MORE ABOUT BAPAC:

Why We Were Created
In December 1989, the chief elected officials in the Cities of Westfield and Holyoke, the Towns of Easthampton and Southampton, and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission signed the “Memorandum of Agreement for Barnes Aquifer Protection” at a public ceremony. This agreement to act cooperatively to protect a natural resource of regional significance was the culmination of a yearlong planning effort by PVPC and a voluntary advisory task force of local officials and residents. The intergovernmental compact created a standing Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee (BAPAC) with the authority to review and comment on “developments of regional impact” (DRIs) in the aquifer recharge area, and to develop a regional aquifer protection strategy. For more information about DRIs, click here. 

Who We Are
The inter-municipal contract that created BAPAC specifies how many members are selected to the committee. The chief elected officials of each member community is to appoint three representatives and PVPC is to appoint one representative. BAPAC members for Fiscal Year 2013 are:

Easthampton	Michael Czerwiec, Water Department
	Chester Seklecki, Planning Board
Holyoke	Dave Conti, Water Commission
	Jeff Burkott, Planning Department
	Andrew Smith, Conservation Commission
Southampton	Tom Gaughan, Water Department
	James Labrie, Planning Department
	Marla Hanc, Conservation Commission
Westfield	Charles Darling, Water Department
	Karen Leigh, Conservation Commission
Advisor	Robert Newton, Professor of Geomorphology, Smith College
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission	Patty Gambarini, Senior Environmental Planner, BAPAC Facilitator