New homes for Northfield EMS, Bernardston Fire Department among key plans in 2025

Relocating Northfield EMS into its new building at 546 Northfield Road in Bernardston is a priority in 2025. FOR THE RECORDER/AALIANNA MARIETTA
Published: 01-12-2025 12:01 PM |
Editor’s note: To mark the start of a new year, the Greenfield Recorder is publishing stories about what Franklin County residents can likely expect to see happening in their communities in 2025.
A new home for Northfield EMS and a new home for the Bernardston Fire Station are among the big changes coming in 2025, along with initiatives to explore regionalization of services and revise the school district agreement.
From building websites to advancing infrastructure work, Northfield has a variety of projects planned for 2025.
Selectboard Chair Bernard “Bernie” Boudreau said the town is actively exploring funding options to rebuild or refurbish the 50-year-old wastewater treatment plant.
“It’s pretty critical,” Boudreau emphasized.
Relocating Northfield EMS into its new building at 546 Northfield Road in Bernardston is another priority. In November 2024, voters approved the $2.1 million purchase and renovation of the property and permitted the Selectboard to petition the state Legislature to allow Northfield to buy the property.
“It’s a really nice building and it fits the needs,” Boudreau said. “We’re in the process of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.”
Building on last year’s efforts, Northfield aims to further improve its communication with the public. This includes upgrading the town’s website using a program called CivicPlus.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles






Transitioning the website will cost $27,707 in total, Town Administrator Andrea Llamas said during the Dec. 7 Selectboard meeting. The first payment of $9,235 will be covered from the Selectboard technology and computer budget line items. The rest is due after July 1, the beginning of fiscal year 2026, with an annual fee of around $10,000.
Northfield is also looking to revitalize its downtown in an effort to attract more businesses to vacant properties.
“We’re trying to make it advantageous for somebody to open up businesses in some of these empty sites we have,” Boudreau said.
In Leyden, town officials plan to work on a series of projects in 2025 aimed at enhancing infrastructure, strengthening community bonds and improving the quality of life for residents.
Leyden secured a $132,000 Green Communities grant to upgrade its Town Offices by installing new insulation, conducting window repairs and addressing foundational issues, according to Town Coordinator Michele Giarusso and Selectboard Chair Katherine DiMatteo. In addition, there are plans to improve accessibility by redesigning the Town Offices’ ramp while adding railings to the entryway of the main office and side doors.
Road repairs are also in the works. Leyden is seeking funds to redesign and improve West Leyden Road, which has a culvert too small to handle Hibbard Brook’s flow of water. Giarusso said she’s working with two different grants totaling $200,000 for the design, planning and permitting, which should be completed by the end of 2025. Construction grants can then be sought out. The overall project could cost anywhere between $800,000 and $1 million.
“We are very concerned about that road maybe giving out,” Giarusso said.
Additionally, plans are underway to widen and improve both Mid County Road and Eden Trail, which have a history of collisions.
“Because they’re narrow and hilly, as everything is in Leyden, they are prone to accidents,” DiMatteo said. “We’d like to widen portions of those roads so that there’s clearer vision, lines of sight.”
Meanwhile, Leyden is in the process of working with Colonial Power Group and the Department of Energy Resources to pursue energy aggregation. Under Massachusetts General Law, a municipality can negotiate and purchase electricity in bulk on behalf of its residents.
“There are 14 towns that have joined together to do rate aggregation,” DiMatteo explained. “We may be able to join the 14 towns but we haven’t seen the plan yet.”
Intergenerational activities are also being emphasized. The town aims to increase opportunities for residents of all ages to interact with each other through events and programs organized by the Recreation Committee, Cultural Council and Council on Aging. The annual “Heart of Leyden” running festival will continue to be a focal point.
“We as a small community don’t have that many opportunities to interact with different ages,” DiMatteo said. “That’s one event that we have started that’s been successful in terms of intergenerational participation.”
Bernardston’s 2025 plans include moving its Fire Department into a new home, exploring regionalization opportunities with neighboring Leyden and a community-driven effort to replace the elementary school’s playground.
