Hamilton Select Board Approves $1.45 Million in ARPA Funds for Water, COVID Response

HAMILTON -- December 6, 2021, Hamilton Select Board unanimously commits $1.45 million in federal ARPA funds to water treatment and COVID response. The board voted 5-0 to allocate $1.4 million toward a granular activated carbon pre-treatment plant upgrade that had gone over budget in two previous bid rounds, with Town Manager Joe Gilmore warning that only three regional contractors do the work and that the current bid expires at year's end. A separate unanimous vote authorized up to $50,000 for ongoing COVID contact tracing and vaccination operations after state funding for contact tracing expired in October. A proposed one-time premium pay plan for town employees who worked through the pandemic was pulled without a vote after a municipal finance director in a neighboring community warned that the ARPA law's income-based guidelines may not cover most Hamilton employees; the town is retaining outside accounting firm Powers and Sullivan to review eligibility. The board also approved a design-and-bid process for a backflow prevention valve at Asbury Grove, estimated at $100,000, and appointed Hamilton-Wenham high school senior Luke McMahon as a non-voting student liaison to the board.