Hadley Library Trustees Authorize HVAC Repair, Cut Holiday Evening Hours

HADLEY — September 18, 2025 — Hadley Library trustees voted to close early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and authorized up to $5,470 for an HVAC ductwork repair at their September 18 meeting. The board approved the holiday hours reduction — 5 p.m. rather than 8 p.m. on both December 24 and 31 — on a 5-to-1 vote, with the director noting the library would still open at its normal 2 p.m. start time and that town hall has made similar non-holiday closures. The HVAC authorization covers reconfiguring ductwork above the ceiling so filter cassettes can be accessed without demolishing surrounding infrastructure each time; at least one unit went four years without a filter change because of the original installation error. Director Patrick also announced an experimental after-hours access arrangement with a nonprofit wellness group, Everyday Wellbeing — contact Linda Castro — to use the meeting room on four Sunday mornings through year's end, the library's first step toward a broader community after-hours policy. The board closed with an extended and unresolved discussion about what factual messaging trustees and the Friends of the Library could appropriately circulate ahead of a Proposition 2½ override revote, after a first special-town-meeting ballot went down roughly 350 to 250; the director said a budget cut would most likely mean fewer days of operation rather than reduced service quality on open days, but that he cannot specify numbers until the town determines how reductions would be allocated across departments.