CHARLEMONT — The town is in line to buy a much-needed fire truck and is exploring creating a regional fire district with neighboring Rowe after voters approved both items at annual Town Meeting on Tuesday night.

In a four-hour meeting, voters supported purchasing a fire engine for the town, with a floor amendment increasing the approved borrowing amount for the new truck from $150,000 to $250,000. They also approved petitioning the state Legislature to create a regional fire district shared with Rowe.

The 91 voters in attendance approved all articles acted upon, including a $4.6 million budget, adopting a short-term rental bylaw, and new equipment and organizational structure for the Fire Department. Articles 15, 20 and 29 were withdrawn.

Article 16 on the warrant asked voters to approve borrowing $250,000 to add to $200,000 approved by voters at Town Meeting in 2024. Fire Chief Dennis Annear said the town desperately needed a new engine, as the Charlemont Fire Department was down to its last working truck, a 1996 international.

“At some point you have to cough up the money and buy a fire truck,” Annear said. “But it’s just a bandaid.”

Annear said the department could not wait any longer to purchase a truck. Last year voters were asked to approve $800,000 to purchase a new engine, voters rejected the number, and lowered it to $200,000.

Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds said she has spent years seeking grants and federal earmarks to purchase an engine. She had gotten a earmark in the FY26 federal budget, but has since been informed it has been cut and those funds no longer exist.

Throughout discussion on the engine, voters also brought up article 23, petitioning the state Legislature to create a regional fire district shared between Charlemont and Rowe. Voters asked why it was needed, and expressed concerns on financial impacts and loss of local control.

Voters asked what it would take to get the department a quality used truck, to which Annear said he would not look at anything that costs less than $400,000. Fire engine costs have skyrocketed in recent years, he said, a $400,000 truck in 2025 is a used engine with plenty of miles, and a new truck can cost upwards of a $1 million.

“You’re taking your chances buying a 15-year-old vehicle,” Annear said

Charlemont voters approved researching and pursuing a regional fire district at last year’s annual Town Meeting, and voters at Rowe’s annual Town Meeting held earlier this month have approved the petitions, Reynolds said. She added voting to petition the legislature did not mean the district would immediately go into effect. After State House approval the district will come back to town voters for final approval, with more details on what is bylaws will entail and what the district’s finances will look like.

Reynolds and Annear have done a lot of research with the town of Rowe on the possibility of a shared district which they believe will ease some of the challenges they are facing, such as rising costs, limited town finances and dwindling populations of volunteers.

“We didn’t take it lightly,” Reynolds said. “We can’t keep talking and doing nothing, we are in trouble here. I don’t know how we have a fire department.”

Regionalization of emergency services is being looked at all across the state, Annear said. The neighboring communities of Shelburne and Buckland have a shared fire district. He added regional departments have better chances of getting grants which could help fund the future district.

“We need to do something. Everybody talks about regionalization, everybody talks about doing things with their neighbors,” Annear said. “None of us have the capacity in a town to hire full-time people, but if we’re working towards it. Between the two towns we might be able to.”

After lengthy discussion voters ultimately agreed to purchase a used fire engine, and increase the amount being borrowed from the $150,000 requested on the warrant to $250,000, which paired with the funds approved last year will give the department a $450,000 budget to find a truck.

Voters also approved replacing a $8,000 hose for the fire tanker.

Voters approved the town’s $4.6 million operational budget with minimal debate. Voters sought clarification on line items such as election expenses, which was decreased this year as it is not an expensive presidential election year.

Additionally members of the Finance Committee, who have spent the past few months reviewing the budget with the towns department heads, questioned the Hawlemont School budget. Member Jay Healy asked why the school has not pursued more aggressive cost-saving measures such as combining grade levels, and encouraged voters to amend the budget on the floor to cut the budget.

Hawlemont Principal Amber Tulloch said that the school has considered merging grade levels into shared classrooms, and already combine for some lessons, but there are different content standards for grade levels and having teachers try to teach two different curricula at the same time is difficult.

Bill Lataille, business manager for the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Region School Districts said increases to the school budget this year came from rising costs for health insurance and benefits, and cuts in rural aid grants the school receives.

“The increase that you’re seeing is a combination of our fixed cost increases combined with the loss of that grant,” Lataille said. “This is a great school, and we’re doing the best we can with those fixed cost increases to make it manageable.

Reynolds added the towns educational expenses also increased due to an increase in the number of students the town sends to Franklin County Technical School and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. For the 2025-2026 school year 13 Charlemont students will be attending the schools.

Voters cheered and said they loved Hawlemont and the work of Tulloch, and told moderator Ron Smith they were ready to vote.

Other articles approved included adopting a short-term rental bylaw that will regulate Airbnbs and create short-term rental licensing process, accepting Mountain View Drive, Potters Road and Potters Road Extension to the list of accepted and maintained town roads, and purchasing a new $70,000 over rail tractor and mower for the Highway Department.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com