Open Easthampton, MA on Open Easthampton

Easthampton Flock Request Explorer

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This tool displays data from the Easthampton Police department’s searches of road surveillance data from Easthampton’s Flock Safety system.

See “Easthampton Shared More Data With Flock than the City Realized” for additional context.

Loading Flock request records...

Source Data

The data above came from public data requests under Massachusetts General Law chapter 66, §10, from the Easthampton Police Department. The raw data is available below:

Easthampton Shared More Data With Flock than the City Realized

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Do you recognize this camera?

The camera recognizes you.

If you live in Easthampton, this camera has been watching you for years and reporting your movements to police departments and private organizations across the country.

It’s a traffic surveillance camera made by a company called Flock Safety. It sits at the base of Mt. Tom on Mountain Road.

What does Easthampton Spend on Technology?

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Easthampton’s official budget plan does not explain the technology expenses beyond high-level categories like “Software” and “Equipment,” so I filed a public records request to get more granular data. Thanks to Karin Camihort, Easthampton’s IT director for fulfilling my public records requests in one business day.

The city provides the data as PDFs, but I’ve converted the data to a format for easy web viewing below.

Observations

Without the override, police will cancel a $42k/yr software contract

If the buget override fails, the police will cancel their $42,250/year subscription to CS Pro. This is the biggest difference between the two budgets.

Easthampton Residents Deserve Accurate Information about the Budget Override

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On June 9th, Easthampton residents will vote on a 20% tax increase to raise property taxes by $6.9M — about $1,200 per household. If the vote fails, the city faces steep cuts to schools, police, and the fire department.

I wanted to make an informed choice about the election, so I read the city’s budget proposal. Or, at least, I tried to.

The city has published two budget documents: one is the version that will go into effect if the override vote succeeds, and the other is the fallback plan if the vote fails. Each document is over a hundred pages long and contains roughly 800 table rows of data.

A Municipal Finance Explainer by City Councilor Tom Peake

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This was originally posted on Facebook. I’m republishing it here with permission from Tom Peake.

Here’s my first attempt at an informational post about municipal finance. I’m no Sam Hunter, who has done some fantastic posts about school finance, but my hope is that I help people to understand the process a little bit better.

Before I start, I should say that the hardest part about writing this is trying to figure out how much detail to include. I’m generally trying to present this in a digestible way, but that means simplifying some things, so if there’s something where you think I should have included more detail, please feel free to elaborate.

Easthampton 2027 Budget Explorer

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why two budgets?

Easthampton will hold an election on June 9th, 2026 to vote on a new 2027 city budget.

Due to Massachusetts Proposition 2 1/2, Easthampton may not raise property taxes more than 2.5% per year unless residents vote to approve the increase.

Mayor Salem Derby is asking residents to vote for an override to accept a budget that exceeds the 2.5% maximum annual tax increase. The mayor’s office published two potential budgets

City Councilor at Large Forum Transcript (2025-10-20)

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The following is a transcript of the Easthampton City Councilor at Large Forum held on October 20th, 2025. Thanks to Easthampton Media for filming the event and making the video available.

I’ve transcribed the discussion using a combination of automated tools and manual checks. It’s about 95% accurate, but you should check the original video before relying on any direct quotes.

I’m still in the process of verifying the transcript and have marked the end of where I’ve checked manually.

Mayoral Forum Transcript (2025-10-13)

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The following is a transcript of the Easthampton Mayoral Candidate Forum held on October 13th, 2025. Thanks to Easthampton Media for filming the event and making the video available.

I’ve transcribed the discussion using a combination of automated tools and manual checks. It’s about 95% accurate, but you should check the original video before relying on any direct quotes.

Dave Madsen (Moderator): Thank you, John. Good evening. Well we could see you a while ago now they're just completely in the dark but we know you're all registered voters right? So the first question I'll ask is why? That's tall and dumb. Thank you all for being here tonight. We got warmed up. They're going to be guests on my Sunday morning show on Western Mass News so we got them all warmed up beforehand so they're ready for you. The questions that submitted they were what's the line they were sitting on a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Waggles porch? If you remember Carson you'll remember that. No one remembers Carson, okay. We will move along. We had a drawing at the beginning of before we began all this tonight and the person who chose the number one is Salem Derby our acting mayor in Easthampton and you'll go first with your opening statement.

Easthampton City Elections (2025)

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Easthampton, MA’s biennial city elections are on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.

I couldn’t find anywhere that collected together all the races and candidates’ websites, so I searched for each candidates’ websites and social media pages and organized them below.

Please reach out if there are any pages I’m missing.

Candidates

(D) - Affiliated with Democratic Party
(R) - Affiliated with Republican Party
(U) - No party affiliation

Mayor

One for a term of four years

Contact

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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