Blandford Select Board Approves Transfers, Contracts Ahead of Town Meeting

BLANDFORD -- June 3, 2024, Blandford Select Board clears contracts and year-end transfers ahead of a town meeting warrant review. The board unanimously approved two Pioneer Valley Planning Commission invoices totaling $2,863.74 for the town's Community Assistance Program housing rehabilitation work, and approved a town administrator contract amendment raising annual compensation from $33,000 to $34,800 for fiscal year 2025. A series of year-end line transfers, including a $10,000 shift from an unused veterans benefits account to town hall maintenance and roughly $5,600 moved to highway vehicle fuel, were approved with the fiscal year closing deadline around July 9. The board voted 2-1 to participate in a Chester-Blandford shared fire department study with a $250 in-kind municipal match, with one member stating flatly, "I don't want to spend my money." An unresolved invoice from an architectural firm for town building schematic design work, with $63,000 billed and no deliverables received, was flagged for immediate review, with Chair Jacqueline Coury noting, "I've never seen anything."