Hampden Select Board Clears Five-Bay Fire Station for Bidding Process

HAMPDEN — June 8, 2026 — Hampden Select Board authorizes fire station bid documents, approves $1.45 million water borrowing in busy June 8 session. The board voted unanimously to direct the building committee and its architects to finalize bid documents for a five-bay metal-frame fire station addition to be placed on the south side of the existing station, a plan that will eliminate roughly eight parking spaces adjacent to the old town hall parcel. The committee's architect acknowledged the project has consumed approximately $500,000 in soft costs over roughly 10 years of development and warned that further delays would erode the $8.3 million town meeting appropriation. The board also approved a $1.45 million Statehouse note through Unibank at 3.25 percent — the sole bidder — to fund completion of the water district expansion, with engineers from Tighe and Bond confirming roughly half of the district's homes are now fully connected. In police staffing, the board extended a conditional offer to Amanda Rivera, a co-response clinician who has been embedded with the department for five months, contingent on completion of the September 21 police academy; the board also authorized the highway department to post a new internal supervisory position and appointed Clark Kadis as a transfer station attendant substitute.