The highly anticipated move of the Bernardston Fire Department to the former Raymond’s Repair building at 167 Northfield Road is expected to be completed around April. The town approved the purchase of this building in July 2023 during a Special Town Meeting.
“Everything is coming along,” Fire Chief Peter Shedd said during a Jan. 8 Selectboard meeting.
Once the department moves into its new space, it’s unclear what will happen to the current station at 18 Church St. and the land at 12 Church St., nicknamed the “Foster Lot” as it was donated to the department by Frank “Bud” Foster in April 2020.
Selectboard members said during their meeting on Jan. 8 that they’re open to hearing ideas from the public on what the space could be used for.
“There’s some things we’ve got to sit back and wait and kind of just think about things this year,” Town Coordinator Karen Kelly said. “It was a long, busy 2024.”
Another key focus is to use a $75,000 Efficiency & Regionalization grant to work with Leyden and the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management to consider which town departments and positions could be regionalized and consolidated.
“Our application was chosen because it met the program’s overarching goal of driving the implementation of regionalization and other efficiency initiatives that allow for long-term sustainability,” Selectboard Chair Ken Bordewieck explained.
With the document signed, the next step is for the two towns to form a six-member efficiency and regionalization advisory committee that includes three people each from Leyden and Bernardston.
Another item on Bernardston’s to-do list is the Pioneer Valley Regional School District agreement, which also involves Northfield and Leyden. The agreement was first created in 1990. It was amended in 1999 but has not been revisited in more than 25 years.
“The PVRS budget is more than half of the total town budget,” Bordewieck said. “We need to regain control over that to the extent that the town has some input into that budgeting process.”
Bordewieck added that townspeople “can’t afford to keep absorbing the increases in the school budget,” particularly with the difficulty in attracting students to Pioneer. In kindergarten through eighth grade, there are a “reasonable number of kids in the program,” he said, but that number drops off at the high school levels when students tend to transfer to other school districts.
The town has been eyeing an inclusive playground grant to help support the replacement of Bernardston Elementary School’s outdoor jungle gym. Kelly said this “cool project” is a community effort involving the students who will be helping with fundraisers and drawing pictures of what they hope this new all-inclusive playground will look like.
“Those structures are about hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Kelly said. “It’s like $200,000-plus to replace the one. ... We really need to find a chunk of change through some grants.”
Selectboard members also shared concerns about the idea of creating a one-campus plan for the Pioneer Valley Regional School District.
The proposed one-campus plan, which would consolidate all district students under one roof, would take more than half a decade to carry out and more than $100 million in facility investments. Selectboard Vice Chair Brian Keir emphasized that even if the state paid half of that $100 million, Bernardston, Leyden and Northfield would be responsible for the remaining $50 million. Furthermore, Northfield and Bernardston would then face the challenge of finding a new use for their existing elementary schools.
“That’s gonna raise its head at some point this year,” Keir said. “We don’t have the specifics on that yet but that’s coming right around the corner.”
Warwick
In Warwick, the town is looking to build on community in 2025 following a successful year of capital purchases and road repairs.
“It’s good to get a new fire truck and we just bought a recycled truck for the Highway Department, so those were big accomplishments,” said Selectboard Chair Keith Ross, also highlighting the town’s successes in a wide range of road repairs, as well as the Building and Energy Committee’s work to bring in grant money.
Ross also noted the continued success of Warwick Community School, which reopened its doors to kindergarten through sixth grade students in 2023 and added a preschool program this year. The school is also in the process of raising money to bring more resources for students attending the school.
In 2025, Ross said the focus will shift toward drumming up community interest in town government. A key initiative, he said, will be trying to develop a program in partnership with Greenfield Community College and regional high schools that would give students school credit for serving on local government.
“All of these different jobs are important and it’s harder and harder to try and find people to do this work,” he explained, emphasizing the shortage of volunteers by adding that he’s been on the Board of Assessors for 25 years because he “can’t find anybody to take my place.”
And while the town made some big purchases this year, Ross said town officials are going to form a committee to examine the “long-term capital needs for the town” so as to be fully prepared when the time comes to pull the trigger on large purchases.