Deerfield Select Board accepts SCIMS director resignation, advances town meeting warrant

Select Board · Meeting of April 1, 2026

WHATELY — Deerfield Select Board reviews spring warrant with two override questions and accepts SCIMS director's resignation. At the April 1 meeting, Chair Trevor McDaniel, Blake Gilmore, and Tim Hiltje unanimously accepted the resignation of South County Emergency Medical Services Director Joshua Sparks, effective June 22, 2026, and voted 3-0 to approve a $10,000 contract amendment with Kuhn Riddle Architects for the ongoing 1888 building renovation. The board reviewed a draft town meeting warrant for the May 11 meeting that includes a $400,000 Proposition 2½ override for the chronically underfunded SCIMS enterprise fund and a separate override for the South County Senior Center at 112 Amherst Road, with the board debating how specific that language needs to be.

A proposed $100,000 Conservation Fund seeded by Community Preservation Committee money — backed unanimously by the CPC — drew questions about whether $100,000 adequately reflects available open space opportunities. The board tabled action on a zero emission vehicle policy, with Gilmore saying he wanted "a week to think about it" before the board decided whether to adopt the policy outright or place it as an endorsed warrant article.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of April 1, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.