bees).
About Us
Email: admin@hubbardstonma.us
Website: www.hubbardstonma.us
Location: 7 Main Street, Hubbardston, MA, USA
Phone: 978-928-1400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TownofHubbardston/
Twitter: @hubbardstonma