The Board of Public Works is considering setting aside $1 million a year in water and sewer enterprise funds to tackle infrastrucure repairs and upgrades that have been ignored over the years. NORTHAMPTON – Water and sewer rates for the next fiscal year could rise from 7 to 12 percent – or even more – [...]

What Can the City Do When the Municipal Landfill’s Largest Customer Stops Hauling In Trash and Starts Its Own Waste Transfer Station? Reduce Prices and Hope Business Picks Up. NORTHAMPTON — The region’s biggest waste hauler has stopped dumping trash at the city’s regional landfill on Glendale Road, and public works officials here are trying [...]

NORTHAMPTON — A task force that’s spent the last five months developing options for handling the city’s trash and recycling in the coming years heard from city residents at a public forum Monday night. Changes are afoot because the city’s regional landfill on Glendale Road is slated to close in mid-2012. Disposal costs for residents [...]

If the $1.3 million FEMA grant falls through, the Friends will be ready to jumpstart their stalled anti-demolition activity. NORTHAMPTON – The grassroots effort to save the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam from demolition cost city water ratepayers $19,000 in extra charges from one engineering firm, the Board of Public Works (BPW) learned this week. City [...]

The WW2 Club Gets Permits for Outdoor Patio Drinking and a License Pledge NORTHAMPTON – The World War II club on Conz Street has been granted an extension of premises for its liquor license to allow patrons to take their drinks outside to the patio. The License Commission granted the permit with a 2-0 vote Wednesday, [...]

With deed in hand, the Tremaine family is happy in their new Park Hill Road home  NORTHAMPTON – Six months after arriving here for his new job at the VA and quickly finding a house he thought was perfect for him and his family, Richard Tremaine is now the proud owner of the “Landfill House” [...]

State DOR invalidates $500K transfer from free cash to buy 127 acres in Whately, says City Council’s Dec. 2 vote must be redone after city finances are certified next month. *** NORTHAMPTON – It seemed last week that, despite vigorous questioning from a couple of city councilors, the Water Department’s planned purchase of 127 acres [...]

Water Department crews found and fixed the 200-gallon-a-minute leak under Ryan Road Thursday morning. The gusher was spilling 9 percent of the city’s daily water use into the ground, and no one knew it. NORTHAMPTON – The six-man Water Department crew was out bright and early Thursday morning, digging up the pavement at the intersection [...]

Despite 11th-hour pleas by a group that wanted to save the 127-year-old dam, the BPW opted to tear down the leaky stone structure and restore the stream above it. *      *      * NORTHAMPTON – In a 5-0 vote last night, the Board of Public Works (BPW) dashed the hopes of dozens of vocal city residents who [...]

Armed with a small computer and two sophisticated listening devices, an Ohio contractor searched for water-pipe leaks throughout the city. He found a break on Ryan Road that was spilling about 288,000 gallons a day, about 9 percent of the city’s average daily use.   NORTHAMPTON – It took about a month for “leak detective” [...]

Before the 7-0 vote, Councilor Jesse Adams warned proponents of hydropower that they have an uphill fight to make their case. But supporter Joseph Misterka said he was encouraged by the roomful of “yesses.” *** NORTHAMPTON – It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for restoring the Chesterfield Road dam, but the City Council did vote [...]

“LANDFILL HOUSE” SALE APPROVED NORTHAMPTON – The city-owned home at 981 Park Hill Road will soon be occupied by VA administrator Richard Tremaine and his family, although he will be renting the house, at least for a while. On Monday, the Board of Public Works voted 6-0 to accept Tremaine’s high offer of $381,500 for [...]

King Street Church Wants Big Parish Hall; Hearing on Thursday NORTHAMPTON — The Catholic church formerly known as Sacred Heart — renamed St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in January — will go before three city committees on Thursday night in its bid to tear down two buildings and construct a new, 14,000 square-foot parish hall and [...]

BPW chairman Terry Culhane wants his board to decide, once and for all, whether to take down the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam. And he’s scheduling a meeting before the City Council takes its final vote on a resolution to save the dam using micro-hydro. Has time run out for the Friends of the Dam? NORTHAMPTON [...]

City councilors agreed Thursday to postpone until Oct. 21 the first reading on a resolution to save the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam by Using Micro-Hydro Power ____________________________ NORTHAMPTON — The Friends of the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam turned out in force Thursday night, hoping for a City Council expression of support for their efforts to save [...]